Mountain View News May 9, 2026 
99FOOD -DRINK - FUN Mountain View News May 9, 2026 
99FOOD -DRINK - FUN 
Peter A. Dills 

L.A.’s King of Cuisine

https://
podlink/1116885432 


AFTER MOTHER’S DAY 

By the time you read this, Mother’s Day may have already have 
passed. The flowers may be drooping, the brunch reservations 
forgotten, and somebody somewhere is probably still waiting for 
a table they should have booked two weeks earlier.
For me, Mother’s Day has become less about the calendar and 
more about reflection. 

My father, Elmer Dills, got most of the attention over the years. 
Television. Restaurants. Champagne lunches. Stories. Opinions. 
If there was a camera nearby, somehow my father usually found 
it. 
But behind my father stood my mother, Rosemary Turner Dills. 

My mother was 

born in New Castle, 

Pennsylvania, and 
married my father in a small church in Indiana 
in 1950. She was an only child, which makes what 
happened next even more remarkable. 

Soon after getting married, she followed my father 
around the world during his government years. 
Germany. Athens, Greece — where I was born. A 
six-month stint in Florida. Then overseas again. 
Constant movement. Different languages. Different 
cultures. Different homes. 

Back then, overseas phone calls were expensive 
and rare. Plane tickets home weren’t exactly easy 
to come by either. There were stretches where my 
mother went years without seeing her own mother 
back in Pennsylvania. 
Looking back now, I realize how difficult that must have been for a young woman far away from 
home and family. 


What many people also don’t know is that under CIA rules at the time, wives overseas generally 
were not allowed to work. So while my father was building the life and career that would 
eventually make him a public figure, my mother quietly held together the family behind the 
scenes. 

No social media. 

No support groups.

No texting your friends back home.

Just resilience. 

And somehow, she made it all look normal. 

Ironically, despite being married to one of Southern California’s most recognizable restaurant 
critics, my mother never cared much about fancy restaurants. She probably would have 
preferred a simple lunch, a cup of coffee, and a long conversation over some trendy restaurant 
serving tiny portions on giant plates. 

Truthfully, I think she enjoyed the company more than the cuisine. 

Meanwhile, my father was busy analyzing Caesar salads and debating martinis as if national 
security depended on it. 

My mother balanced him perfectly. She had patience too — the kind people don’t seem to have 
much anymore. My father’s schedule was unpredictable long before cell phones existed. There 
were no text messages saying “running late.” Somehow, she managed family life while moving 
across countries and raising children during uncertain times. At least she never complained 
publicly. 

Now that she’s gone, I realize how much mothers quietly shape the personality of a family.
Of course, I’m convinced my mother left behind a management team to continue her work.
These days my daughter Lauren and my sister Rosemary — yes, named after my mother — 
seem fully committed to carrying on the tradition of telling me where I should go, what I 
should eat, what I should wear on the radio, and occasionally what I probably shouldn’t say 
publicly. 

In other words, Mom may be gone, but the supervision continues. Honestly, I wouldn’t have 
it any other way. 

Mother’s Day eventually fades from the calendar, but memories don’t disappear quite so 
quickly. Sometimes they arrive while sitting quietly at dinner. Sometimes during a drive 
through Pasadena. Sometimes while watching families laugh together across a restaurant 
table. And maybe that’s really what Mother’s Day was always supposed to be about.
Not the flowers. 
Not the crowded brunches. 
Not the prix fixe menus. 

Just remembering the people who quietly held everything together while the rest of us made 
all the noise. Peter A. Dills https://podlink/1116885432 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com