New-York tribune., 1905-01-16


restaurant proprietors TO keep clearly in mind
the determination TO give their clients whole
some food. III ] dine with Smith ct his house
tonight, his only obligation is to send me to bed
pleased with him, with myself, ard with the
world ut large. Whether have = good appetite
Or headache when ] dine with Jones the next
night is no concern Of Smiths Bat the restaurant
manager-unlil1o any private host whom havo
yet been fortunate enough to meet-would 20
enchanted that should dine under his roof seven
nights week, all the year round and head
waiter who knows his business VIII never suggest,
when the ordering of dinner is left TO him, tho
Kind Of feast that forecasts repentance for the
morrow. have explained in IN earlier chapter
OF these notes that ignorant Enkeopers Of the old
school are chiefly to blame for tho neglect which
ciarets have so long suffered in England In the
same way. tho hotcl-proprietor who reluctantly
abandoned the dingy coffee room, the sleepy old
waiter with tho rJImplcd shirt front, the watery
joint, the waxy potato, and tho bottle of fery
port, began his innovations by employing a run
away Neapolitan sailor as cook, and o brieand
from the Corsican Mats as head waiter. And in
the seventies we naturally displayed g certain
condescension toward the foreigner - in our
attitude toward such so-called French cooking.
The novelty we were then offered was change
from the butchers shop to the catSmeat shop
from the old-fashioned, oftener-b -baked-than-
roasted, joint to more pretentiOus but no less
atrocious diet. To-day, any one who knows his
London realizes that really good French cooking
than the antique English cooking. At the
Savoy and either Of its allied restaurants
Claridges and the Berkeley-one does not find
roasted meat, grilled meat, and boiled meat to
De the only possible conestibles. / wonder some
times, as leave it to the head waiter to select
my dinner, If there is any limit to his knowledge
OF practical 'dietetics. He knows more than do,
and have spent not few hours Of some Paris
years In trying to learn how to order dinner.
He does not generalize, but as look back over
b6v - h
service at the Savoy, / think it might all be
summed up in this dogma -
(1) Dinner lasts an hour or ftco: tn.
miseries Of Indigestion may be tcith US long
after 1re hcre ceased to remember that lre en-
3oyed dinner.
(2) 4 long dinater is bad dinner merely
because It IS long. 1t is the business of q head
scatter to induce people to spend rnone1y but
If he takes Intelligent pielv OF his functions
he regards each chance risitor 10 the restaurant
as person lrho may become q regular client
There are IondoRerS iCho dine at the same
tables IN the SGroy> Restaurant almost euer1f
night in the gear; and 4Chen then Iecre to the
head tcoiter the responsibility Of ordering q
dinner for them, they confde themselves to an
expert tUho tcilI overload their digestire
polcers than trould the manager Of the Saroy
Hotel drirc people Guay from his rooms by
insisting that man shall hare t,Uenty blankets
on his bed
(3) 1t is in TIE potrer Of the head trriter to-
offer many kinds Of food that are at once in
expensive, agreeable, nutritious and digcstible
yet that, for rGri0us reasons, c1nnOt be
serred iHl private house. No matter
at the SGuoy, ClGridge's, or the BerIele1f is so
misguided 0s to urge people TO spend more
money than they care to spend. The restati-
rants maize less profit upon ezpenSiue dishes
than upon those Of moderate price Turtle
soup, tTnfed fo1rIs ortolaRs asparagus
out OF season, and hothouss frrit fnng brinq
the price Of a dinner to oUe1 thirty sIli!ltngs O
head, and get not yield Gs much profit to the
restaurant dinner costing less than half
as much. The people 1oho supply these rGre
delicncieS 70 hotels no doubt make q QCod profit
but the prices the hotel pays to- them are so
much higher than the public suppose them to
be, that II the restaurant charged fair profit
t,pon tLeTn clients srould protest. EUen though
1t IS practice for these restaurants to make
little or no profit upon the sale Of such deli
cacies, rTdng clients think that, for example
eight shilljngs IS on extortionGfe price for
bundle Of asparagus (SeTred tcith both Sauce
Mousseltne containing much more than pertn1-
tcortb Of " double cream 7" and +cith melted
butter trorth three sl.iIlinqs q poltnd). Yet
they tcould find at Vest End shops that the
same asparagus .tHcooked cost seuep &lsIItngs
and sirpence.
begin my study of the Savoy price list by an
analysis OF the simplest kind Of q repast.
WhenI pay . guinea, or, more probably, twenty
three shillings, for two stalls at the theatre,
know that shall no doubt spend half-a-erown more
nt the theatre for incidentals in addition pro-
badly enough, retaining seats for the Savoy FIVE
shilling supper after the theatre. The even
ings amusement for myself and the friend who
accompanies me thus costs about two guineas with
out considering the question Of dinner, so that
certainly have wish to make this latter item a
large one. Personally, like very well to dine
In the Savoy Grill Room on such an occasion, and
If do that, reasonable order for two persons |
who desire &c reserve so-ae appetite for supper
would probably result in bill about as follows -