Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-29
CITY OF LUNCH ROOMS.
From Swelldom to the w heel
barrow.
ALL KINDS OF FOOD
PATRONS OF VARIOUS KINDS IN
EACH OF MANY PLACES.
Meals at From Three Cents to Five
Dollars Each-Hog Face to
Terrapin.
ALL KINDS OF FOOD

Washington has been called the city Of
boarding houses and hotels. 1t is also q
city of lunch rooms. Beginning with the
fashionable establishments in West Wash
ington. the scale can be descended to the
perambulating wheelbarrow outfits which
can be found in the vicinity of Center mar
ket and the cellar lunch rooms in South
Washington. Following the scale upward.
a meal can be obtained in this city from 8
cents to So; from hog face and corn dodger
to all the delcacies Of the season. pre-
pared as only French chef can prepare
them. What contrast between the i'm
maculate linen, the polished silverware ard
glistening china of an uptown cafe and
the rough pine table covered with soiled
and bruised oil cloth, cracked and griEJ
plates and rusty forks. knives and spoons
of the lunch rooms of the other half"
A necessity exists for this multiplicity Of
lunch rooms or they would not continue in
business. Two of the principal causes for
their existence is the large number of tndi-
vidual visitors to the capital and the fire.
quent large excursion parties. Then. too
many government employees prefer taxing
their meals in the outside dining rooms to
combining themselves to boarding house
routine and regulations.
One of the oldest lunch rooms which
caters to the other half Ia located In South
Washington 1t Is located In grimy base
ment. the interior of which Is almost as
dismal as vault, being smoky and cob
webby The table is a rough plank nailed
against the wall. with an equally rude
bench running before 1t, upon which the
patrons sit. Two Pickering Oil lamps fur
nish dim illumination night and day. The
proprietor is venerable colored man. q
relic of slavery days, who Is known as
Uncle Dick The most interesting fea-
ture of this dingy place is the signboard.
which in ill-shapen letters reads:
sIrrySt91 Palace Ca
Uncle Dicks menu usually calls for hog
face and hominy, chittlins, pigs feet. cab
bage. beans and the Omnipresent corn
bread. His scale Of prices runs from to
10 cents a meal. For 10 cents the patron
can get 1.-THE best in the shop" For 3
cents is given a slice of corn dodger." as
the corn bread is designated, and a small
portion Of beans. This is the cheapest lunch
these basement cafes here and they have
proved to be godsend to the poorer ele-
ment of negroes.
The Pig Feet Shops.
Then there are the pig feet shops, where
pigs feet and pies, pop and lemonade are
dispensed, and in some instances, on Sum
days. beverages of a more violent nature.
Occasionally the police raid one of theye
places and find in them liberal supply Of
cheap and fiery grades of whisky and gin,
which Is dispensed to the Sunday trade. A
poHceman, IN describing brand or liquor
captured in recent raid. said:
1T would make man go home and whip
his mother or burn down the house,
The perambulating lunch dispensers or
'open-air cafes are another distinctive
class in the category. There Is an old col
ored woman who uses a discarded baby
carriage her lunch room and has
charcoal fire in an old tin pail to warm
her provender. Her stamping ground is on
B street in the vicinity of Center market.
This old woman Is a good commissariat
for she buys but little Of the supplies she
puts upon her table She has with her q
granddaughter about fifteen years Of age.
who, basket in hand. gathers up discarded
cabbage leaves and partly spoiled vege-
tables that are thrown away by the coun-
trymen whose wagons form a long line on
B street every market day. These she pre-
pares in different styles and her menu
is an ever-changing one. Much Of the
meat she uses Is begged from the butchers
in the market or purchased at bed rock
prices When a reporter visited her yes
terday she was bending over a pot on her
fire preparing a dish Of mystery for the
noon rush of patrons. ......
What are you making. auntie?" she
was asked. -
Dis am Varginny slum," she replied:
IAN l tells yer honey, 1t will stick to yer
ribs: deed it will"
What Is it composed off,
Yer means what does / put in It? Well
OATS er secret but l doan' min tellin' yer
Fust. dar am chopped cabbidge, den inions,