The herald., 1895-03-13
OLD CHOP.HOUSES
Often Dingy, but More Attractive to nan Than
GiIded Restaurants

OlOeu RESTAURANTS
There is certain sort of sentiment con-
nected with the memories of an old chop
house that must be exerienced, for it never
can be explained. A bright but dissolute
and unsuccessful fellow was conversing one
day with lady in New York, famed foI
her literary and social success, and aston
ished her by saying that despite her good
fortune she ought to envy him. In ans
wer to her inquiring look he sand: BE
cause can go to Browns chophouse and
you can't. The lady was woman of the
world, and she had knowledge enough to
sigh and agree that feminine prosperity
had indeed it's sad limitations. Eating as
perfunctory operation is one thing, and
eating in well-appointed chophouse is an
other. AT home or in the ordinary res
taurant man eats if he is hungry, but
it is the pride of the famous chophouse that
whoever enters eats and drinks with little
regard for previous conditions. Primarily
this may be catering to the grosser part
of life, but as such catering is universal
there is no one to throw the first stone.
The recollections of the table are not the
least pleasing of memories and the con-
slant patron OF the chophouse is not nee
essarily an epicure.
For there are other things which make
the chophouse haven of delight. 1t was
not juicy steaks and tipple alone that
drew Johnson and Goldsmith and Burke
and Garrick and Reynolds to the little ia
BILE, though the culinary attractions were
most potent. 1t is true that men are lured
by the creature comforts and the atmos-
phere of democratic independence, but the
continued charm is not mere gastronomy.
When the appetite is most gloriously sat-
listed there still remains the good fellow
ship of bright kindred spirits who are UNI
restrained in the comparative isolation of
the little back room. The wit that flows,
the stories that are told, the learned argu-
ments and disputations that follow, and
the bumpers.tha are absorbed meanwhile
all these are the blessings of the chop
house as many reputable citizens may
testify if they will. That the ladies are
in great measure deprived OF these spe-
womanhood. In America woman has
sought to supply the deficiencies by at
tempting to copy the chophouse features.
That her efforts are measureably failure
is too often proved. She may get the
viands and she may get the company but
she fails in the one important particular
the atmosphere is wanting and the good
fellowship is corked.
OF course it was woman who first said
that the way to mans heart is through
his stomach. And when men praise the
charms of the chophouse and recall with
feeling the glories therein, indiscriminat-
ing women will still sneer at them as car
ried away by the memories of chop
and glass of musty ale. But have they
eaten OF that chop, and have they tasted
OF that ale? How can they, unJempted
and Impractical, know:what it is to lean
back in chair with an OVERLOOKING pew
ter mug before them and half dozen
good fellows around them, while an i'm
portant question in social ethics is settled
and national problems are solvedP The
chophouse is an English institution, anc
if in England it is found at its best, and,
it is so regarded, at is worst. But the
chophouse spirit is found wherever man
is found. Across the American continent,
from one ocean to the other, middle-aged
little shabby rooms where in their younger
days they found the best of eating and
drinking, and, what is quite as tenderly
remembered, the best of pleasant conrad
ship.