The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-02
OF THE TABLE D'H0TE
NOT Always ALIKE ~ QUALITY ~
PRICES ARE EQUAL.
Many Grades Of the Meal Are furnished Ihtee
varied Dinner. That cost the san'e Pr'oe
difference In Their Character-on cooo
Meal 20 lie Had at a Very small sum

Now, don't tell anybody" said the man
who had Just written an address on a caro-,
"ror there Is no use having tie place spol"u
any sooner than necessary. That ~ bouho 70
come anyhow. BUTT might a. well he postponed
I a. long as possible. Take your own pnrueS
there. but don't tell n lot Of other people about
IT,"
The address which the man had written on
a card indicated the whereabouts OF q smali
Italian restaurant. II Is far out OF me beateh
track Of travel on a side street, and the pro-
prietor who selected such "A site would nave
been thought ordinarily TO have taken every
precaution To make failure certain. One OF the
few surviving horse-car lines still in the city
passed his door. This seemed a possible advar-
tage. But that would not have done much
10 increase his business as no sign is visible
on the front Of the ld-fashioned. red-brick
house. one sees through the open windows
the rows Of small tables In the dining room,
But there Is no other visible intimauon OF the
houses character. The rooms upstairs are
| occupied by the permanent boarders IN the
| house. and IL was in reality for their benefit
that the dinner was first served. Outsiders
| came 10 eat IL. and In that way the good repute
Of the place spread until is regular dining
clientele IL now much larger than the number
OF its boarders.
The man who had told his friend Of the place
and then enjoined secrecy on him was one
whose means required him TO be prudent in the
amount Of his expenditures for living. lie had
To find the cheap place and believed that the
forty-cent dinner served at the little italian
hotel was the cheapest and best that had re-
Gently come into view The number of places
at which cheap dinners are served is really
limited and persons who live in restaurants
soon come to know the regular round. The
man who had learned Of the new hotel did not
care to see the price advanced % per cent,
within n month after strangers began to
crowd the dining room. He had known this
TO happen before in restaurants that had be-
come popular and talked about. He also pre-
! ferred to be treated with the politeness that
| was shown 70 him at the time in the restaurant.
He knew from experience that old customers
Of such places receive scant attention when the
| invasion Of persons who hre not particular
| about the cost Of their dinner once begins.
When the walters begin to receive tips nearly
a. large as the price Of the meal and the Gus
| tomary red wine Is supplanted bv champagne
old customers. who have to be- economical, are
| not regarded with much favor any longer It
is natural enough for the proprietor to Cevote
his attention chiefly to. ANY mov"lent that
| Increases his business Every cheap restau-
rant of the kind vaguely called Bohemian has
| lS group OF Ola tlNlpIlltlNf WHO Sl db'bN anu
| talk in disgruntle fashion of the way they are
ignored for tho newcomers with money. But
| that never serves 10 bring back the landlords
diverted attention. so long as the weather
guests continue to spend their money,
The restaurant in question, like a great many
| that give a dinner for "a small price. proved very
much more satisfactory on "A first visit than at
any subsequent time. 1t offered the customary
soup. entrfe and roast. There was sometimes
fish. the waiter said, in place OF the entree.
but persons acquainted with the peCuliartties
Of cheap table dhoteS; would rarely, bem4an
served at most ftalian dinners. was excellent
The entrees at the Italian places are likely to
be good on account Of the skli OF ne cooks
| savoTy dishes There was usually spaghetti
dressed with cheese and butter or tomatoes
| and that was good. The potatoes and spinach
were excellent and the meat poor. The pint
of red wine was Of a very much diluted California
vintage The quality OF the food. however,
and the fact that the place IS new have helped
now IS confined almost exclusively TO those
persons who 60 TO the place because II Is cheap
and would leave If IL were expensive. They
belong to a particular stratum Of New York
in which the news Of such a restaurant travels
quickly and its existence is soon known II
more general popularity comes TO II and the
| prices are raised the present patrons viii 20
somewhere else. leaving the place to the newer
make the proprietor rich II he continues to please
them.
| so far as II is affected by the table dhote has
declared his indifference to the place in which
/ he eats q nttN-Cent dinner on tne grOunQ tnat Ie
price of good food Is the same practically every
where. and that a mere variation IN the topo-
graphical position Of = IfsLanrGnt G0uId not
the dinner. He admitted that the cooking
might be better In, one place, than another,
although the material on which the cooks had TO
work Was certain TO be about the same every
| where Even the least well .lniormSd among the
men who regularly eat table dh0te dinners
theory. When the price Is the same in two
places there may be al ne dlneTence IN ule
character OF the meal that distinguishes a good
i know OF three places said a man famil-
lar for years with New. York restaurants of
this kind, which ask about the same price,
| 90 cent, for the dinner. one charges five cents
extra for a pint Of California wine mixed with
| water. one of the others supplies a similar
/ mint Of wine with the dinner, while the third
| gives no vine al all. This Is really a very small
difference. as the wine Is N al, probabi lity the
| very cheapest item on the bill in any case.
| Tho din erenc e in the quality q these dinners
IL so great that it seems incredible they should
all be sold for the same price, One al them
IS downright poor. | have never found but
| one course which could be called good at any
! time and that was the soup. The other Tea,
lures Of the bill of fare are poor III quality aud
are badly prepared. In spite Of this the place
has a reputation and a large clientele. 1t
wei conducted, and nobody can blame the pro-
prietor for not attempting 70 improve matters
So long as the public is satisfied with the con-
dition of affairs. The second Of these places
gives an ordinary Italian table dh6te dinner that.
except for one dish, would not in the least diner
from the customary sIttlllbl, Bul TINS one
dish Is good enough to give a positive quality
of merit 10 the dinner and put il almost In a
class bv itself. This dish Is the spaghetti and
deliciously cooked il Is and served with either
cheese and butter or tomatoes. That one course
makes this meal highly popular, although there
Is scarcely anything else on the bill Of fare
that a person would care TO eat. These two
dinners are enough in themselves to disprove
the theory that a dinner at a certain price can
have but one invariable quality. There il
still stronger evidence Of this fact in the quality
Of an East Side table d'hOte which only costs
30 cents. II IL worth three times as much
as either of these other two dinners, although
II costs just the same price. Every course Of
II can be eaten and nearly every one Of them
will he found excellent. II there Is
any respect in which the others are
superior 10 Il. that might be in the size Of the
portions. They are smaller at the good dinner,
which is not. by the way, Italian, but Hungarian
Not only Is food served there Of good quality. but
IL Is sxcellently cooked, OF course, In national
fashion. | have never known Of any dinner
at the price that equalled this one. whatever
the nationality of the establishment might he.
New York has no restaurant that ATTEMPTS
to offer a cheap English dinner in spite Of The
talk heard OF the demand here for such a meal.
One often hears that a table d'h6te which offered
a good soup. roast and salad would be very
profitable here. But / doubt very much II
that is true. IL would be impossible TO give
good roast beef. for instance, AZ any 50-cent
dinner, 1t is good meat that IN New York costs