The glossy full-color cookbook lists recipes for staples of the Morton's menu, like porterhouse, New York strip and T-bone steaks, as well as Fritsch's personal favorites, like baked crab cakes.
Though the taste and presentation of Morton's dishes may intimidate amateur cooks, the "Steak Bible" is incredibly user friendly, Fritsch said.
"I have tons of cookbooks at home and there are many great and popular books," he said. "But this one is very simple. You don't have to buy extra equipment and you don't need 50 different spices … it's very straight forward."
Burbank residents and Morton's devotees who purchased a book at the event were also treated to Morton's hors d'oeuvres and cocktails.
Midori Reed, who often books company functions at Morton's, is a longtime restaurant patron, she said.
"This is a great business and the food is wonderful," she said. "You can never have too many cookbooks."
The German-born Fritsch served an apprenticeship as a cook in his home country before taking chef posts in Switzerland and Bermuda. Traveling to the United States, he worked in kitchens in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans before opening the first Morton's Steakhouse in Chicago in 1978, with co-founder Arnie Morton, who died in May 2005.
The original Morton's was tucked down in a basement, displaying no restaurant signage whatsoever, Fritsch said. Morton's primary goal was to serve the best and biggest steaks on the market, he said. In fact, the steaks were such a high priority that Morton's did not even provide butter knives, a tradition the restaurant continues to this day.
"When people say, 'We need a butter knife," I say, 'Use your steak knife,'" he said.
Today Morton's boasts 71 fine dining restaurants worldwide.
"From day one, Arnie Morton called it a 'neighborhood saloon for the rich.'" he said. "To me that describes Morton's perfectly."
