The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-05
tho hotels had not learned to sacrifice
oovpfort 70 arIoolnr

tho hotels had not learned to sacrifice
comfort to splendor.
There comes to the nostrils the peculiar,
musty odor Of MoRETTIs, up dingy stairs
on tho south side Of East Fourteenth
street, Every table dhote place used to
have bouquet OF its own. A blind man
could tell French from an Italian res
taurant, and MoRETTI' g from all He was
patriot, and many an Italian exile ana
revolutonist tasted his food and bounty.
OF the pictures on the walls we now recall
only the Gentleman King, with his mex
pressibly bristlng and ferocious MUS
tachios. GARIBALDI must have been
there, but VICTOR EMMANUEL is stamped
upon the memory, so many other Italian
gentlemen, tremendous OF mustachlo'
used to frequent tn, place, twirl the
spaghetti with incredible dexterity and
toss it in. past those hirsute hedges.
Spaghetti and powdered cheese! We're
there ever anywhere else such vast plat
ters Of spaghetti, tender as first love,
sweet beyond comparison, dream and
a delight forever? Certain old dodder-
ers talk about the spaghetti that is, or
was, served at a certain tavern in Ho-
boken. We have taken the ocean voy-
age to that beer-girdled city, but the
spaghetti was only meritorious. Spa
ghett like MoRETTI's will never be found
again on earth. As for those agreeable
men of straw, the TASKS of Chanti-ah,
youth. youth! all heart and still uncon-
scious Of liver, why art thou gone? For
our own satisfaction we must here set
down that Time is an imbecile and
jackass.
MoRETTI used to say that he never
made cent on the dinner which he
served for dollar. To recompense
himself he depended upon his wines and
cordials: but his diners were largely
Latin and frugal, and the characteristic
odor of his rooms was not that OF burn
ing money. He gave too much for din
ner, and everything was good. He gave
you a real succulent half chicken, for
instance. not the mummy-and-ha ircloth
Of the ordinary ordinary. He prepared
kidneys in many excellent fashions, and
especially miraculous saute. Most
table hote dinners have their uses as
means of Christening and dsciplining.
They teach humble resignation and faith
in the unknown. MoRETTIs dinner was
acceptable from start to finish. In those
days people did not feed upon upholstery,
orchestras, marble and ONYX.
JENNY LIND, little PATTI and broad
PAREPA were assets Of that modest estab-
lishment. Tenors with all their music in
them, copious sopranos, impresarios,
managers. sub-managers, a whole world
ofsong and box-office playedthe knifeand
fork especially the former, in MoRETTIs.
In those days tour in Fourteenth street
reached all the way from La Scala TO
Covent Garden. Did they pay as we'll as
they ate, those melodious customers?
Who knows? MoRETTI never seemed to
care. He never cared for anything.
If you were satisfied, all right. If you
were not, so much the worse for you.
Don't trouble yourself to come again.
There were all sorts of customers, but
we choose to remember MoRETT1's oper-
attic friends. Most of them are gone.
There will be as good to take their places,
but MoRETTI's spaghetti will remain sole
and unmatchable. We can see him in his
smiling in his happy-go-
lucky way. greeting his friends at the
tables, taking a little glass of maraschino.
perhaps If he likes you, he may sit
down with you; and then he will be
pretty sure to send out for mushrooms,
asparagus, strawberries. something ut
tery out Of season and likely to cost
more than you will pay for the dinner
" Old MoRETTI? What the mischief
right has MoRETTI to be old? We don't
believe it.