Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-19
RENAISSANCE OF FREE LUNCH
Bar Room Spreads Are More Elabo.
rate Than Ever.
MENUS THAT TEMPT DYsPEPr1Cs
seven Lean Years OF Crackers and
Cheese Followed by an Abun-
dance Never Matched In
the old Days.

NEW YORK. sept B-rhe renais-
sance Of the free lunch in New
York has reached such a stage that
it is not to be overlooked any longer as a
phenomenon Of city life. There are few
hotels now so far behind the times as to
De content with a few musty ~pretzels OF
h~liiputtan proportions, a cut Of American
cheese and a few waterlogged olives. The
day has passed for such economy. There
was never a time when the lunch provided
gratuitously was a more elaborate affair.
My free lunch said the proprietor OF
a hotel who puts up an attractive spread
Tor his patrons, but by no means one OF
the most elaborate In town. got to cost
ing me from $S5 to $40 a day and so far
as ] could see there was no proportionate
increase in the takings at the bar. [
couldn't understand how so much could be
spent in other bar rooms for free lunch
when there was no noticeable Increase in
the patrons.
Finally ! discovered now the thing was
worked. There were two walters who
served customers who preferred to take
their drinks at the tables. These men
served the customers who tipped them
well with all the food they could eat. The
result of their Partially was a large cli-
eGteie OF patrons who bought a glass OF
beer which meant 10 cents to us and who
by giving 25 cents to the waiter got all
the food they wanted.
Another Expensive Graft.
That was not the only way IN which
the walters used the lunch to their own
financial profit. office boys used to oo,ae
in from the buildings in the neighborhood
give the waiter a quarter and carry Off
half a dozen roast beef or chicken sand
wiehes. or course, that was a dead loss
to the house, as We did not even get the
price of a glass Of beer.
i reorganized the free lunch depart
ment by hiring a carver who not only cut
the meat but also served it on a plate
to the patrons who wanted something to
eat with their drinks. That worked like
a charm. The average cost Of the free
lutch went down to about S25 a day and
the bar business jumped up, because every
body got a chance to try the lunch and it
was not kept for the few who tipped the
walters literally"
Ten years ago scarcely a hotel barroom
in New York OF the first-class troubled
itself about providing anything. elaborate
in the way of a free lunch. The old Gilsey
house held on to its famous sausages and
cold ham until almost the last. Then
there was a period In which cheese and
crackers with possibly som olives. were
the limit OF the gratuitous re%freshment.
The contrast now with the dispensation
OF those seven lean years may be observed
in every large hotel.
Two alone stand out against the free
lunch. One has no barroom and the other
has distinguished itself by keeping music
out of the dining room all this time. Some
or the other hotels have even moved for
ward the time of the lunch and serve il al
noon so that it may serve as a meal. At
p" hotels within a block of each other the
spread Yesterday would have been found
good enough for any luncheon.
Menu of the Free Lunch.
Al one hotel the long table was spread
with a chatting dish containing an excel
lent ragout Deutsch, salmon croquettes.
cold veal ham and corned beef. Russian
salad, radishes, olives and fish balls. Then
there were, OF course, the usual kinds Of
bread and biscuits, with butter and sand
wiches.
At a place one block further down Broad
way there was an equally elaborate lunch.
Fried breast OF lamb with green peas.
fish salad, slices of boeuf a la mode and an
Irish stew which, like the lamb, simmered
on a chatting dish, cold tongue, ham and
corned beef awaited gratuitous distribu-
ton The food is distributed by a waiter.
the guests nave enough liberty
In the way of helping themselves 10 feel a
certain independence.
Perhaps The most characteristic free
lunch is found in q hotel in the lower part
of Fifth avenue. The proprietor is French
and the place is noted for it's cuisine. Its
fine cuisine is becoming as much appre-
ciated by the small coterie that drops into
the hotel barroom in the afternoon.
The buffet is then spread with tasteful
hors d'oeuvres. There are lobster salad.
in a way that makes II taste
than usual. anchovies combined
with the most piquant OF meridiansl dress
ings. fat sardines with succulent Filings,
cells in oil with the suggestion>Of Marseilles
in the pungent flavor Of the bay leaf
and The suspicion Of garlic, balls OF may
onnaise firm enough to hold the grated
chicken inside, Virginia ham,, salaml sauces
son d'Arles and cucumbers cut as thin as
paper and soaked in pure olive oil and
vinegar. Then there are delicious mack
erels in oil fat enough to make a good
but not to take away ones appe-
lite, white cabbage soaked in ~msyonaisse
until II makes a sublimated cold slaw that
would delight a dyspeptic.
Patrons Are Selfish.
These are some of the characteristic
dishes that delight the regular guests at
this Motel. They are so afraid Of the
horde that might descend on the place
were its delights known that they are
wary OF telling their friends the address.
SO great IS the generosity of hotel keep
ers that for the sum. OF 20 cents it is pos
sible to enjoy the cuisine OF the much
talked Of hotel al the other extreme Of the
avenue. Here there lay the other day on
silver salvers a delicious hslibut salad, the
firm, white fish surrounded by the crisp