Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-09
PARIS ONCE AGAIN ENJOYS
ITS OLD FAMILIAR MORSELS s
Peace Brings French Capital Return of Famous Decaces
and Without the Fell Accompaniment of Prohibue Prices

HDARIS," declared the waiter at
L Paillard's. with an air in which
skepticism and sentiment were oddly
mingled. sis just beginning to have
good food again"
The American. in the thrills Of a
peach melba, unalloyed by dreary
canned fruit or the dab of wet cake
common to his home limitations of this
dclicacy. mumbled surprise. "It Is
beginning. them he echoed.
But this suggestion, coming from an
outsider, was too rosy. The lean years
Of gastronomic outrages were not to be
so lightly dismissed, and by this time,
moreover. the walters eye had fallen
on the carefully arranged long French
loaves upon the neighboring tables.
Crusty they were, golden brown,
baked marrow" and with minimum
of "crumb."
That very "crumb." however. con
stituted the offense. 1t was brown, its
dark tints symbolizing the epicurean
catastrophes of the war. and the solici =
tous spokesman for Paillard's relapsed
into gloom.
Monsieur" he continued, you can :
not imagine the difficutes--no truf1cs
for the 'vol-au- vent no sugar for the
mile -feuille,' the one tasteless, the
other tough. However" he concluded,
in kind Of strained hopefulness, t'thcy
say the wheat harvest this year will be
good. One is making some progress.
THIS much at least was convincing.
L The American who had not found
the deliciously baked brown bread with =
out SAVIOR. and the feelings of whom,
after an eXQusitely prepared dinner,
partOok of the bland optimism so vividly
depicted in Brilat- Savarin's classic
treatise on good living. was pleasantly
forced to admit that Paris had not yet
forfeited its historic claims to epicurean
distinction.
He had seen, when the war opened,
the ilaky crescent and the swcctcr but
equally delectablo 'brioche" (the
Partisan breakfast bun) disappear
under the cdict that forbade fancy
baking. He had witnessed the cxtinc :
tion Of the tasty twenty five cent table
hote Zone franc, twenty five cen
times).
He had lamented the closing OF the
venerable Tour d'Argent, illustrious for
its "crushed" duck. Returning in
1916, he had found the Parisians gas d.
Economically chastened, but still sus
tanned by dishes much more attractivcly
devised than the average meals in his
own land, and this spring, despite the
pessimist of Paillard's, he had wit
messed a rapturous, an all but exhaus
tive rebirth of the old menu.
The thousands of tourists descending
on Paris this summer will undoubtedly
have many annoyances to combat. They
will find the railways chaotic. the
hotels overcrowded, the small dcnomi
nation paper currency (including even
postage stamps) a continual irritation
They will find that, save for the the
aires, the capital of France closes al
10 p. M, about half an hour after
sunset in these northern attitudes. All
the cafe lights are extingushed then
The myriads of electric lamps alonl
the boulevards, once so animated durinl
the zero hours, shine not at all. Strikes
and unsettled labor conditions have left
their impress on service of all descrip
tions.
But the hordes OF new visitors will
find virtually no bad food, and il eat
ing is with them anything like M
| uTltbtlN thNy Will Do EN- :
abled to crafty 1t as nowhere else or
this planet.
DRICES are interesting and confus
l. ing. At the prevailing low rate o.
exchange. an American who buys franc,
with dollars can rhapsodize in tn,
Partisan temples Of Epicurus for about
one half of what patronage of a res
taurant Of similar pretensions though
not attainment-at home will cost him
In the modest establishments thre,
francs-about thirty cents In American
money at the present time--will pur
chase an edible, well cooked meal con
sisting OF appetizer or soup, mair
dish, vegetables and dessert or cheese
What these scales Of prices mean to tn
native French Il is difficult to say
The question involves o new system o
proportions, In which first considera
] tion must be given 70 the general in