Vesa-Matti Loiri was one of Elite’s regular customers. Jussi Eskola
Helsinki’s culture and artist restaurant Elite will announce an entertainment legend today, Wednesday Vesa-Matti Loirin base table and nominal dose.
Loiri, who died last August, was often seen in a workers’ restaurant. During his lifetime, Loiri himself hoped that his loyal customers would be taken into account later somehow.
Extension of the living room
Elite, which has served as artists’ living room for more than 90 years, has already named the base table before Tauno Palolle and For Matti Pellonpää.
– Palo got his name table tile in 1993, Pellonpää shortly after his death, says Elite’s restaurant manager Eija Perälä.
Pellonpää, a regular actor in Aki Kaurismäki’s films, died in 1995. Ysäri has therefore been the golden age of heel tables.
The interior of the Elite has remained fairly unchanged for decades. PEKKA KARHUNEN
Palo and Pellonpää’s table is marked with name signs attached to the wall.
– Probably both of them sat at many other tables in the restaurant, Perälä guesses.
– There has been a small cabinet separated by a curtain next to Elite’s entrance. I have been told that especially Palo sat there a lot. The name table is where the former cabinet was. From there, from a bit of a corner, it has been good to look at the restaurant hall and other customers without being directly in the frame, Perälä continues.
The interior of the cultural restaurant has remained almost the same for decades. Only a restoration renovation was done there in 1986. During the renovation, the bar was connected to the restaurant hall.
Palo lived in Töölö around the corner from Elite, so the cultural restaurant was like an extension of his living room. However, according to Perälä, both Actors were once important and beloved guests to both the restaurant’s staff and customers.
The restaurant manager can’t say who came up with the idea of heeled tables for these gentlemen.
Institution
Palo has also been named its own dish, a creamy onion patty made from beef tenderloin. It comes with fried potatoes on the side.
Elite’s menu also includes salmon soup, which is separately mentioned as Cheek Jare Tiihonen favorite.
– Mika Waltarin and Siiri Angerkoski’s favorite drinks have made it to the drink list, Perälä also mentions.
What Loir’s title portion will contain will be revealed on Wednesday.
Tauno Palo has a signature dish at Elite: creamy onion steak. Roni Lehti
However, it is clear that Elite has established itself as a place for culture and art people.
– Of course, this is a restaurant for all people, but at the same time as Elite, in the 1930s, Lallukka’s artists’ home was also established next door. The people of Lalluk almost automatically flowed down the hill to Elite, Perälä describes.
– Elite is an institution in itself, an important part of Helsinki’s restaurant culture, he sums up.