The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-02
LONE MANS SUMMER DINNER.
HIS RESOURCES WHILE HIS
FAMILY rs AWAY.
He May Dime SoIemnly at Club. Plainly
at n Chop House. or FrivOlOusly at a
Table d'Hote-Crowds OF Men In Res
taurants Not Seen There nj Other Times

VnDLe ~ HDtf-NFOWus OA WIFI hnUn
taurants Not Seen There at Other Time
When the good old summer time ono
sets in for fair great many men are com
PEELED TO consider the question of Dime
who at other seasons need give it no thought
Their families are away and their homes
are looked after by caretakers. who's,
greatest culinary skill is equal TO making
coffee in the morning, So the dinner n
home is an impossible function in many
cases at this season of the year
Il ia, therefore. at this time that the New
York clubs find their dining rooms IL
greatest demand. The younger members
though, are not likely to appear there more
than once n week There is "A s,berness
about il incompatible with the holiday
season.
So the majority of the diners who Sit
about the tables Of the Union, University
Calumet and Metropolitan clubs nowadays
are the more mature, if not the elderly
members OF these clubs. The younger
men prefer the greater variety, If not the
greater liveliness, of the public restaurants
There are enough restaurants Of all kinds
In New York, but in the summer the ques-
ton where shall we dine?" is heard as
frequently as if there were so few places
ms to make it difficult to decide on one in
which the food would really be good. No
city in the world offers greater variety OF
eating places or gives the guest better
chance to pick out just the kind OF dinner
he wants.
One bill of fare always has its devoted
II. To-, V,r 10 nj
the chop houses, and at least half dozen
places of this kind have been very prosper
GUS for years
In these summer days the tables are
crowded and the guests are nearly all men.
Into some of them women are not admitted
at any time,
These places offer first. chops and steaks
ms their principal feature and these viands
are cooked with the simplicity character
istic of plain horne cooking. The bills Of
fare are by no means confined to these
articles Occasionally French names. even.
appear, but in the three best chop houses
such dishes are rare. The patrons want
the best food, plainly prepared, but at the
same time we'll cooked.
In recent years. four new places have
varied somewhat the old chop or oyster
house plan. Instead Of having only the
plain dishes on their bills of fare. they
have fancy French cookery as well, They
also differ from the others in that they have
china, silver and linen of much better
character. The old-fashioned chop houses
are satisfied-and so are their patrons
with coarse china and thick linen of kind
found in no other city restaurants OF the
first class.
In these places there is comparatively
little wine drunk. 1t is high in price and
not nearly so good in quality as the wine
in the French restaurants. Ale and beer
are the most popular tipples. When the
sports come and the hour is very early in
the morning. champagne flows, too: But
for the regular crowd of diners, malt liquors
prevail.
Some Of the uptown hotels, taking adj
vantage of the masculine dinner problem
In summer, have arranged dinner which
ia served in q room devoted only to the
uses of men. In one hotel this dinner has
become SO popular that tables are not to be
had there after clock. and waiting guests
crowd the halls outside The dinner is
excellent, is French and is quite unlike the
dinner of the chop house i'll every par
ticular except the price. 1t is also mex
pensive.
The hotels that have found this summer
arrangement most profitable are those in
the residence districts of the city. Not
having to meet the competition OF res
taurants they have their dining rooms full
every night.
Three French table d'h6te restaurants
are popular with New Workers who stay
In town. They are scattered through the
city in q way that makes them accessible
from every quarter. 1t Ia the experience
fl,A
whatever the quality may be, does not
stand many repetitions in a week. Once
or twice cxhausts irs attraction for the
American
Frenchmen and other foreigners are
able to eat their way solemnly through
nine courses every day in the week, but
the New Yorker is likely to succumb after
more than two table d'hote dinners in a
week But these three French places
have their share Of the patronage Of the
diners banished from home during the
summer.
In all of these places guests have the
privilege of dining la carte, and the dining
room Of the largest Of these restaurants
in crowded every night. The younger
men are likely to predominate here, both
in the room given over chiefly to men and
in the more formal elaborate apartment
in which the prices are much higher than
anywhere else in the city.
There Is 100 mtlCn ITINOWN-frpnCh
frivolity at that--in the atmosphere TO
appeal to elderly men dining in public.
II they were TO have private room per-
baps the Gallo influence in the air of the
place might not be objectionable to them
But out in public before their friends, and
possibly even before their families, too
much suggestion of Paris is to be avoided.
So the younger men have the monopoly
Of the French places, whether they are
eating the table d'hote or trying to pick
their way through the la carte menu with
ont having to spend all their possessions 10
pay for what they get to eat.
Two h tells in New York are supplied with
restaurants so famous that they could stand
on their own popularity without the aid of
the guests OF the hotels They are patron
lied almost exclusively by New Workers..
Therefore the main dining rooms are not
crowded now.
But the rooms intended only for men are
as full as ever. They are. in fact, two Of the
most popular dining places for men in the
summer Many of the guests are representa-
tive men in their various walks Of life and
would M by any chance be seen in restau
rant during the winter.
One popularity Of mems taste in summer
shows itself strikingly in their treatment
of two restauI..Its on upper Firth avenue.
The mems cafe of the Older and more noted
place ia always crowded, and the men who
go there return night after night They are
plainly not persons who drop in accidentally.
Sometimes II is so difficult to get u table that
guests wait for half an hour in the halls
Across the street is another restaurant
provided also with a mems CATS. This
restaurant is in many ways the NEST popu
lar If Tho fashion his. rest aurantG in town