The times., 1900-12-24
IN AN EGYPTIAN Cafe
An AIexandriau Establishment
Transferred TO New York.
Arabian Cooking Compared With the
Culinary Art as Practiced in the
Tor AIcohol-The Ethics to BE Oh
served in Smoking the NarghiIc.

Central Park and the Levantine popula
tion now domiciled in the metropolis. Ye
this is what has been done by an enter
prising Levantine who is a stalwart an,
handsome son of the East. and who. at
tired in the costume OF the desert. woul,
make an ideal sheikh or emir. He is al
most as versatile as Connecticut Yam
Ree. and belongs to the curious class il
the East which has been developed b!
Christian and Mohammedan civilization
and which combines many of the quail
ties Of both He is an athlete and aero
bat horseman, a sword-player. chef
a business manager, comprador, and &
speculator. He has made many visits tC
America and has appeared in one or an
other of his roles in most of our leading
cities. Last year he had a prosperous
season in the States and saw or fanciei
he saw a profitable opportunity in the ex-
position at Paris He was one of the
luckless army Of concessionaires who aid
ed in the magnificent failure which
marked that colossal enterprise He says
but little of his experience, treating it as
joke or as kismet. According to gar
rulous friends he and his associates
dropped many thousand dollars in the bot
tomless pit of French finance. When Au-
gust came and everyone realized that
there was no hope of success he gave up
the useless struggle and as if to compen-
safe himself for the disappointment made
flying trip with his family to the land of
his birth. From there after many happy
weeks, ne returned TO the United States.
He found TO his surprise that the Levan-
tine populatio in New York had increased
turing his absence and that the related
colonists had also grown in numbers.
There was demand for some new kind of
headquarters among his people in place of
the queer little groceries and cheap ba-
ears where, for the last five years they
had been meeting day and night
Under these auspices he opened the cafe
and club far downtown in Washington
Street. From the outside, the place looks
like Z cheap store, scarcely distinguishable
from a hundred others in the neighbor-
hood, except that the building is older and
wider than its fellows. On the sign are
Arab characters, and through the windows
may be seen black-eyed, swarthy men sit
ting al tables env7loped in an atmosphere
of blue smoke. The interior is simplicity
itself. Near the door is a tiny counter
where sits q cashier or man in charge.
His position IS nc sinecure. Besides at
tending TO the regular guests and the stray
visitors he conducts little business which
is half lunch counter and half bakery
Far back in the interior of the house is
little den with a great oven and other
cooking parapiernalia which is busy from
dawn until rightfaIl and from which
every hour are brought attractive pieces of
pastry and cake. At one time It is a
tray full Of oval confeetions like the old
fashioned French kiss: an hour afterward
fl is a Ilass of pastry similar to New Eng
s-I st4e. e..11y
gssts the French cakes known as Napo-
lecns- while a fourth is apparently an
Egyptian version OF the homemade apple
pie. All the goods are as pleasant TO the
palate as 10 The eye. The pastry is light
crisp, and fluffy
ARABS love sugar said the taciturn
cashier. 1t Is the same TO them as Ii
qnor TO Caucasians In this country. il
you leave a bottle OF wine open in your
room and near 1t a plate of sugar. the
servant VIII drink all the wine and leave
the sugar untouched IN the Arab coun-
tries, Arabia, Egypt, and Algiers. The
wine would be Untouched. and the sugar
eaten to the last atom" A careful ex-
animation of the cakes confirms his state
ment. The pastry itself is sweet On its
surface is the fine glaze which comes from
melted white sugar. The filling is sweet
10 safety, and very often there is q sauce
or syrup with the dainty which is as ssc-
eharine as molasses. An American can
seldom finish more than two of these
cakes, but the Levantine guests can eat
them slowly. hour by hour The popular
belief that sweets injure the teeth is net
borne out in The cafe. One and all of the
people there display worries which wUld
meet with the approval Of the most ca i
cal dentist. II The pastry does not alto
gether please The American palate it is
far different with the coffee. This Is
FlaHf Hfsaas
bean, which is roasted and ground to a
fine -four just before infusion II is seTv-
ed in delicate little cups. about the size
and thinness of an eggsheli No cafe in
Constantinople can surpass This honely
establishment In the quality of the beyer-
age. II Is Tot allowed TO stand upon a
stove waiting for an order while the
favor is eyapoTating and the hot water |
is extracting all the tannin from
the tissue of the bean. The water
is on the stove always boiling, the coffee |
mill IS in perfect condition ready for use
and the beans. still warm from the roast |
ing. are kept in a convenient box well |
guarded against odors, damp, and mold |
You give your order, and In an instant the |
warm beans are ground to 4 dust. which |
is placed in little pot, covered with hot I
water, brought TO boil and poured into 4
your cup. II is as thick as paint and +
when you drink il the sediment llIs one
third of the little .essel. Don't call IL !
Turkish coffee when you are there This
was done by patronizing young person
from up town the other day, and an at-
tendant, with a scowl. replied promptly: /
Turkish coffeei There is 70 such /
thing. There is Arab coffee. The arab |
discovered the bean, he cultivated il, he !
made it the best in the world he cooked /
il, he made it into drink. and then other
peoples can only copy him. The Turk does
nothing and knows nothing. He initiates
the Arab and does it so badly that when
he wants good cup of coffee he has to
hire an Arab to draw IL for him"
Arabia may not be found in the list of
nations, but it is very potent and yigor-
Gus entity, nevertheless. The men in the
cafe each and all drop their nationality
and refer to their races when asked as to |
the country from which they come This
is the busy time OF the year for the cafe !
The Arabs who perform in the circus ring
have closed their season and are now in
town. The peddlers who from spring TO
autumn. carry their picturesque wares
from summer resort to summer resort
are now in the city getting ready for the
campaign of 1901. Newcomers from the
Mediterranean arrive and settle down un-
til the day comes when they likewise can
take the road. They are a singularIy
quiet set. Like many Oricntals, they look
not upon the wine when II is red and
crafty the instructive desire for excite
ment with coffee and tobacco where the
Caucasian employs more exhilarating
coneoction. few use cigars, another
group American cigarettes. a much larger
number the cigarettes of Egypt and Asia
Minor and then. as piece de resistance,
each and all indulge in the narghile or