Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-09-06
TABLE D'HOTE ABROAD.
Wherein an English Writer
Finds It q Delusion and q

Snare.
From the London Daily Telegraph.
Few popular decisions are more in
trinsically ~fsllacisus than that entertain
ed by the majority Of Englishmen I'M
familiar with the Continent, that The
average table d'hote abroad teens with
triumphs of the culinary art, and is,
above all, characterized by an s~greeabiy
bewildering variety Of dishes, one more
sppetizing than the other. This illusory
notion stimulates many an insular lover
of good cheer to incur the cost and in
convenience OF q foreign trip, only to
reap an abundant crop Of gastronomic
disappointments. Throughout the
European mainland, in summer and au-
tumn haunts where tourists most do
congregdte, table d'hote dinners, "a a
rule, are cast In one and the same mold.
As uniformly uneventful as the British
ordinary, they are even less satisfactory,
as far as their capacity for ministering
to a healthy appetite is concerned. In
first-class foreign hotels, moreover, din
ners of this sort are every whit as ex.
pensive as they are in English hotels OF
similar rank. Common TO both Is 9
thin, pale soup, s~upremsly genteel and
of a ~curiously mawkish flavor. This
nondescript liquor, languidly floating in
which NAV be perceived q few sickly-
Unlocking iarinac Gus tatters, known in
commerce by the title Of "pate d'Italie,"
is the subtle invention OF some astute
French table d'hote proprietor, upon
whose frugal mind, in the earlier days
of the institution, the exquisite ex-
pediency of quelling his clients ap-
peties. at the very inception OF their re-
past, flashed with dazzling b~rilliancy.
That 30 cheap and effective q check
upon public plumber should have found
an enthusiastic welcome upon every
alien shore at the hands OF admiring
hotel keepers, was no more than might
have been expected by their natural
enemies of the tourist class. In i'm
mediate sequence to the nauseatlng
broth, comes a livid fish of unfamiliar
species and discouraging aspect, whose
utter tastelessness is atoned Tor by its
accompanying sauce, OF thick consist
ence and bilious hue -bright yellow or
low toned green. Another inevitable
accessory of this dismal fish is the never
fioury Continental potato, cut into damp
cubee-a very deadly Wand. Next
comes the compact and sodden frican-
deau of veal, garnished with a slab pot
tage of boiled sorre!, turnip tops, or, in
lavishly administered hotels, real spin
ach. As an alternative to the fricandeau,
a bristling array of mutton outlets, dis
PLAYING a maximum OF slender, shiny
bone to a maximum OF dark and sinewy
flesh, is freely handed round. These
N .iavored and worse favored delicacies
lead up insinuatingly to the ~"roast," or
piece OF resistance, consisting invariably
of fowls sparsely bedecked with limp
water. cress, and smitten into several
splintery sections by a few sharp blows
with a kitchen hand Ak. 1t is in Ger
many that this dainty may be enjoyed in
it's perfection, that is, from a table
d'hote keepers point Of view. The
Teutonic chicken is a brittle bird, re-
luctant while alive to acquire flesh, but
unrivaled in the production of osseous
substances and wiry tendon. Over
roasted and prepared with a Ratchet for
distribution, this remarkable biped may
fairly claim to be the German hotel
keepers best friend, for it is at once
cheap, nasty and uncommonly filling at
the price.