Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-27
FREE LUNCH SALOONS.
The BUNS Paradise, and the Impe.
euniouz Mans Last Hope.
IChicago NeWs.l

"They are various, of course, and depend q
good deal on the class of customers to be
catered to. There are German peddlers who
visit the free lunch places every morning with
a supply of sausage, bologna, beef, bones and
vegetables. The proprietor buys what he
wants for the day, and usually gets it cheap.
He adds to this assortment sweitzer cheese,
rye bread and mustard, and probably the
whole outfit costs him rs cents or 81. Some
curtail expenses by buying tainted meat
secondhand sausage and stale things gen
orally, cooking the meat till the bad
flavor is well nigh separated from it.
Such lunches are furnished at q very
trifing outlay. But many Of the low class
of saloons pursue an entirely different
method of procuring material for their
lunch table. They have q special arrange
ment with certain eating houses and hotels
by which they obtain the offscourings of the
tables, and the scraps and remnants from
the kitchens, such as would be thrown away
if not thus utilized. This stuff cost little OF
nothing, and the saloonist is enabled tc
spread a decent looking lunch, including hot
soup, to the surprise and delight OF his Gus
toners, who wonder how he can afford it.
If they could see how it is prepared they
probability would lose their appetites every
time they looked at it,"
''Are not these saloon-keepers annoyed a
great deal by ravenous buns who attack
their lunchesT'
eyes, they have the professional lunch
fends to deal with. The free-lunch saloon j;
the buns paradise and the impecuniou;
mans hope. But it doesn't take long for a
sharp bartender to.spot the man who spends
nickel and devours a quarters worth OF
grub. Nothing is said to him the first time,
but repetition of the offense is pretty GER
tain to call forth polite but firm invitation
to make himself scarce in that house, and to
remain away in future. Why there are
men in this town who subsist in
travelling the free lunch routes,
never paying a cent for what
they eat. All they spend is the necessary
nickel for glass of beer, without which they
cannot consider themselves a welcome guest
at the banquet. Nevertheless, when the
saloon is crowded, there are always O few
slick ones who sneak their grub without buy
ing any been, and are not detected There is
many q well-tressed clerk in Chicago who
makes practice of lunching on saloon fare
He belongs to the poorly paid class of com
ter-jumpers, and with cents spent 20. beer
or bottle Of pop he secures all he waits to
eat, sucn as it is
But such customers are not proftabie?'
'No; but they dress well, and look like
millionaires, you know, and the shrewd pro-
prietor has an idea that their presence in his
saloon lends an air of dignity to the place and
helps to attract trade. He makes it up off of
another class of customers Regular beer
guzzlers are never satisfied with one glass,
and if they are attracted to the place by the
lunch, they spend the amount that good
meal would cost for beer. 1t is usually the
case, too, that the more a man drinks the
less he eats. Pretzels are the principal fea-
ture of the Dutch beer saloon lunch. They
are salty and create a thirst, which makes
them profitable"
GLOW about the lunch Of Grst-class So
looms, such as yours?"
''They are always first-class, like. the So
looms themselves. My lunches are always
prepared under my own supervision and in
structions You can get 10 better food at
the Palmer house. We have class Of custo.
mers to please who don't patronize beer
shops or even cheap restaurants and we
could not afford to offer them inferior quail
t1eS OF elIner nquOr OF luncH LII SOile VI tHt
best saloons it is the custom to hand each
customer hot fried oyster on a silver fork
the moment he swallows his liquor. There
is nothing more delicious than tried oyster
after drink
The saloon-keepers, however, no longer
have monopoly of the free lunch business
in Chicago. To Offset this attraction, which
is calculated to entice young men into the
spider web of intemperance, the cold water
people of the CRY are opening free lunch
rooms about town. One of these is on West
Lake street, near Paulina, where any one
viii be cheerfully provided with irst-class
lunch without being required to spend a soil
tary nickel, and will be treated to a temper
ance lecture to boot.