New-York tribune., 1920-02-08
Dry Wave Closes
Restaurants
and Cafes


Spanish courthouse Of Colonial days
In it the transfer Of Louisiana from
Spain to France and from France 20
the United States took place. La Fa-
yette, as the city's guest, in 1925,
had his quarters hero. The Pres
bytere was built by the United
States and was used as q courthouse
also up to 1910. Both the Cabildo
and the Presbytere are now occupied
as museums by the Louisiana His
torical Society.
What is now called jackson
Square was laid out by Bienville in
l72O and known then as the Place
d'Ames. The levee came nearer to
the city in those days, and it was
here that the storied Files de Cas-
quettes landed-those famous "Cas-
ket Girls" sent by Louis Of France.
each with her dowry of goldpieces
in a little casket, to become the
wives of his bachelor colonists.
Nearly all of the best remembered
places of rendezvous in the Vieux
Carre, as it existed in the last half
OF the preceding century and the
first nineteen years of this, have
passed out of the picture Gone il
the Sazerac, where Billy Wilkinson
for years mixed q cocktail Of such
rejuvenating qualities that its repu-
tation overspread . continent Tho
place is cafeteria now; at least, 1t
looks like ono from the outside.
Gone, too, is the busy bar Of Ramos
though, strictly speaking, it was
not geographically Of the Vieux
Carre-where you could get q gin
fizz which was not a gin fizz at all,
but goblet Of sublimated whipped
cream with a kick in it which not
only made the imbiber see the angels
but actually talk to 'em.
Also out of commission Is the
Gem in Royal. Street where they
dished up magical mint julep, the
outside of the glass bearing a coat
ing Of frost and the inside contain
ing material which would have
turned the gloomy prophet jeremiah
into bubbling optimist.
The Royal Street entrance to the
Cosmopolitan Hotel has been cut
away and the property refashioned
to house restaurant of the type
known as popular priced. What is
left Of the hotel fronting in Bour-
bon Street is soon to be demolished
to make room for the luxurious
new home Of the Chess, Checkers
and White Club. Two blocks up
the street the Old Absinthe House
still wabbles as soft drink en-
porium, feebly bidding for trade
on the strength of its wicked past
and the exhibition of the time
worn bar and the marble slabs
grown thin from decades Of drip
ping water splashing over the edge
of the glass of wormwood. Bour-
bon Street now is surely misnamed.
They have attempted TO sponge
away some of the febrile memories
Of the naughty Customhouse Street
by remaining it Iberville Street.
Bourbon Street, with the tanta-
lizing monaker, by all means must
be the next to vanish.
How far the regtaurants Of the
Vieux Carre can travel under de-
naturized steam is a riddle to which
only the future months have reply.
Gamely they are carrying on, but
it is sad to unveil the truth-there
are many empty tables in all Of
them. The proprietors jauntily
smile and commiserate with the
customer who wanders in and be-
gins emitting regrets about "the
good old days" They also express
the hope that something may hap
pen to lift the ban so that one may
yet have his carafe of vim rouge
ordinaire at dinner, but there is no
more genuine confidence in their
tones than there is authority in the
icewater at your plate.
Already there is discernible in
such noted eating places as Gala
torres, Antoine's and La Louisiana
tendency to stray from the menu
OF strictly Creole cooking. Chicken
gumbo, bisque Of crayfsh, bouil-
iabaisse, tripe a la Creole, the
Spanish omelette, dinde 4 la Tai
leyrand, broiled pompano (king Of
game fish), and the au gratin va.
Rants remain on the bills Of fare,
to be sure, but no more are they
exploited as specialties. Unob-
trusively they are sandwiched be-
tween items of food of a most
commonplace sound to the earn
OF the visitor from the NORTH
chicken a Ia King or potatoes
O'Brien. All menu cards before IL
in the morning offer an assortment