Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-01-03
The American Rontnurant.

DR.. Holland in Scribner's.l
The typical American restaurant is an
establishment quite as well individual
lied, and quite as characteristic, as any
thing of the kind to be found in the
world. The French cafe, the German
beer. garden, and the English chop-house,
all have their characteristic habits, ap-
pearances and manner; but the Ameri-
can restaurant is like neither OF them.
1t can only be conducted by an Ameri-
can, and, we regret to say, it can only
be frequented and enjoyed by Americans
OF the second and lower grades. The
aim of the conductor seems to be to sell
the greatest amount of food in the short
est possible time, an aim which the
guests invariably second by eating as
rapidly as possible We have seen, in a
Broadway restaurant table surrounded
by men, all eating their dinners with
their hats on, while genuine ladies, ele-
gantly dressed, occupied the next table,
within three feet of them. In this res
taurant there was as much din 10 the Or
derng of dishes and the clash of plates
and knives and forks, as if brass band
had been in full blast Every dish was
placed before the guests with a bang.
The noise, the hustle Of the hurry in
such place, at dinner time, can only
be compared to that which occurs when
the animals are fed in Barnum's cara
van. We do not eXaegerate at all when
we say that the American restaurant is
the worst hammered place ever visited
by decent people. No decent American
ever goes into one when he can hel p it,
and comparatively few people know how
very indecent it is.
Our best hotels have no equals in the
world, and in asserting this, we know
what we say, and speak by the card. :.
Our best restaurants are mainly kept
by foreigners, or if not, are modelled
after the French type. Nowhere in the
world can there be found better cooking,
more quiet and leisurely manners, or
better service, than in the restaurants of
the hotels above alluded to, or the best
class of eating. houses. These, however,
are direct or indirect importations, while
the American restaurant pure and
proper, serves the needs of the great
multitude of business men - clerks,
porters and upper.class laborers gene
rally. These do not eat-they feed.
Thousands of them would regard it rs
an affectation of gentility to remove
their hats while feeding, and they sit
down and order their dinner, which
pudding, pastry, vegetables and meat
is all placed before them in one batch,
and then "pitch in." This lack of cour-
tesy, of dignity, of the ordinary tokens
even of self-respect would he amusing if
il were not so humiliating.
1t is useless for the incredulous Ameri-
can to ask the question, Where have
you been?" When in a second rate res
laurent guest asks for fsh-balls and
hears his order repeated to the cook by
the colored waiter as sleeve-buttons
for onel" and hears his neighbor's order
for pork and beans transformed into a
stars and stripes" he begins to wonder,
indeed, whether civilization " is not
" a failure, and whether "the Cauca-
sian = is not played out. The average
in an average American res
taurant, eats his dinner in the average
time of six minutes and forty-Aye sec
onds. He bolts into the door, bolts his !
dinner, and then bolts out. There is no
thought of those around him, no cour- |
tesy to a neighbor, no pleasant word or
motion of politeness to the man or wo- |
man who receives his money-nothing |
but fearful taking in of ammunition
the feeding of devouring furnace-and |
then desperate dash into the open air, |
as if he were conscious he had sBai-
lowed poison, and must find doctor
and q stomach-pump, or die. A favor
ite method Of devouring oysters is to
stand, or to sit on c high stool, always
with the hat on; oysters on tie half she'll
aud the eater under half shell. There
nay DO something in the position that
favors deglutition, we don't know.
The penalty a msE pays for getting
,is lunch or his dinner at reasonable
Driee is 10 encounter the offensive scenes
ye have described. The penalty he pays
or eating where he finds the manners of
utilization IS an unreasonable price.
When man pays half dollar for a bit
# cold meat, or seVenty-fye cents for a
teak. or a quarter Of dollar for a cou-
BE of boiled eggs, he recalls sorroWfully
md wonderfully-if he has ever Travelled
the nice little breakfast he used to get
It Madame Dijon's, in Paris, for two
rancs, his dinner in the Palais Royal
or three francs, his daily board, with
.oorps. at the Pension Picard, in Geneva,
or i've francs, and his luxurious apart
nents. with an elaborate table hote at
III the principal hotels Of the continent
or ten francs. Is there any necessity
or such prices as we are obliged to pay
Il the best restaurants-or an apology
or them2 Any man who keeps house,
md does his own marketing. knows the
irst cost of the expensive dishes placed
lefore him in these restaurants. and he
Inows there is no just relation between
he cost and the price charged, after all