The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-28
In GERMAN NEW YORK.
Pleasant Little Bakery Shops and
Wine Stubens for Germans Only.


New York Mail and Express.
The regular restaurant does not specially
flourish in the German quarter, because its
inhabitants are largely home-loving peo-
pie, who dine out only upon gala occasions
The luncheon in the rear of pastry shop
istic of the region. Through a show win
dow piled high with fifty kinds of cakes
and bread, pies, buildings and tarts, one
catches faint glimpses of the company TAX
ing their little meals. You may have
breakfast here, If you WILL eggs and rolls
and bacon and coffee, or you may dine
after modest fashion. If you insist; but
the chief meal served is luncheon. Hither
come business men and women of the
neighborhood, strangers accidentally visit
ing the quarter. residents whose families
others who wish a light meal at moder-
ate price. Excellent coffee and the best of
chocolate are served at and 10 cents a
cup. Another beverage Is hot milk a gen.
erous glass, with three Jumps of sugar in
the saucer for those who like it sweet.
Here at the noon hour men and women
talk and read over their luncheon. The
German comic papers are provided as an
aid to digestion, and If you look into the
little bookcase you may, perhaps, find the
works of Goethe and Schiller. The place
is very quiet. The women here, in spite
OF the tempting array of pastry eat SUBJ
stantial meals. 1t matters not that the
china is the coarsest, of smooth white
earthen ware, so heavy that the most care
less servant is not likely to break it in
the washing; it matters not that a knife
only is habitually served with the pie, and
is used in a somewhat alarming fashion by
some of the guests.
While the meal goes on the ordinary bust
ness of the bakery is uninterrupted. Chill
dren of the neighborhood come in for fresh
luncheon rolls or pastry; zwiebach is sold
over the counter for invalids; elaborate
wedding cakes are boxed and sent off to
their destination. The family. usually a
large one. comes in to eat along with the
guests, gratifying evidence of good faith.
Loutish apprentices from the bakery some
where in the bowels of the earth come to
the surface in their undershirts and lounge
for a moment in the shop. No fastidious
person objects to their presence; it is rec
ognized that the restaurant is an adjunct
TO the bakery and as such must not be per-
latter.
More characteristic of the region than
either the restaurants the bakeries are
the vein stuben. These are of all sizes,
from coy little place where half a dozen
old cronies meet daily for a glass of wine
with their luncheon to hall big enough to
seat 200 patrons. The little vein stuben
have peculiarly old world flavor. Doubt
less the Germans first gave New York the
free lunch, but they. never expected it TO
develop into its modern dimensions. The
original rudimertary free lunch may yet be
seen in these little vein stuben-three or
four varieties OF cheese, little rye bread,
perhaps bunch of raw onions or some
other green thing in season-tbis form of
luncheon is born of the reasonable German
theory that a man should always eat when
he drinks; that is, that alcoholic beverages
should not be taken on an empty stomach.
The frequenters of the little vein stuben,
where the whole family of the proprietor is
likely TO appear from time to time in the
course of the day. where the hausvrow sits
knitting her husbands stockings and the
children present themselves TO be kissed as
they hasten off 10 school, has a warm place
in the affections OF the German quarter
Here little knots gather in summer and in
winter 10 talk politics or exchange the gos-
sip of the quarter. A stranger finds himself
somewhat an object of suspicion and appar-
emily not altogether welcome even TO the
proprietor whose Golfers he helps to FILL