Nearly 10 years have gone by, but Darren McGrady still remembers what he was going to cook for Princess Diana the night she was due back. It was to be a reunion dinner with sons William and Harry in Diana's apartment at Kensington Palace in London. In anticipation of the happy event, McGrady had bought the ingredients and driven through the palace gates with them in his car.

He did so despite that fact that, like everyone else living in the Western European time zone, McGrady had awakened the morning of Aug. 31 to find images of Diana and "1961-1997" on every available TV channel. At the palace, the normally cheery guard motioned McGrady through the gates and then looked away. In Diana's office, he found members of her staff hugging one another and crying. Then the fax machine began to beep.

"Oh, my god," McGrady remembers hearing one of the secretaries say. "It's the princess' last will and testament."

For McGrady, it was the moment that the reality of Diana's death in a Paris car crash (friend Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul also were killed) began to sink in. It also is the darkest moment in McGrady's new book, "Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen" (Thomas Nelson, $24.99), based on his experiences first as a cook at Buckingham Palace and then as Diana's private chef after her separation from Prince Charles in 1992.

In its pages, McGrady dishes but doesn't tell — at least not in a tell-all sort of way. (He is donating his advance and all proceeds from the sale of the book to one of Diana's favorite charities, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation).

Even now, with the approach of the 10th anniversary of Diana's death, McGrady will not divulge the menu of that welcome-home meal. "I just try to focus on the good," he said in a phone interview from his home near Dallas, where his work as a private chef for the Wyly family leaves him time to teach an occasional cooking class and to participate in charity events that focus on food.

Readers instead will discover that Prince Philip likes to keep his grilling marinades in Tupperware containers, that Queen Elizabeth prefers that carrots be cut a certain way (for her horses) and that Diana was an indifferent cook whose attempts to make pasta one weekend for a girlfriend resulted in the snuffing out of the pilot light — and a visit from 12 "hunky" firefighters responding to the call that she could smell gas.

After Diana's death, McGrady turned down an offer to work for Prince Charles in favor of following up on one of Diana's frequent, tongue-in-cheek "threats" to move to America. "She found the people here to be so optimistic and happy," he said. "Plus, she loved the hot weather in places like Los Angeles; she was a real sunny bunny." McGrady shares Diana's love of the sun: When not in Texas, his favorite vacation spot is Santa Barbara.

But on Friday, McGrady will be in New York, serving as a commentator for Fox's coverage of Diana's memorial service in London.

"It's hard to believe it has been 10 years, in part because she never left the newspapers," he said. "The controversies that followed Diana in life just seem to keep going in death."

(To enter The Star's drawing for a copy of "Eating Royally," send an e-mail with your name, mailing address and/or phone number to the address at the end of this column. The deadline is Sept. 7. No phone calls, please.)

OPEN AND SHUT: Two years after it burned to the ground at Westlake Boulevard and Townsgate Road in Westlake Village, Cisco's Mexican Restaurant has reopened — in Oak Park. The restaurant, owned by Bob and Linda Wilson, debuted Monday in the remodeled former home of Rustlers Bar-B-Que, 686 Lindero Canyon Road (818-879-1150). The menu is smaller than that of the "other" Cisco's at 1712 E. Avenida de Los Arboles, Thousand Oaks (493-0533), but only until it gets past any first-week jitters. (The former Cisco's site has been rebuilt as Suki 7; call 777-7579).

But it's goodbye to Rotisseria in downtown Ventura. Two weekends ago, the fast-casual eatery had a sign on the door announcing that it was closed for "minor repairs." Mail piling up inside told another story, and its denouement came last week when "available" signs went up in the windows.

HOT TOMATOES: Summer is waning, but tomato season is at its peak. At Underwood Family Farms, 3370 Sunset Valley Road in Moorpark, Labor Day weekend is synonymous with Roma tomatoes, which will be available for pick-them-yourselfers from 6 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday. The price: 20 cents per pound. Call 529-3690.

The Hollywood Farmers Market will present its annual Peak of Summer Tomato Festival from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at Ivar and Selma avenues. Slices of Pineapple, Green Zebra and other tomato varieties will be available for sampling from 9 a.m., and Chris Tunnell, executive chef of the Sunset Boulevard restaurant Ketchup, will present a cooking demo starting at 11 a.m.

For still more inspiration, watch a video of tomato fanatics as they turn several dozen pounds of the fruit into a multicourse meal during a party in Ojai. Go to VenturaCountyStar.com, click on Lifestyle and find the link to this story.

SEPTEMBER SPECIALS: In its current issue devoted to restaurants, Bon Appétit includes the recipe for Grilled Quail Salad with Honey-Dijon Dressing from the Ojai-adjacent Ranch House (646-2360). At the Pierpont Inn in Ventura, chef Marcus Hollingsworth will pair beers from Lagunitas Brewery of Petaluma and Stone Brewery of San Diego with four seasonal dishes during a California beer dinner, 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the on-site, circa-1935 Vickers Estate. Reservations, $65: 643-6144.

IN REVIEW: For restaurant critic Rita Moran's thoughts on Pho Saigon in Port Hueneme, see Time Out in Thursday's Star.

— E-mail Lisa McKinnon at lmckinnon@VenturaCountyStar.com.