The San Francisco call., 1896-02-04
CHEFS IN NEW YORK.
They Are Generally Persons of Con
sideration.

They Are Generally Persons of Com
sideration.
Cooks were men of high pay and much
distinction in old Greek days, and they
have come to be persons of consideration
in modern New York. When a man
lunching at club the other day found
particular dish especially to his taste ne
asked with some hesitation whether the
cook could be persuaded to reveal the
secret of its composition. The head waiter
thought he might and und ertook to be the
diplomatic intermediary between the din
lng-room and the kitchen. There came in
reply an inquiry from the gentleman below
stairs as to whether the gentleman above
stairs could read French, and when this
query had been answered in the affirma-
tive, there came from the neither region
the recipe, neatly written and well ex-
pressed IN that language, upon the note
paper of the club. The club mem Der Sc MT
his respects and acknowledgment to the
invisible potentate of the kitchen, and
thus an agreeable incident came to an end.
Nearly all clubs and considerable hotels
have French cooks, male, of course,
though it is usual in small clubs to employ
as second cook a woman. The chef in y
large CLUB mas as many assistants as lie
demands, and is a parsonage OF the high
est consideration, well paid, much deferred
to, and, as far as possible, conc1liated.
OOOkS udlHIdli tnelT repQCa-
tion for i'll temper, and the COM
pany in the luncheon room of
Fifth avenue Grub was startled one
day TO see some sort of kitchen underling
burst into the apartment. actively pu--
sued by the raging cook, butcher-knife in
hand. bent upon doing execution upon the
frightened offender. A good club cook
costs from $3.50 to $1,000 year, and there
are some who receive much higher salaries
One finds in some of the smaller French
restaurants woman cook, perhaps the
wife of the proprietor, tireless creature.
who labors late and early, and manages
by her peculiar gift to confer a special
reputation upon the place. A wife such
as that is an unspeakable treasure to any
restaurant-keeper, for not only does she
do the work of q skilled and well-paid
man, and keep it up for twice as many
hours as he can be induced to stay in the
kitchen, but, above all, the cooks that are
at the same time wives, whatever their
peculiar traits, and however ill their tenn
pers, do not 'give notice." The services
of such wife can hardly be valued in
money, and widowed indeed is the man
that loses her.
A pleasing feature of reasturant that
has now; alas, deserted the old French
quarter for the new was the occasional
presence of the cook, clad all in white, his
paper hat on his head, in the dining
room among the guests. He knew
it was his custom to honor one or
another by taking a seat at his side
and entering into conversation. The
chef in most clubs, hotels and restaurants
is an object of awe to all his fellow serv-
ants, if, indeed, the cook may, even by
implication, be called a. servant. His
moods are watched, his moments of rage
are induiged. The waiter that must carry
to the kitchen dish that has been re-
jected in the diningroom sneaks in
with fear and trembling and endeavors
to propitiate him whose art has been
called in question. The cook comes in for
a large share of the Christmas box at every
to ne aS Of pf 1be cnn and
stranger even to the House Committee, he
is known by his deeds and he stands firmly
for all his rights and privileges. To dis
miss so great man is duty that few care
to take upon themselves, and 10 admonish
him is the most delicate and diplomatic of
tasks.-The Sun.