[5] Around 1926, Evans married Stephen Comstock, with whom she had a son, William,[7] and began running a catering business called "The Epicurean" with a friend.

[6] After around a decade of marriage,[8] in which the couple also had a daughter, she met Phillip S. Brown, who was an uninvited guest at a dinner party Comstock hosted.

[2] The couple moved on to Pasadena, California, in 1937,[10] where Brown continued writing for such magazines as House & Garden, Sunset and Woman's Day[5] and worked as a consultant to a Hollywood bakery.

Phillip started working in an antique book store, building their collection of cookbooks and served as Brown's taste-tester, research assistant, and typist.

[10] In 1940, Brown began writing articles for "Baltzer’s Bulletin", an upscale grocer's newsletter, and continued to publish the mailer when the Jurgensen's grocery chain bought the original store.

[13] She transformed cookbook writing into a scholarly endeavor giving bibliographic references, historical context and social significance to her recipes.

She recommended the use of items that grew in people's own back yards, like avocados, cherimoyas, figs, guavas, and loquats,[15][16] as well as seasonings like cilantro and garlic, which until that time was rarely used,[17] and teriyaki sauce.

[15] The publication solidified Brown's reputation among her peers as the authority on the west coast food scene of the 1950s and 1960s and she counted among her many friends, Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, M. F. K. Fisher, Helen McCully and Albert Stockli.

[23] In 1961, Brown made an extended trip to Europe to research recipes and stories about food[5] and while in Spain began suffering bouts of paralysis.