The Opelousas courier., 1895-04-20
AMERICAN RESTAURANTS.
A r,,st From an l;ng!.shnnan in a BS''


A Elnst From an ling!tsh:nan IN q '"'
EunOr.
The student of psychology VIII no.
lice that the American waiter has an
unhapry tst1aclz Of in~terrupting you
when your mouth is full, 10 ask you
some idiotic Observation-Disclosures you
want more of the Internal ice water
etc. drilled tomatoes are unkno" d
They don't ven understand "haI
''prilled tomatoes mean, and you can
only have them fried 10y paying an
extortionate additional charge.
The waiter has the insolence some
times to correct" you II you order to-
matocs, asking you if you mean
.'tomeytoes,' as the word is pro-
nounced in the ugly, dra*ling' Yankee
vcrnacular. Ii you order a steak nm
dertone, i. c., what they call rear IN
their bastard lingo of pigeon English.
woe bctide. 1t will be served up quite
raw"
Although no mustard Is placed on
the table for beef, pork, ham on bacon,
it is fussily proffered for lamb bu'
alas. pork and lamb are even worse
than the beef. Mustard in enormous
quantities, however, is mixed with q
lamb stew, and, what is far worse, one
must eat it's nolens volens or starve.
Another ~unspeakable horror OF Amer
lean cookery is fried" chicken. In:
stead Of a good English roast or boiled
fowl, or a French poulet roti, with Its
appetizing and delicious gravy, this
execrable abomination is cool]y placed
before you. The skinny, ]eathery, IN
sipid fowl is foully fried or baked t.
shreds-somctimcs almost to a cindsr,
a blackened, undistinguishable mass
of course without a drop of gravy. II
we were not told, an epicure would be
puzzled to guess the nature of the vile
dish, and, indeed, one can't tell the
difference often between American
pork and veal.
Cheese can rarely, indeed, be 90,
tanned, and it is always bad. But ii
meat and poultry are served up taste
less, without gravy or fat, en- revanche
all vegetables, without exception, are
INDUCED with more or less loathsome
Or repulsive sauces, peas invariably
swimming in a bath of green water,
while beans and potatoes are cooked
in a name too horrible for descrip
ton. Maize, which is only given te
pigs in England or France, is consid
cred quite a delicacy. But then any
thing will do for Americans.
Save at New Orleans and San Fran
cisco, where French civilization pre-
walls to a certain limited extent, one
a not get a decent meal for love OF
money. There arc no banquets o.
Lucullus or Anacreon in the eastern
states; for neither wine nor beer car
be had in ninety per cent. of the SO
called restaurants. Cast a glance into
any of the fashionable hotels OF res
taurants of New York in Fifth avenue
or Broadway as you pass their large
splendid plate-glass windows.
Never by any chance will you see
any of the diners drinking claret, OF
any other vintage that gladdens the
heart of man, and also of woman
The rosy god is absent. The inferno
and sempiternal iced water in scores o.
tumblers brimful of the atrocious stuff
only meets your astonished gaze. Cali
fornian ordinary and superior wine:
alike in the so-called French" restau
rants-a misnomer, indeed-are simply
abominable, being usually a vile com
pound of logwood, quinine, tartari,
acid, OF other chemical ingredients, a.
different from the pure and really ex
cellent vintage of Zinfandel as chalk
from Observation-Disclosures Courier.