The Penn's Grove record., 1885-09-05

Eight Hundred oussts a Day at mat

Friday, August 21st, d~ikscussing the
question, "Where shall we dine THIS
EVENING"" The tallest, La red.headed
man OF about forty, addressing the
other, said: ''Soy, Dick, bum dis fell
lab comm up for a cent tC and well go
round to the 'Delmonico; / got three
and we'll git a plate of has h. A CEN
was begged from a passe rby and the
two started down to Pear u street. A
reporter followed and saw .fthem enter a
cheap restaurant near City Hall place.
A sign over the door re; ads: Little
DeImonico.o Painted in large letters
on an ga" board was the bill OF fare.
1t included a cup of cotfeeS or tea for q
cent. with q bowl OF sou p, n tried
liver for three cents. RI asst heart and
liver were three cents, witt d dessert tWo
cents extra. The four cent dishes In
cluded beef stew, mutton stew, PORK
stew, corned beef and cabt page, mutton
chops, fish a la mode, por K chops n
''porterhouse steak" A sign ID the
window announced the e.ct that lrled
brains with bread was only three cents.
The high-toned dishes, such as
chicken stew, veal outlet, iroast mutton
and fried eggs. we're five cents. Inside
the restaurant a dozen Itsilian walters
hurried to and fro ~supplyin orders
To hear them sing out, zone hear
stew, fried brains and a. chop" one
would imagine the walters we're insane
But when an order was given ior "a
pigs head and a dog" the reporter al
most tainted. Was it possible That
dogs were really eaten IN New
CITY in a public restaurantf Inc scrlDe
called one of the attendants aside n
injured. "We mean two sausages,
explained the waiter. ''TIlose are just
say' names our customers Destow upon
things. So we got in the habit of say
ing dog for sausage. It's shorter, you
know, We have our regular customers,
and as they don't mind what we call
the grub of course we don't. A
'sweezee' is a cup of coffee. and 'out OF
the pot means a plate of hash. That
fellow over there who said, Pass the
axle grease is not used to eating In a
tony place. He used to board with
Jack and he never saw a hair full of
butter there. He comes in here and
wants the earth for five cents. Do we
do a big businessp Well, / should say
sol We take in $40 a day on an aver
age row., but IN the Winter we run up
to $50. Us walters gets Sc a week and
little girl to help him. He don't do as
well as us, but he cuts the rates ter
ribly. He sells nearly everything for a
cent"
The reporter sauntered along Null
berry street until he came to the place
designated as "Jack's." The restau-
rant is in the basement Of q large brick
tenement. Descending half a dozen
steps the reporter found himself in a
room about twelve feet square. A
table and two chairs was all the furni
ture the room contained. A group of
dirty looking men stood IN one corner
eating from tin plates. They were
lifting the food to their mouths with
their fingers. Not a knife or fork was
n sight. Some were eating beans,
some hash and others meat. Judging
from the manner in which they
''downed" the food they were very
hungry. Standing about the room
were a plumber of men waiting for their
turn to eat. Behind a counter, which
was covered with oilcloth, a man of
about fifty dished out the food. This
was Jack, the reporter was informed.
Ten times a minute his right hand dis
appeared within a large tin wash boiler
and each time was drawn out filled
with beans. The beans were thrown
upon tin plates and handed to the
nearest man, who had to pay a cent to
the girl cashier before he received the
plate. Each plate contained a handful.
In a rear room Mrs. Jack was busy
cooking. She only stopped to run out
with a piece of meat in her fingers to
some one of the hungry mob. She
handed it to a customer aud received
two cents, Once in a while she would
rush out with a large bowl of coffee and
a stale loaf of broad, for which she re-
ceived two cents. Two cigar boxes,
filed with small coin, on the cashiers
desk, proved that Jack was doing a big
business. The cashiers desk Was com
posed of two soap boxes set on ends,
n on top of the other, and nailed to-
gether.
ave feed as many as eight hundred,
said Jack, every day in the week, and
some days we have as many as a thou
sand here. / used to run a lodging
house but it didn't pay. have a good
many Italian and Chinese customers,
but l don't like them. They wanter
take de grub away with them and ask
me to do 1t up in paper. They never
stop to think paper costs money. The
reason | don't wash the plates is be-
cause l don't have time. Ii / under
took to do 1t these fellows ID kick.
Some of these Italians come here and
when they buy a loaf of bread they have
the cheek to ask If | haven't gotta some
butt They want butter with a CENTS
worth of bread"
During all the time Jack" was talk
ing his hands were busy disbing out
food. ''Some fellows around here are
trying to run opposition to me, but the
Board of Health comes around every
Friday and scoops up their stuff. L do
a legitimate business and help the poor.
What would my customers do were |
to give up? Why they'd starve. L do
more for the poor than Vanderbilt does.
and he's a rich man, too. No, Pm not
rich, but 1 own three houses in de First
Ward"
The Hebrews cheap rssa,urant is on
Hester street, neal Gem Here the
a cheap meal. Articles d the bill of
ioAp idHSC HUN Two W ufb GENUS. anu
a regular dinner" may be had for six
cents. A dinner consists of roast beef,
a potato, two slices of bread, an onion,
a cup of tea, coffee or milk and a half
pie. Nearly all the orders flled in this
restaurant are for regular dinners.
The place is kept clean and each table
contains a printed bill of fare. The
place is always crowded and it is
said that the proprietor has made
enough money to | We in retirement for
the remainder of his days.
An eating house which Is solely pat
ronIzed by the poor colored people of
New York is situated on Sps ing street.
A cup of coffee and a cruller is the or
der mostly given here, although some
OF the frequenters of this place live
high and never 90 away without eating
twenty-five cents worth of food. This
amount OF eatables here means as much