The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-02-29
CHEFS OF NEW YORK.
Important Personages In Clubs--Valuable
Wive, Who Are Cooks.

Important PeIsonages In Clubs--'aluable
Wive, Who Are Cooks.
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 n man, lunching at club the
other day, found particular dish
especially to his taste, he asked,
with some hesitation, whether the
cook could be persuaded to reveal
tho secret of its composition, The
head waiter thought he might and
undertook to be the diplomatic in
termediary between the dining room
and tho kitchen. There came in re-
ply an inquiry from the gentleman
below stairs as to whether the gen.
tleman above stairs could read
French, and when this query had
been answered in the affirmative
there came from the neither region
the recipe, neatly written and well
expressed in that language, upon
the note paper of the club. The club
member sent his respects and ac-
acknowledgements to the invisible po-
tentate 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 a largo club has
as many assistants as he demands
and is a parsonage of the highest
consideration, well paid, much de-
ferred to, and, as far as possible, con-
ciliated. Cooks maintain their an
cient reputation for i'll temper, and
the company in the lancheon room
of Fifth avenue club was startled
one day to see some sort of kitchen
underling burst into the apartment,
actively pursued by tho raging cook,
butcher knife in hand, bent upon
doing execution upon the frightened
offender. A good club cook costs
from $3.50 to 81, 200a year, and there
are some who receive much higher
salaries
One finds in some Of the smaller
French restaurants a woman cook,
perhaps tho wife of the proprietor,
a tireless creature who labors late
and early and manages by her pecul-
lar gift to confer special reputa-
ton 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 skilled
and well paid man and keep it up
for twice as many hours as he can
be induced to stay in tho kitchen,
but, above ali, the cooks that are at
the same time wives, whatever Their
peculiar traits and however i'll their
tempers. do not give notice" The
services Of such wife can hardly
be valued in money, and widowed
indeed is tho man that loses her.
A pleasing feature of a restaurant
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 some of the regu
lar patrons, and it was his custom
to honor one or another by taking 6
seat at his side and entering into
conversation. The chef in most
clubs, hotels and restaurants is ar
object of awe to all his fellow serv.
ants, if indeed tho cook may, ever
by implication, be called q servant
His moods are watched his moment.
of rage are indulged. The waiter
that must carry to the kitchen {
dish that has been rejected in the
dining room sneaks in with fear anC
trembling and endeavors to propiti
ate him whose art has been called il
question. The cook comes in for {
large share of the Christmas box al
every club. Though he may be un
known by sight to any member o
the club, and stranger even to TIT
house committee, he is known by
his deeds, and he stands firmly fol
all his rights and privileges. To dis
miss so great a man is duty tha
few care to take upon themselves
and to admonish him is the mos
delicate and diplomatic of tasks -
New York SIM