The sun., 1908-12-20

are rather French than national In char
acter. New York's Italian restaurants
are distinctly cheaper than the average
in price. and TO that characteristic much
Of their success is due
Yet-it Is not certain that mere cheap
ness could have acquired for them their
popularity. 1t is the excellent tasto OF
the food in addition to its prioc that puts
everybody on the side Of the Italian
cook when there Is little money to be
invested in a meal
| The cheapness of the Italian restaurants
is one OF the features Of their present
renaissance. The first Italian restaurant
popular here always offered a table d'hote
at prices that ranged from 81 to N.2S.
The average price OF an Italian table
d'hote dinner to-day is half As much.
Il remember that in the early sos, ;" said
the manager of one Of the hotel restau-
rants, @the foremost OF the Italian
| table d'hote restaurants was run by a
man named Martinelli. who had a large.
old fashioned browhstone house on the
north side of Union square and charged
for his dinner 81 or s1.?5.
-The most powerful rival Of Marti-
nelli In those days was Moretti. who had
his place on the second floor OF house
ON Fourte,, nth street opposite Tamrnany
| Hall. He was primarily there to feed
the Italian singers who were appearing
at the Academy of Music.
He gave large amounts Of food, very
we'll cooked, good in quality and always
accompanied by very fine rsotto.
which was about the best thing he turned
out. Then he included good wine. There
was little or no attention paid to service
and the incidental features of the meal
were not attractive.
yet so good was the food and so ex-
tremely generous the supply Of 1t that for
years he prospered. Later he moved
uptown. met with failure there and was
sent home by a committee OF his friends,
and when he came back from Italy to try
| it again he met with no success.
-He charged dollar and sometimes
added an extra quarter to that. He
was not alone in failing TO keep the Italian
dinner up to that standard.
| "Morello. one OF his contemporaries.
built new place uptown and nobody
would pattonize IL The Italian dinner
had distinctly passed out Of the dollar
class. There was plenty Of room for
it, but not at, that price. That is paid
nowadays for the French table d'hote,
but not for the Italian, which must be
considered as standing on @ chea per
basis"
1t is not the Italian table d'hote alone
that has brought about the demand for
Italian restaurants In those downtown
neighborhoods that assure them dis
tinotly Italian patronage the table d'h6te
is unknown. Customers there order
from the card.
The menus In the places about Grand
and Broome streets and even up on
Lafayette street offer a list of dishes not
changed by the least intrusion Of Anieri-
can ideas. Uptown there are dishes
that are never put on the bills Of fare
for those who desire only Italian food.
and they are necessary for the American
patrons who hear that there Is a good and
cheap Italian restaurant and 60 there and
demand after a short time dishes that
were never heard of before on any part
Of the Italic peninsula.
1T always means the death Of an Italian
restaurant said one proprietor. who
still has patrons enough Of his own ma
tlonality 10 be independent OF his Ameri-
can customers. to listen TO the requests
of those who want other food than that
of which he makes q specially,
Somebody tells an American customer
Of my place. for instance, as being good
and cheap. He comes. orders the Italian
food and likes it and then comes more
and more frequently. After while he
gets weary of Italian dishes and longs
for something native. ..
He wants the proprietor TO put American
dishes on the bill Of fare, and n the proprie-
tor has had less experience than have In
such matters he consents. IL 10 more
than probable that this dish will not be
as good as an American cook would make
it, After few trials OF this kind Of food,
which he had hoped would be as good and
as cheap as the Italian dishes. the GUS
toner is disappointed and goes some
where else
THAT is the reason why no italian
restaurant d In carte Of the first class has
ever been attempted here. Americans
who are willing to pay large sums do not
want exclusively Italian dishes. They
insist upon having so many French and
national character.
They 20 to an Italian restaurant where
the veal Will be better than any they could
find elsewhere in New York and they will
order chicken en- casserole or sole au vim
blanc. Or they will want sirloin steak
WIFI vi Coufoc tiioeo al o
not the sort of dishes that italian cooks
| can prepare.
What the Italian restaurant does is
| to put the dishes that appeal to New York
taste on the bill Of fare OF the table d'hote.
That suffices to please those who want
something Of the ordinary kind of foqd
with liberal allowance OF what 10 pecA-
liarly italian. In that way they are
pleased, while the 'uncompromising Ital-
ians are able to get what they want by
ordering II. Il. flai q =
'In that way the taste Of all my patrons
patronage OF those customers who como
here because they want italian cooking
good and cheap and then leave me because
Il is not possible TO get American dishes
on Just the same terms" tsft
Italian restaurants are able to alye
| Better return for the money than the
other eating places OF moderate price
because they are accustomed to make
their best dishes out Of m eats that are not
the most expensive in this country. As
an example OF one Of their best and cheap
est courses one need only take mine
strone, the popular Italian soup. z
| IL is a rich brew filed with tomatoes,
black beans. cabbage and herbs that are
in combination extremely savory and
| filing. IL may be had with macaroni In
| 10 o, the small Italian paste.
or course both spaghetti and mAcafoni
are the cheapest articles OF food that
can be cook ed. and whether they are served
with meat sauce, a chopped up poupy
compound with the meat cut very small,