The sun., 1918-10-16
Tho DINER ONT.

Mr.. HOOVER for the FIRST time In
his career as arbiter of the girth of
nation, has taken q stride beyond
the making Of requests and now Is
giving orders-twelve Of them, ad-
dressed alike to MAX in Theatre Al
ley and OSCAR Of the Waldorf, to the
table d'hote with its bread sticks and
wine stained cloth and 30 the dainti-
est tea room just Off the Avenue Of
the Allies.
BE, who by press of circumstance
dites regularly in New York's public
eating places, has reached the stage
Of apathy through his experiences Of
the last two years; nothing that hap
pens to him now can matter. He
read the dozen dicta and with re-
signed what next?" turned to some
thing cheerful on another page.
Therefore 1t is the occasional or fes-
tive diner out, as distinguished from
the restaurant addict. who gets
pang or two from the proclamation.
Every one Is used to the bread "a
ton by this time; it has proved no
great deprivation. Who cannot spare
that poor, stale, fiat triangle Of So
called toast under his lamb chop?
Did any one ever eat 1t, anyway?
But that fat about no bread on the
table until after the first course Is
served"-now there Is a wrench, in
deed. What Is to fill in that ever
widening gap between the ordering
Of the food and the receiving thereof?
A cocktail or two now, eventually
what? Perhaps the hors d'9uvres
which M. Hoover urges on us-at
so cents the portion; does he know
thatf-or a half dozen on the half
shell. But bread was cheaper and
more filing; by working industri-
ously upon the corn mullins and the
rolls. a meagre entree could be made
to suffice; now we shall have to order
more extensively. The restaurateur
has scored one there.
This Ii the week in which to eat
ones flll Of steak and kidney pie, Of
liver and bacon. OF club sandwiches
and Of the mixed grllls popular in
chop houses. For after this, one meat
to a diner. 1t is too late this year
to worry about them, but shall we
not miss assorted cold cuts" next
August! There Is silver lining.
however, for at last we have a guar
anty as to the integrity Of the hash
and the croquettes.
One-half ounce Of butter Green
corn Is gone for the season, but the
buckwheat cake season comes on
apace! All, we'll, we must win the
war, oleaginously as well as with the
saccharometer. With another tear
for the hot baked potato, Drumming
with liquefying gold and touched
with paprika, we pass on.
Farewell, too, Welsh rabbit! But
hold-there are places on Broadway
where they are made with the stipu-
lated half ounce of cheese and in.
gested to the din Of jazz. Since these
cannot be called eating places by any
flight Of the imagination, perhaps we
see loophole here.
Forcing us to ask for sugar has
It's compensations, for since Mr..
HOOVER first took a hand in matters
sucrose 1t has been utterly impossi-
BILE to convince the Bolshevik in the
spotted white coat that we take our
coffee unsweetened. He will put
sugar In, with the only quick motion
he ever makes In all his life, before
we can get the words mo sugar,
please" past our hating lips.
Another New York landmark goes
the salmon sandwich with Its COB
of mayonnaise In the showcase on
the street-but, then, New York is
always changing. We shall learn to
find our way about without these to
guide us. The restriction forbidding
the serving of cream with more than
20 per cent. Of butter fat is of aca-
demic interest in New York.
Banquets are to be discouraged
unless simple meals, -'such as would
be eaten at home" are served. Shades
of the tasteless and microscopic "flet
mignon avec champignons," what Is
to become of our orators?