Michael Romanoff

Michael Romanoff, pseudonym for Harry F. Gerguson, born Hershel Geguzin, (February 20, 1890 – September 1, 1971) was a Hollywood restaurateur, conman, and actor born in Lithuania. He is perhaps best known as the owner of the now-defunct Romanoff's, a Beverly Hills restaurant popular with Hollywood stars in the 1940s and 1950s.

The New Yorker ran a series of five profiles, starting October 29, 1932, that traced Romanoff's history from birth until date of publication. He had been deported to France in May of that year to serve time for fraud.

According to U.S.A Confidential (Mortimer and Lait, 1952), while Romanoff pretended to be Russian royalty, he was actually a former Brooklyn pants presser.

Geguzin immigrated to New York City at age ten, changed his name to Harry F. Gerguson some time after 1900 and married Gloria Lister in 1948. At times, he passed himself off as "Count Gladstone the son of William Gladstone, "Prince Michael Dimitri Alexandrovich Obolensky-Romanoff", nephew of Tsar Nicholas II, William Wellington or Arthur Wellesley. Romanoff died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, in 1971

From 1941 to 1962, Romanoff's was located at 326 North Rodeo Drive, and had another location at 140 South Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. In 1951, it moved to a new location at 240 South Rodeo Drive.

Romanoff generally snubbed his clientele, and preferred to lunch with his dogs.

KCET's Hadley Meares writes of the restaurant, which used an elegant monogram consisting of a crown sitting over two capital letter 'R's back to back: "The décor was masculine and clubby with comfortable booths, the dance floor well waxed, the cigarette girls lovely, and the waiters well-trained and Jeeves-like."

While Romanoff's featured a typical country club-style menu with items like Waldorf salad, tomatoes stuffed with crab, filet mignon, frog legs, eggs Benedict and sausages on toast, the restaurant became known for their chocolate soufflés, which were served to each guest in an individual portion. Although Romanoff's restaurant is also known for popularizing the "American version" of the famous dessert Strawberries Romanoff, it was actually created by Escoffier when he was the chef at the Carlton Hotel in London – where he had originally called it "Strawberries Americaine Style" - strawberries in Grand Marnier, blended into whipped cream and softened ice cream.

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