The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-19
FAMOUS PARTISAN CAFES.
celebrated Restaurants in the Past Of
the Cay iani:al

III q = v U II JTIt IIISIOTN
Of the boulevard itself" Within their
portals nave gathered all the most
celebrated people that have adorned
Partisan life during a hundred years
all the wits. beauties. and geniuses
Of their day and generation. Sic tran
sit gloria mundi.
Let US take a glance back at some
of these restaurants of the past. There
was the Cafe Foy, which was the re-
sort Of the aristocracy and dandies
Of the Second Empire. The leading
lights OF French financial circles. and
the political world also gave it a
good share of patronage. Still. not
wlthstanding it's vogue and its fame,
L could not stand against the modern
tendency for change, and SO had re
l~uctanty to vanish. The lives Of some
Of the noted restaurants were as brief
as mans allotted span.
rake, tor instance, the Maison
Doree, which, after ministeTtng to the
stomachs of a select few from it's
opening in 1870, began to minister
TO the minds Of the general public in
l9oS-fOr in that year it was trans
formed into 6, postOftice. Short though
It's career was as a cafe, it made the
most OF its opportunity, and attract
ed to It's inviting embrace the elite
in all walks Of life. Our late King,
IN his Prince Of Wales days. frequent
~ took luncheon OF dinner there, al
though he did not emulate the prac-
tlce of Alexandra Dumas the elder,
another celebrated patron OF the
house. The latter. SO history records,
was in the habit Of descending to the
kitchen and preparing his own maca-
rOni. AS the versatile novelist was q
daily visitor the chef must often have
devoutly desired his room to his com
pany.
The Maison Doree was located in a
splendid building erected by Victor
I<emalre, an architect not unknown
to fame, on the site of the Cafe Hardy
"A house which will ever retain a
place in the annals of French gas
tronomy as being the first Partisan
restaurant to serve luncheon. This lit
tie bit of originality was one of the
trio Of things that made the cafe ia
mouS-the two others being its large
military clientele under the Empire.
and the beauty of the proprietress. 1t
was altogether a place where luxu-
rious feeding was a fine art, in which
respect there was nothing to choose
between it and its neighbor and rival,
the Cafe Richie. AS a natural conse-
Quence the diner at either restaurant
had to have weli-hlIed pockets, for
the charges were on as luxurious a
plane as the sunlptuous dinners set
before visitors. One is not at all sur
prised that such a state OF affairs
inspired a wit to evolve a bon mot
thereon-'One must be very 'hardi'
(bold) to dine at Riches, and very
rich to dine at Hardy's."
Although it would be impossible to
deal with all the amous Partisan res
taurants Of the past in a short article,
there are two which cannot be omit
/ ted-TortOni's and the Cafe de Paris,
Tortoni's originated about 1902 with
the opening of a small shop on the
boulevard by Nelloni, an Italian,
whose lack Of success caused him to
L1~x ;~Nun Tbo~nIyn0n bic hoo
waiter, Tortoni, stepped into the
breach. And so successful was Tor
toni that from the death of Fellonl
until June, 1899, when it finally closed,
it was the resort of the cleverest and
most brilliant people of France who
adorned the century of its existence.
It is hard to say what was the di-
rect cause of its decay, though it may
very likely be traced to the eternal
love for something new. n the man
~agement's disinclination to move with
the times, although the cafes ices
Aurelien Schoil thus refers to it:
1.-The shutters are up : 3 < There IS
nothing left, nothing! Tortoni has per
ished in ice, like Sir John Franz lin
: s. & happy are those who are
dead"
Tortoni's, as we have seen. existed
down to our own day, but the Cafe
de Paris ceased to be ffty-four years
ago. It had, however,. a brilliant ca
reer, especially under the Restoration.
One Of its claims to fame was the
fact that for q score Of years hardly
a novel of any repute was published
which did not make the Cafe de Paris
the scene of one or more OF its cpl
sOdes.. 1t was a spot where congre-
gated those who loved Guietness and
early hours. In the gay city such peo-
pie are not numerous, and probably
~ . "a Ta'c 1apIinP q nd f3ll were trace
liable to its catering for such clients. 1t
closed its doors ~punctualfy every night
at 10 O'Clock. The premises belonged
to Lady Yarmouth, who loved the
peaceful life: she lived over the res
~taurant and hampered her tenant with
stipulattons that II q place like Paris
could not spell anything other than
faiIura INT the most s%tringsnt re-