Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic con, Comics, restaurant, san diego, sdcc, steak

The Art Of A Good San Diego Steak

Published Sat, 27 Jul 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Last updated Sat, 27 Jul 2013 10:11:51 -0500

Aaron Hale writes;

It's kind of a tradition for me that the first night of San Diego Comic Con my wife and I attend preview night then we go out for a nice dinner. This year we chose a restaurant in the downtown area called The Palm. Not only did I have the best steak of my life but upon going into the restaurant I noticed something quite intriguing the walls were covered with caricatures of famous people and original comic art sketches. The management could tell I was greatly interested in the art on the walls and asked if I wanted to see more. I'm sure the fact I was freely roaming the restaurant taking pictures of the walls was quite the tip off. Turns out the original Palm restaurant opened in 1926 in New York city it was located near all the major cartoon syndicates of the time. Artist would often come in and would not be able to afford the meal. So the owners a couple of Italian immigrants named Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi would make the artist in a sense sing for their supper by drawing something on the walls. Now what makes the Palm restaurant in San Diego even more unique is the fact that Marvel Comics sends a top artist over to start off the convention with a sketch on the wall. It all started in 2006 when Stan Lee came over with John Romita Sr. and John Romita Jr.

The manager was kind enough to handwrite me a year by year list of the talent and the sketch. (2006 John Romita: Spiderman and John Romita Jr. Captain America), (2007 Lenil Yu did both a Hulk and Iron Man sketch). (2008 Michael Choi, Thor and a Mark Brooks, Storm), (2009 a Mike Ryan rendition of Black Widow colored by Christina Strain, and a Steve Epting Captain America), (2010 Deadpool by Reilly Brown), (2011 Hawkeye by Humberto Ramos), (2012 Ultimate Spiderman by David Marquez), and last but not least (2013 a baby Captain America done by Skottie Young) The best part of viewing all this beautiful art was it did not require an attendee badge anyone can view it at anytime. Overall it gave me a real appreciation of how San Diego truly embraces Comic Con International.