Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-24

For thirty years, until the fire, San
Francisco has been known for the
number, the excellence and the cheap
ness of its restaurants. Its reputation
has extended to the uttermost parts of
the earth for being the home of the
cook and the land of the connoisseur.
Men who had once tasted the viands
of the Poodle Dog, of Jules, of Del
monico's, OF Marchand's, of Zinkand's,
of the Louvre, of the hundred and one
famous places for diners, never forgot.
Now, when ashes mark the scenes of
past feasts and revels gone. when the
strip of bacon and the egg turned over
are the chief articles on the bill of fare,
the people of San Francisco still do
not forget, cheerfully as they accept
the change.
AS was natural in q city humming
with people of every nationality, Civ
ing hospitality to folk of all tastes, San
Francisco's restaurants fell into
classes-not divided by excellence of
food so much as by the character of
those who frequented them and the at
mosphere they cultivated. OF the
many classes the best known was that
called the French. 1t included in par
tcular the Poodle Dogs, old and new;
Delmonico's, Marchands, the Bay
State and Techau Tavern, not to speak
OF others of equal excellence and lesser
reputation. These might be described
as not only very nice, but also
naughty. Not that theirs was ground
floor naughtiness. Virtue reigned
there. At night, however, the passer-
by heard from the floors above the
sound of light laughter and siren song,
the click of glasses and the popping of
oorks Hence the tradition that one
should not judge of a restaurant by
what one saw through the plate glass
windows on the street.
From the crowded streets in the
quarter of town where these were
there was continuous chain of good
places to dine, clear to the wholesale
district, Wherever one was in San
Francisco. it was only necessary to go
around the corner to get a good meal,
with good wine and pleasant company.
The next class in point of fame
were the numerous ones of the Latin
Quarter. Most of them were Italian,
like Sanguinetti's, the Roma and Flor
d'italia. Two of the most popular were
Mexican, one French, and all of a class
peculiar to San Francisco, both in their
clientele and i'll their service. And all,
like the So-called French restaurants,
catered to those cheerful souls who
love good dinner and wine, with se-
lect companions, in the quiet of lit
tie dining room.
Beyond these was the vast horde of
small eating houses, noted in their
own neighborhood for the excellence of
some particular dish. These numbered
hundreds.
There were places wholly apart from
these, however, like the Palace hotel
grill, where the meals and the service
were the main thing. and the most fas-
tidious moralist could find nothing at
which to tilt his nose. Or places like
Wheelan & Collins, devoted to the sat
isfaction of epicures, who found a
good dish, supremely cooked, joy for
ever even if eaten from a high stool,
whence one saw the mysteries of the
grill
They are all gone. There are no au-
tomobiles in front of the Poodle Dog.
The lights are out in Marchand's and
the discreet walters have vanished
Zinkand's $ is gone, too, with the Louvre
and the Tavern, and the theater crowds
that thronged them. The steps into the
Cafe Fiesta are dusty and its foun-
tains no longer play. Matias, in the
other end of town. no longer serves
tamales and thick wine, graced With
Latin proverbs. The crowd in Coppa' S
is dispersed. and those late revelers