Our Story
Since 1938, Lawry's The Prime Rib has been a cherished destination where generations of guests gather to celebrate life's special moments — around a perfectly seasoned roast, carved tableside from a gleaming silver cart. One dish. One tradition. Done perfectly, night after night, from Beverly Hills to Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing.
1938
Lawrence L. Frank and Walter Van de Kamp open Lawry's The Prime Rib on La Cienega Boulevard — the first prime rib specialty restaurant in the United States. Inspired by the traditional British roast beef Lawrence enjoyed as a child, it is served with Yorkshire pudding and mashed potatoes for $1.25.
1938
To serve prime rib fresh from the carve, Lawrence designs the gleaming Silver Cart — slow-cooked roasts kept warm and wheeled tableside, where Lawry's certified carvers cut each portion to the guest's preferred thickness and doneness. The design has remained unchanged for more than eighty years.
1939
Lawrence spends three months perfecting a blend of seventeen herbs and spices for the restaurant's tables. Guests love it so much they begin taking it home — the beginning of a household name now found in kitchens around the world.
1959
World-renowned designer Saul Bass creates Lawry's iconic 'Fanciful L' logo, an emblem that still defines the brand today.
1974 →
Lawry's expands beyond Beverly Hills — Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, then onward to Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul, and Jakarta. Every restaurant upholds the same recipes, the same silver carts, the same tableside ritual.
Today
Lawry's arrives in Mainland China — first in Shanghai, then Shenzhen, and now Beijing. A new generation of guests discovers the silver cart, the Spinning Bowl Salad, and the original roast, served exactly as they have been since 1938.
Rituals at the Table
Wheeled to your table by a carver in chef's whites, the silver cart is unchanged since 1938. Inside rests the roast — slow cooked on a bed of rock salt — ready to be carved to your preferred thickness, in front of you.
A bowl of crisp greens is set spinning on a bed of crushed ice while our signature vintage sherry dressing is poured from on high. It is theatre, ritual, and the perfect prelude to the main event.
