Julia mania sweeps Menlo

The movie Julie and Julia gets its nationwide release today and reviews are enthusiastic. Writes local critic Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Few movies are a delightful as Julie & Julia.  Everything you’ve ever liked about Meryl Streep’s invention, spontaneity and inspired silliness – and everything you may have ever loved about Julia Child’s joy of life and singular eccentricity – come together in Streep’s performance as the great American chef.” He goes on to note that the film is also a great celebration of food.

Julie and Julia is too much of a “big movie” to play in Menlo’s one remaining movie theater, the Guild, a Menlo mainstay that opened in the 1940s and shows mainly indie and foreign films. But that doesn’t mean  other local businesses won’t join  the bandwagon of appreciation for all things Julia.  That other Menlo mainstay, Kepler’s, has one window that’s currently bursting with culinary delight. (iPhone photo by Scott Loftesness.)  If it doesn’t spur new purchases of one of Julia Child’s books, it will almost certainly prompt locals to dust off and page through their too-long neglected copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And with patience and tenacity, a meal will emerge.