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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9464.txt b/9464.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c8953f --- /dev/null +++ b/9464.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4853 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bohemian San Francisco, by Clarence E. Edwords + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Bohemian San Francisco + Its restaurants and their most famous recipes--The elegant + art of dining. + +Author: Clarence E. Edwords + +Posting Date: March 23, 2015 [EBook #9464] +Release Date: December, 2005 +First Posted: October 2, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOHEMIAN SAN FRANCISCO *** + + + + +Produced by David A. Schwan + + + + + + + + + +THE ELEGANT ART OF DINING + + + +Bohemian San Francisco + +Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes-- +The Elegant Art of Dining + + + +By Clarence E. Edwords + + + +1914 + + + +Dedication To Whom Shall I Dedicate This Book? +To Some Good Friend? To Some Pleasant Companion? +To None of These, For From Them Came Not The Inspiration. +To Whom, Then? +To The Best Of All Bohemian Comrades, +My Wife. + + + +Foreword + + + +No apologies are offered for this book. In fact, we rather like it. Many +years have been spent in gathering this information, and naught is +written in malice, nor through favoritism, our expressions of opinion +being unbiased by favor or compensation. We have made our own +investigation and given our own ideas. + +That our opinion does not coincide with that of others does not concern +us in the least, for we are pleased only with that which pleases us, and +not that with which others say we ought to be pleased. + +If this sound egotistical we are sorry, for it is not meant in that way. +We believe that each and every individual should judge for him or +herself, considering ourselves fortunate that our ideas and tastes are +held in common. + +San Franciscans, both residential and transient, are a pleasure-loving +people, and dining out is a distinctive feature of their pleasure. With +hundreds of restaurants to select from, each specializing on some +particular dish, or some peculiar mode of preparation, one often becomes +bewildered and turns to familiar names on the menu card rather than +venture into fields that are new, of strange and rare dishes whose +unpronounceable names of themselves frequently are sufficient to +discourage those unaccustomed to the art and science of cooking +practiced by those whose lives have been spent devising means of +tickling fastidious palates of a city of gourmets. + +In order that those who come within our gates, and many others who have +resided here in blindness for years, may know where to go and what to +eat, and that they may carry away with them a knowledge of how to +prepare some of the dishes pleasing to the taste and nourishing to the +body, that have spread San Francisco's fame over the world, we have +decided to set down the result of our experience and study of our +Bohemian population and their ways, and also tell where to find and how +to order the best special dishes. + +Over North Beach way we asked the chef of a little restaurant how he +cooked crab. He replied: + +"The right way." + +One often wonders how certain dishes are cooked and we shall tell you +"the right way." + +It is hoped that when you read what is herein written some of our +pleasure may be imparted to you, and with this hope the story of San +Francisco's Bohemianism is presented. + +Clarence E. Edwords. +San Francisco, California, +September 22, 1914. + + + +Our Toast + +Not to the Future, nor to the Past; +No drink of Joy or Sorrow; +We drink alone to what will last; +Memories on the Morrow. +Let us live as Old Time passes; +To the Present let Bohemia bow. +Let us raise on high our glasses +To Eternity--the ever-living Now. + + + +Contents + +Foreword +The Good Gray City +The Land of Bohemia +As it was in the Beginning +When the Gringo Came +Early Italian Impression +Birth of the French Restaurant +At the Cliff House +Some Italian Restaurants +Impress of Mexico +On the Barbary Coast +The City That Was Passes +Sang the Swan Song +Bohemia of the Present +As it is in Germany +In the Heart of Italy +A Breath of the Orient +Artistic Japan +Old and New Palace +At the Hotel St. Francis +Amid the Bright Lights +Around Little Italy +Where Fish Come In +Fish in Their Variety +Lobsters and Lobsters +King of Shell Fish +Lobster In Miniature +Clams and Abalone's +Where Fish Abound +Some Food Variants +About Dining +Something About Cooking +Told in A Whisper +Out of Nothing +Paste Makes Waist +Tips and Tipping +The Mythical Land +Appendix (How to Serve Wines, Recipes) +Index + + + +Bohemian San Francisco + +"The best of all ways +To lengthen our days +Is to steal a few hours +From the night, my dear." + + + +The Good Gray City San Francisco! + +San Francisco! Is there a land where the magic of that name has not been +felt? Bohemian San Francisco! Pleasure-loving San Francisco! Care-free +San Francisco! Yet withal the city where liberty never means license and +where Bohemianism is not synonymous with Boorishness. + +It was in Paris that a world traveler said to us: + +"San Francisco! That wonderful city where you get the best there is to +eat, served in a manner that enhances its flavor and establishes it +forever in your memory." + +Were one to write of San Francisco and omit mention of its gustatory +delights the whole world would protest, for in San Francisco eating is +an art and cooking a science, and he who knows not what San Francisco +provides knows neither art nor science. + +Here have congregated the world's greatest chefs, and when one exclaims +in ecstasy over a wonderful flavor found in some dingy restaurant, let +him not be surprised if he learn that the chef who concocted the dish +boasts royal decoration for tickling the palate of some epicurean ruler +of foreign land. + +And why should San Francisco have achieved this distinction in the minds +of the gourmets? + +Do not other cities have equally as good chefs, and do not the people of +other cities have equally as fine gastronomic taste? + +They have all this but with them is lacking "atmosphere." + +Where do we find such romanticism as in San Francisco? Where do we find +so many strange characters and happenings? All lending almost mystic +charm to the environment surrounding queer little restaurants, where +rare dishes are served, and where one feels that he is in foreign land, +even though he be in the center of a high representative American city. + +San Francisco's cosmopolitanism is peculiar to itself. Here are +represented the nations of earth in such distinctive colonies that one +might well imagine himself possessed of the magic carpet told of in +Arabian Nights Tales, as he is transported in the twinkling of an eye +from country to country. It is but a step across a street from America +into Japan, then another step into China. Cross another street and you +are in Mexico, close neighbor to France. Around the corner lies Italy, +and from Italy you pass to Lombardy, and on to Greece. So it goes until +one feels that he has been around the world in an afternoon. + +But the stepping across the street and one passes from one land to the +other, finding all the peculiar characteristics of the various countries +as indelibly fixed as if they were thousands of miles away. Speech, +manners, customs, costumes and religions change with startling rapidity, +and as you enter into the life of the nation you find that each has +brought the best of its gastronomy for your delectation. + +San Francisco has called to the world for its best, and the response has +been so prompt that no country has failed to send its tribute and give +the best thought of those who cater to the men and women who know. + +This aggregation of cuisinaire, gathered where is to be found a most +wonderful variety of food products in highest state of excellence, has +made San Francisco the Mecca for lovers of gustatory delights, and this +is why the name of San Francisco is known wherever men and women sit at +table. + +It has taken us years of patient research to learn how these chefs +prepare their combinations of fish, flesh, fowl, and herbs, in order +that we might put them down, giving recipes of dishes whose memories +linger in the minds of world wanderers, and to which their thoughts +revert with a sigh as they partake of unsatisfactory viands in other +countries and other cosmopolitan cities. + +Those to whom only the surface of things is visible are prone to express +wonder at the love and enthusiasm of the San Franciscan for his home +city. The casual visitor cannot understand the enchantment, the mystery, +the witchery that holds one; they do not know that we steal the hours +from the night to lengthen our days because the gray, whispering wraiths +of fog hold for us the very breath of life; they do not know that the +call of the wind, and of the sea, and of the air, is the inspiration +that makes San Francisco the pleasure-ground of the world. + +It is this that makes San Francisco the home of Bohemia, and whether it +be in the early morning hours as one rises to greet the first gray +streaks of dawn, or as the sun drops through the Golden Gate to its +ocean bed, so slowly that it seems loth to leave; whether it be in the +broad glare of noon-day sun, or under the dazzling blaze of midnight +lights, San Francisco ever holds out her arms, wide in welcome, to those +who see more in life than the dull routine of working each day in order +that they may gain sufficient to enable them to work again on the +morrow. + + + +The Land of Bohemia + +Bohemia! What vulgarities are perpetrated in thy name! How abused is the +word! Because of a misconception of an idea it has suffered more than +any other in the English language. It has done duty in describing almost +every form of license and licentiousness. It has been the cloak of +debauchery and the excuse for sex degradation. It has been so misused as +to bring the very word into disrepute. + +To us Bohemianism means the naturalism of refined people. + +That it may be protected from vulgarians Society prescribes conventional +rules and regulations, which, like morals, change with environment. + +Bohemianism is the protest of naturalism against the too rigid, and, +oft-times, absurd restrictions established by Society. + +The Bohemian requires no prescribed rules, for his or her innate +gentility prevents those things Society guards against. In Bohemia men +and women mingle in good fellowship and camaraderie without finding the +sex question a necessary topic of conversation. They do not find it +necessary to push exhilaration to intoxication; to increase their +animation to boisterousness. Their lack of conventionality does not tend +to boorishness. + +Some of the most enjoyable Bohemian affairs we know of have been full +dress gatherings, carefully planned and delightfully carried out; others +have been impromptu, neither the hour, the place, nor the dress being +taken into consideration. + +The unrefined get everywhere, even into the drawing rooms of royalty, +consequently we must expect to meet them in Bohemia. But the true +Bohemian has a way of forgetting to meet obnoxious personages and, as a +rule, is more choice in the selection of associates than the vaunted +"400." With the Bohemian but one thing counts: Fitness. Money, position, +personal appearance and even brains are of no avail if there be the bar +sinister--unfit. + +In a restaurant, one evening, a number of men and women were seated +conspicuously at a table in the center of the room. Flowing neckties +such as are affected by Parisian art students were worn by the men; all +were coarse, loud and much in evidence. They not only attracted +attention by their loudness and outre actions, but they called notice by +pelting other diners with missiles of bread. To us they were the last +word in vulgarity, but to a young woman who had come to the place +because she had heard it was "so Bohemian" they were ideal, and she +remarked to her companion: + +"I do so love to associate with real Bohemians like these. Can't we get +acquainted with them?" + +"Sure," was the response. "All we have to do is to buy them a drink." + +In San Francisco there are Bohemians and Near-Bohemians, and if you are +like the young woman mentioned you are apt to miss the real and take the +imitation for the genuine article. + +We mean no derogation of San Francisco's restaurants when we say that +San Francisco's highest form of Bohemianism is rarely in evidence in +restaurants. We have enjoyed wonderful Bohemian dinners in restaurants, +but the other diners were not aware of it. Some far more interesting +gatherings have been in the rooms of Bohemian friends. Not always is it +the artistic combination of famous chef that brings greatest delight, +for we have as frequently had pleasure over a supper of some simple dish +in the attic room of a good friend. + +This brings us to the crux of Bohemianism. It depends so little on +environment that it means nothing, and so much on companionship that it +means all. + +To achieve a comprehensive idea of San Francisco's Bohemianism let us +divide its history into five eras. First we have the old Spanish days--the +days "before the Gringo came." Then reigned conviviality held within +most discreet bounds of convention, and it would be a misnomer, indeed, +to call the pre-pioneer days of San Francisco "Bohemian" in any sense of +the word. + +Courtesy unfailing, good-fellowship always in tune, and lavish +hospitality, marked the days of the Dons--those wonderfully considerate +hosts who always placed a pile of gold and silver coins on the table of +the guest chamber, in order that none might go away in need. Their +feasts were events of careful consideration and long preparation, and +those whose memories carry them back to the early days, recall bounteous +loading of tables when festal occasion called for display. + +Lips linger lovingly over such names as the Vallejos, the Picos, and +those other Spanish families who spread their hospitality with such +wondrous prodigality that their open welcome became a by-word in all +parts of the West. + +But it was not in the grand fiestas that the finest and most palatable +dishes were to be found. In the family of each of these Spanish Grandees +were culinary secrets known to none except the "Senora de la Casa," and +transmitted by her to her sons and daughters. + +We have considered ourselves fortunate in being taken into the +confidence of one of the descendants of Senora Benicia Vallejo, and +honored with some of her prize recipes, which find place in this book, +not as the famous recipe of some Bohemian restaurants but as the tribute +to the spirit of the land that made those Bohemian restaurants possible. +Of these there is no more tasty and satisfying dish than Spanish Eggs, +prepared as follows: + +Spanish Eggs + +Empty a can of tomatoes in a frying pan; thicken with bread and add two +or three small green peppers and an onion sliced fine. Add a little +butter and salt to taste. Let this simmer gently and then carefully +break on top the number of eggs desired. Dip the simmering tomato +mixture over the eggs until they are cooked. + +Another favorite recipe of Mrs. Vallejo was Spanish Beefsteak prepared +as follows: + +Spanish Beefsteak + +Cut the steak into pieces the size desired for serving. Place these +pieces on a meat board and sprinkle liberally with flour. With a wooden +corrugated mallet beat the flour into the steak. Fry the steak in a pan +with olive oil. In another frying pan, at the same time, fry three +good-sized onions and three green peppers. When the steak is cooked +sufficiently put it to one side of the pan and let the oil run to the +other side. On the oil pour sufficient water to cover the meat and add +the onions and peppers, letting all simmer for a few minutes. Serve on +hot platter. + +Spanish mode of cooking rice is savory and most palatable, and Mrs. +Vallejo's recipe for this is as follows: + +Spanish Rice + +Slice together three good-sized onions and three small green peppers. +Fry them in olive oil. Take one-half cup of rice and boil it until +nearly done, then drain it well and add it to the frying onions and +peppers. Fry all together until thoroughly brown, which will take some +time. Season with salt and serve. + +These three recipes are given because they are simple and easily +prepared. Many complex recipes could be given, and some of these will +appear in the part of the book devoted to recipes, but when one +considers the simplicity of the recipes mentioned, it can readily be +seen that it takes little preparation to get something out of the +ordinary. + + + +When the Gringo Came + +To its pioneer days much of San Francisco's Bohemian spirit is due. When +the cry of "Gold" rang around the world adventurous wanderers of all +lands answered the call, and during the year following Marshall's +discovery two thousand ships sailed into San Francisco Bay, many to be +abandoned on the beach by the gold-mad throng, and it was in some of +these deserted sailing vessels that San Francisco's restaurant life had +its inception. With the immediately succeeding years the horde of gold +hunters was augmented by those who brought necessities and luxuries to +exchange for the yellow metal given up by the streams flowing from the +Mother Lode. With them also came cooks to prepare delectable dishes for +those who had passed the flap-jack stage, and desired the good things of +life to repay them for the hardships, privations and dearth of woman's +companionship. As the male human was largely dominant in numbers it was +but natural that they should gather together for companionship, and here +began the Bohemian spirit that has marked the city for its own to the +present day. + +These men were all individualists, and their individualism has been +transmitted to their offspring together with independence of action. +Hence comes the Bohemianism born of individuality and independence. + +It was only natural that the early San Franciscans should foregather +where good cheer was to be found, and the old El Dorado House, at +Portsmouth Square, was really what may be called the first Bohemian +restaurant of the city. So well was this place patronized and so +exorbitant the prices charged that twenty-five thousand dollars a month +was not considered an impossible rental. + +Next in importance was the most fashionable restaurant of early days, +the Iron House. It was built of heavy sheet iron that had been brought +around the Horn in a sailing vessel, and catered well, becoming for +several years the most famed restaurant of the city. Here, in Montgomery +street, between Jackson and Pacific, was the rendezvous of pioneers, and +here the Society of California Pioneers had its inception, receiving +impressions felt to the present day in San Francisco and California +history. Here, also, was first served Chicken in the Shell, the dish +from which so many later restaurants gained fame. The recipe for this as +prepared by the Iron House is still extant, and we are indebted to a +lady, who was a little girl when that restaurant was waning, whose +mother secured the recipe. It was prepared as follows: + +Chicken in a Shell + +Into a kettle containing a quart of water put a young chicken, one +sliced onion, a bay leaf, two cloves, a blade of mace and six +pepper-corns. Simmer in the covered kettle for one hour and set aside to +cool. When cool remove the meat from the bones, rejecting the skin. Cut +the meat into small dice. Mix in a saucepan, over a fire without +browning, a tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of flour, then add +half a pint of cream. Stir this constantly until it boils, then add a +truffle, two dozen mushrooms chopped fine, a dash of white pepper and +then the dice of chicken. Let the whole stand in a bain marie, or +chafing dish, until quite hot. Add the yolks of two eggs and let cook +two minutes. Stir in half a glass of sherry and serve in cockle shells. + + + +Early Italian Impression + +Almost coincident with the opening of the Iron House an Italian named +Bazzuro took possession of one of the stranded sailing vessels +encumbering the Bay, and anchored it out in the water at the point where +Davis and Pacific streets now intersect. He opened a restaurant which +immediately attracted attention and gained good reputation for its +service and its cooking. Later, when the land was filled in, Bazzuro +built a house at almost the same spot and opened his restaurant there, +continuing it up to the time of the great fire in 1906. + +After the fire one of the earliest restaurants to be established in that +part of the city was Bazzuro's, at the same corner, and it is still run +by the family, who took charge after the death of the original +proprietor. Here one can get the finest Italian peasant meal in the +city, and many of the Italian merchants and bankers still go there for +their luncheons every day, preferring it to the more pretentious +establishments. + +The French peasant style came a little later, beginning in a little +dining room opened in Washington street, just above Kearny, by a French +woman whose name was a carefully guarded secret. She was known far and +wide as "Ma Tanta" (My Aunt). Her cooking was considered the best of all +in the city, and her patrons sat at a long common table, neat and clean +to the last degree. Peasant style of serving was followed. First +appeared Ma Tanta with a great bowl of salad which she passed around, +each patron helping himself. This was followed by an immense tureen of +soup, held aloft in the hands of Ma Tanta, and again each was his own +waiter. Fish, entree, roast, and dessert, were served in the same +manner, and with the black coffee Ma Tanta changed from servitor to +hostess and sat with her guests and discussed the topics of the day on +equal terms. + +In California street, just below Dupont, the California House boasted a +great chef in the person of John Somali, who in later years opened the +Maison Riche, a famous restaurant that went out of existence in the fire +of 1906. Gourmets soon discovered that the California House offered +something unusual and it became a famed resort. Somali's specialties +were roast turkey, chateaubriand steak and coffee frappe. It is said of +his turkeys that their flavor was of such excellence that one of the +gourmands of that day, Michael Reece, would always order two when he +gave a dinner--one for his guests and one for himself. It is also said +that our well-beloved Bohemian, Rafael Weill, still holds memories of +the old California House, of which he was an habitue, and from whose +excellent chef he learned to appreciate the art and science of cooking +as evidenced by the breakfasts and dinners with which he regales his +guests at the present day. + +But many of the hardy pioneers were of English and American stock and +preferred the plainer foods of their old homes to the highly seasoned +dishes of the Latin chefs, and to cater to this growing demand the +Nevada was opened in Pine street between Montgomery and Kearny. This +place became noted for its roast beef and also for its corned beef and +cabbage, which was said to be of most excellent flavor. + +Most famous of all the old oyster houses was Mannings, at the corner of +Pine and Webb streets. He specialized in oysters and many of his dishes +have survived to the present day. It is said that the style now called +"Oysters Kirkpatrick," is but a variant of Manning's "Oyster Salt +Roast." + +At the corner of California and Sansome streets, where now stands the +Bank of California, was the Tehama House, one of the most famous of the +city's early hostelries, whose restaurant was famed for its excellence. +The Tehama House was the rendezvous of army and navy officers and high +state officials. Lieutenant John Derby, of the United States Army, one +of the most widely known western authors of that day, made it his +headquarters. Derby wrote under the names of "John Phoenix," and +"Squibob." + +Perini's, in Post street between Grant avenue and Stockton, specialized +in pastes and veal risotto, and was much patronized by uptown men. + +The original Marchand began business in a little room in Dupont street, +between Jackson and Washington, which district at that time had not been +given over to the Chinese, and he cooked over a charcoal brazier, in his +window, in view of passing people who were attracted by the novelty and +retained by the good cooking. With the extension of his fame he found +his room too small and he rented a cottage at Bush and Dupont street, +but his business grew so rapidly that he was compelled to move to more +commodious quarters at Post and Dupont and later to a much larger place +at Geary and Stockton, where he enjoyed good patronage until the fire +destroyed his place. There is now a restaurant in Geary street near +Mason which has on its windows in very small letters "Michael, formerly +of," and then in bold lettering, "Marchands." But Michael has neither +the art nor the viands that made Marchands famous, and he is content to +say that his most famous dish is tripe--just plain, plebeian tripe. + +Christian Good, at Washington and Kearny, Big John, at Merchant street +between Montgomery and Sansome, Marshall's Chop House, in the old Center +Market, and Johnson's Oyster House, in a basement at Clay and +Leidesdorff streets, were all noted places and much patronized, the +latter laying the foundation of one of San Francisco's "First Families." +Martin's was much patronized by the Old Comstock crowd, and this was the +favorite dining place of the late William C. Ralston. + +One of the most famous restaurants of the early '70s was the Mint, in +Commercial street, between Montgomery and Kearny, where the present +restaurant of the same name is located. It was noted for its Southern +cooking and was the favorite resort of W. W. Foote and other prominent +Southerners. The kitchen was presided over by old Billy Jackson, an +old-time Southern darkey, who made a specialty of fried chicken, cream +gravy, and corn fritters. + + + +Birth of the French Restaurant + +French impression came strongly about this time, and the Poodle Dog, of +Paris, had its prototype at Bush and Dupont streets. This was one of the +earliest of the type known as "French Restaurants," and numerous +convivial parties of men and women found its private rooms convenient +for rendezvous. Old Pierre of later days, who was found dead out on the +Colma road some two years after the fire of 1906, was a waiter at the +Poodle Dog when it started, and by saving his tips and making good +investments he was able to open a similar restaurant at Stockton and +Market, which he called the Pup. The Pup was famous for its frogs' legs +a la poulette. In this venture Pierre had a partner, to whom he sold out +a few years later and then he opened the Tortoni in O'Farrell street, +which became one of the most famous of the pre-fire restaurants, its +table d'hote dinners being considered the best in the city. When Claus +Spreckels built the tall Spreckels building Pierre and his partner +opened the Call restaurant in the top stories. With the fire both of the +restaurants went out of existence, and the old proprietor of the Poodle +Dog having died, Pierre and a partner named Pon bought the place, and +for a year or so after the fire it was one of the best French +restaurants in the city. After Pierre's untimely death the restaurant +was merged with Bergez and Frank's, and is now in Bush street above +Kearny. + +Much romance attached to Pierre, it being generally believed that he +belonged to a wealthy French family, because of his education, his +unfailing courtesy, his ready wit and his gentility. Pierre specialized +in fish cooked with wine, and as a favor to his patrons he would go to +the kitchen and prepare the dish with his own hands. + +In O'Farrell street the Delmonico was one of the most famous of the +French restaurants until the fire. It was several stories high, and each +story contained private rooms. Carriages drove directly into the +building from the street and the occupants went by elevator to +soundproof rooms above, where they were served by discreet waiters. + +The Poodle Dog, the Pup, Delmonico's, Jacques, Frank's, the Mint, +Bergez, Felix and Campi's are the connecting links between the fire and +the pioneer days. Some of them still carry the names and memories of the +old days. All were noted for their good dinners and remarkably low +prices. + +Shortly after the fire Blanco, formerly connected with the old Poodle +Dog, opened a place in O'Farrell street, between Hyde and Larkin, +calling it "Blanco's." During the reconstruction period this was by far +the best restaurant in the city, and it is still one of the noted +places. Later Blanco opened a fine restaurant in Mason street, between +Turk and Eddy, reviving the old name of the Poodle Dog, and here all the +old traditions have been revived. Both of these savor of the old type of +French restaurants, catering to a class of quiet spenders who carefully +guard their indiscretions. + +In the early '50s and '60s the most noted places were not considered +respectable enough for ladies, and at restaurants like the Three Trees, +in Dupont just above Bush street, ladies went into little private rooms +through an alley. Peter Job saw his opportunity and opened a restaurant +where special attention was paid to lady patrons, and shortly after the +New York restaurant, in Kearny street, did the same. + +Merging the post-pioneer, era with the pre-fire era came the Maison +Doree, which became famous in many ways. It was noted for oysters a la +poulette, prepared after the following recipe: + +Oysters a La Poulette + +One-half cup butter, three tablespoons flour, yolks of three eggs. One +pint chicken stock (or veal), one tablespoonful lemon juice, one-eighth +teaspoon pepper, one level teaspoon salt. Beat the butter and flour +together until smooth and white. Then add salt, pepper and lemon juice. +Gradually pour boiling stock on this mixture and simmer for ten minutes. +Beat the yolks of eggs in a saucepan, gradually pouring the cooked sauce +upon them. Pour into a double boiler containing boiling water in lower +part of utensil. Stir the mixture for one and one-half minutes. Into +this put two dozen large oysters and let cook until edges curl up and +serve hot. + +Captain Cropper, an old Marylander, had a restaurant that was much +patronized by good livers, and in addition to the usual Southern dishes +he specialized on terrapin a la Maryland, sending back to his native +State for the famous diamond-back terrapin. His recipe for this was as +follows: + +Terrapin a La Maryland + +Cut a terrapin in small pieces, about one inch long, after boiling it. +Put the pieces in a saute pan with two ounces of sweet butter, salt, +pepper, a very little celery salt, a pinch of paprika. Simmer for a few +minutes and then add one glass of sherry wine, which reduce to half by +boiling. Then add one cup of cream, bring to a boil and thicken with two +yolks of eggs mixed with a half cup of cream. Let it come to a near boil +and add half a glass of dry sherry and serve. + +You may thicken the terrapin with the following mixture: Two raw yolks +of eggs, two boiled yolks of eggs, one ounce of butter, one ounce corn +starch. Rub together and pass through a fine sieve. + +Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tony Oakes, the Hermitage, and Cornelius Stagg's were +noted road-houses where fine meals were served, but these are scarcely +to be considered as San Francisco Bohemian restaurants. + +The Reception, on the corner of Sutter and Webb streets, which continued +up to the time of the fire, was noted for its terrapin specialties, but +it was rather malodorous and ladies who patronized it usually went in +through the Webb street entrance to keep from being seen. The old +Baldwin Hotel, which stood where the Flood building now stands, at the +corner of Market and Powell and which was destroyed by fire some +fourteen years ago, was the favorite resort of many of the noted men of +the West, and the grill had the distinction of being the best in San +Francisco at that time. The grill of the Old Palace Hotel was also of +highest order, and this was especially true of the Ladies' Grill which +was then, as now, noted for its artistic preparation of a wondrous +variety of good things. + +Probably the most unique place of the pioneer and post-pioneer eras was +the Cobweb Palace, at Meiggs's Wharf, run by queer old Abe Warner. It +was a little ramshackle building extending back through two or three +rooms filled with all manner of old curios such as comes from sailing +vessels that go to different parts of the world. These curios were piled +indiscriminately everywhere, and there were boxes and barrels piled with +no regard whatever for regularity. This heterogeneous conglomeration was +covered with years of dust and cobwebs, hence the name. Around and over +these played bears, monkeys, parrots, cats, and dogs, and whatever sort +of bird or animal that could be accommodated until it had the appearance +of a small menagerie. Warner served crab in various ways and clams. In +the rear room, which was reached by a devious path through the debris, +he had a bar where he served the finest of imported liquors, French +brandy, Spanish wines, English ale, all in the original wood. He served +no ordinary liquor of any sort, saying that if anybody wanted whiskey +they could get it at any saloon. He catered to a class of men who knew +good liquors, and his place was a great resort for children, of whom he +was fond and who went there to see the animals. The frontispiece of this +book is from one of the few existing (if not the only one) photographs +of the place. + +Equally unique, yet of higher standard, was the Palace of Art, run by +the Hackett brothers, in Post street near Market. Here were some of the +finest paintings and marble carvings to be found in the city, together +with beautiful hammered silver plaques and cups. Curios of all sorts +were displayed on the walls, and among them were many queer wood growths +showing odd shapes as well as odd colorings. A large and ornate bar +extended along one side of the immense room and tables were placed about +the room and in a balcony that ran along one side. Here meals were +served to both men and women, the latter being attracted by the artistic +display and unique character of the place. This was destroyed by the +fire and all the works of art lost. + + + +At the Cliff House + +Three times destroyed by fire, and three times rebuilt, the Cliff House +stands on a rocky promontory overlooking the Sundown Sea, where San +Francisco's beach is laved by the waves of the Ocean. Since the first +Cliff House was erected this has been a place famous the world over +because of its scenic beauty and its overlooking the Seal Rocks, where +congregate a large herd of sea lions disporting much to the edification +of the visitors. Appealing from its romantic surroundings, interesting +because of its history, and attractive through its combination of +dashing waves and beautiful beach extending miles in one direction, with +the rugged entrance to Golden Gate in the other, with the mysterious +Farallones in the dim distance, the Cliff House may well be classed as +one of the great Bohemian restaurants of San Francisco. + +Lovers of the night life know it well for it is the destination of many +an automobile party. During the day its terraces are filled with +visitors from abroad who make this a part of their itinerary, and here, +as they drink in the wondrous beauty of the scene spread before them, +partake of well prepared and well served dishes such as made both the +Cliff House and San Francisco well and favorably known and whose fame is +not bounded by the continent. + +But for a most pleasant visit to the Cliff House one should choose the +early morning hours, and go out when the air is blowing free and fresh +from the sea, the waves cresting with amber under the magic touch of the +easterly sun. Select a table next to one of the western windows and +order a breakfast that is served here better than any place we have +tried. This breakfast will consist of broiled breast of young turkey, +served with broiled Virginia ham with a side dish of corn fritters. When +you sit down to this after a brisk ride out through Golden Gate Park, +you have the great sauce, appetite, and with a pot of steaming coffee +whose aroma rises like the incense to the Sea Gods, you will feel that +while you have thought you had good breakfasts before this, you know +that now you are having the best of them all. Of course there are many +other good things to order if you like, but we have discovered nothing +that makes so complete a breakfast as this. + + + +Some Italian Restaurants + +"Is everybody happy? Oh, it is only nine o'clock and we've got all +night." It was a clear, fresh young voice, full of the joy of living and +came from a young woman whose carefree air seemed to say of her +existence as of the night "We've got all life before us." The voice, the +healthful face and vigorous form, the very live and joyous expression +were all significant of the time and place. It was Sunday night and the +place was Steve Sanguinetti's, with roisterers in full swing and every +table filled and dozens of patrons waiting along the walls ready to take +each seat as it was emptied. Here were young men and women just returned +from their various picnics across the Bay to their one great event of +the week--a Sunday dinner at Sanguinetti's. + +Over in one corner of the stifling room, on a raised platform, sat two +oily and fat negroes, making the place hideous with their ribald songs +and the twanging of a guitar and banjo. When, a familiar air was sounded +the entire gathering joined in chorus, and when such tunes as "There'll +Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" came, the place was pandemonium. +Yet through it all perfect order was kept by the fat proprietor, his +muscular "bouncer" and two policemen stationed at the doors. Noise was +rather invited than frowned upon, and the only line drawn regarding +conduct was the throwing of bread. Probably Steve did not want it +wasted. + +It was all free and easy and nobody took offense at anything said or +done. In fact if one were squeamish about such things Sanguinetti's was +no place for him or her. One found one's self talking and laughing with +the people about as if they were old friends. It made no difference how +you were dressed, nor how dignified you tried to be, it was all one with +the crowd around the tables. If you wished to stay there in comfort you +had to be one of them, and dignity had to be left outside or it would +make you so uncomfortable that you would carry it out, to an +accompaniment of laughter and jeers of the rest of the diners. + +So far as eating was concerned that was not one of the considerations +when discussing Sanguinetti's. It was a table d'hote dinner served with +a bottle of "Dago red," for fifty cents. You gave the waiter a tip of +fifteen cents or "two bits" as you felt liberal, and he was satisfied. +If you were especially pleased you gave the darkeys ten cents, not +because you enjoyed the music, but just "because." + +The one merit of Sanguinetti's before the fire was the fact that all the +regular customers were unaffected and natural. They came from the +factories, canneries, shops, and drays, and after a week of +heart-breaking work this was their one relaxation and they enjoyed it to +the full. Many people from the residential part of the city, and many +visitors at the hotels, went there as a part of slumming trips, but the +real sentiment was expressed by the young girl when she sang out "Is +everybody happy?" + +Sanguinetti still has his restaurant, and there is still to be found the +perspiring darkeys, playing and singing their impossible music, and a +crowd still congregates there, but it is not the old crowd for this, +like all things else in San Francisco, has changed, and instead of the +old-time assemblage of young men and women whose lack of convention came +from their natural environment, there is now a crowd of young and old +people who patronize it because they have heard it is "so Bohemian." + +Thrifty hotel guides take tourists there and tell them it is "the only +real Bohemian restaurant in San Francisco," and when the outlanders see +the antics of the people and listen to the ribald jests and bad music of +the darkeys, they go back to their hotels and tell with bated breath of +one of the most wonderful things they have ever seen, and it is one of +the wonderful things of their limited experience. + +Among the pre-fire restaurants of note were several Italian places which +appealed to the Bohemian spirit through their good cooking and absence +of conventionality, together with the inexpensiveness of the dinners. +Among these were the Buon Gusto, the Fior d'Italia, La Estrella, Campi's +and the Gianduja. Of these Campi's, in Clay street below Sansome, was +the most noted, and the primitive style of serving combined with his +excellent cooking brought him fame. All of these places, or at least +restaurants with these names, are still in existence. + +Jule's, the Fly Trap, the St. Germain and the Cosmos laid claim to +distinction through their inexpensiveness, up to the time of the fire. +All of these names are still to be seen over restaurants and they are +still in that class, Jule's, possibly, being better than it was before +the fire. A good dinner of seven or eight courses, well cooked and well +served, could be had in these places for fifty cents. Lombardi's was of +the same type but his price was but twenty-five cents for a course +dinner in many respects the equal of the others. + +Pop Floyd, recently killed by his bartender in an altercation, had a +place down in California street much patronized by business men. He had +very good service and the best of cooking, and for many years hundreds +of business men gathered there at luncheon in lieu of a club. The place +is still in existence and good service and good food is to be had there, +but it has lost its Bohemian atmosphere. + +In Pine street above Montgomery was the Viticultural, a restaurant that +had great vogue owing to the excellence of its cooking. Its specialty +was marrow on toast and broiled mushrooms, and game. + +To speak of Bohemian San Francisco and say nothing of the old Hoffman +saloon, on Second and Market streets, would be like the play of Hamlet +with Hamlet left out. "Pop" Sullivan, or "Billy" Sullivan, according to +the degree of familiarity of the acquaintance, boasted of the fact that +from the day this place opened until he sold the doors were closed but +once, the keys having been thrown away on opening day. During all the +years of its existence the only day it was closed was the day of the +funeral of Sullivan's mother. Here was the most magnificent bar in San +Francisco, and in connection was a restaurant that catered to people who +not only knew good things but ordered them. The back part of the place +with entrance on Second street was divided off into little rooms with +tables large enough for four. These rooms were most lavish in their +decoration, the most interesting feature being that they were all made +of different beautiful woods, highly polished. Woods were here from all +parts of the world, each being distinctive. In these rooms guests were +served with the best the market afforded, by discreet darkeys. This +place was the best patronized of all the Bohemian resorts of the city up +to the time of the fire. One of the special dainties served were the +Hoffman House biscuits, light and flaky, such as could be found nowhere +else. + +Out by Marshall Square, by the City Hall, was Good Fellow's Grotto, +started by Techau, who afterward built and ran the Techau Tavern. This +place was in a basement and had much vogue among politicians and those +connected with the city government. It specialized on beefsteaks. + +Under the St. Ann building, at Eddy and Powell streets, was the Louvre, +started and managed by Carl Zinkand, who afterward opened the place in +Market above Fourth street, called Zinkand's. This was distinctly German +in appointments and cooking and was the best of its kind in the city. +Under the Phelan building at O'Farrell and Market was the Old Louvre in +which place one could get German cooking, but it was not a place that +appealed to those who knew good service. + +Bab's had a meteoric career and was worthy of much longer life, but +Babcock had too high an idealization of what San Francisco wanted. He +emulated the Parisian restaurants in oddities, one of his rooms being +patterned after the famous Cabaret de la Mort, and one dined off a +coffin and was lighted by green colored tapers affixed to skulls. Aside +from its oddities it was one of the best places for a good meal for Bab +had the art of catering down to a nicety. There were rooms decorated to +represent various countries and in each room you could get a dinner of +the country represented. + +Thompson's was another place that was too elaborate for its patronage +and after a varied existence from the old Oyster Loaf to a cafeteria +Thompson was compelled to leave for other fields and San Francisco lost +a splendid restaurateur. He opened the place under the Flood building, +after the fire, in most magnificent style, taking in two partners. The +enormous expense and necessary debt contracted to open the place was too +much and Thompson had to give up his interest. This place is now running +as the Portola-Louvre. + +Much could be written of these old-time restaurants, and as we write +story after story amusing, interesting, and instructive come to mind, +each indicative of the period when true Bohemianism was to be found in +the City that Was. + +An incident that occurred in the old Fior d'Italia well illustrates this +spirit of camaraderie, as it shows the good-fellowship that then +obtained. We went to that restaurant for dinner one evening, and the +proprietor, knowing our interest in human nature studies, showed us to a +little table in the back part of the room, where we could have a good +view of all the tables. Our table was large enough to seat four +comfortably, and presently, as the room became crowded, the proprietor, +with many excuses, asked if he could seat two gentlemen with us. They +were upper class Italians, exceedingly polite, and apologized profusely +for intruding upon us. In a few minutes another gentleman entered and +our companions at once began frantic gesticulations and called him to +our table, where room was made and another cover laid. Again and again +this occurred until finally at a table suited for four, nine of us were +eating, laughing, and talking together, we being taken into the +comradeship without question. When it came time for us to depart the +entire seven rose and stood, bowing as we passed from the restaurant. + + + +Impress of Mexico + +Running through all the fabric of San Francisco's history is the thread +of Mexican and Spanish romance and tradition, carrying us back to the +very days when the trooper sent out by Portola first set eyes on the +great inland sea now known as San Francisco Bay. It would seem that the +cuisinaire most indelibly stamped on the taste of the old San Franciscan +would, therefore, be of either Spanish or Mexican origin. That this is +not a fact is because among the earliest corners to California after it +passed from Mexican hands to those of the United States, were French and +Italian cooks, and the bon vivants of both lands who wanted their own +style of cooking. While the Spanish did not impress their cooking on San +Francisco, it is the cuisine of the Latin races that has given to it its +greatest gastronomic prestige, and there still remains from those very +early days recipes of the famous dishes which had their beginnings +either in Spain or Mexico. + +There is much misconception regarding both Spanish and Mexican cooking, +for it is generally accepted as a fact that all Mexican and Spanish +dishes are so filled with red pepper as to be unpalatable to the normal +stomach of those trained to what is called "plain American cooking." +Certain dishes of Mexican and Spanish origin owe their fine flavor to +discriminating use of chili caliente or chili dulce, but many of the +best dishes are entirely innocent of either. The difference between +Spanish and Mexican cooking is largely a matter of sentiment. It is a +peculiarity of the Spaniard that he does not wish to be classed as a +Mexican, and on the other hand the Mexican is angry if he be called a +Spaniard. But the fact remains that their cooking is much alike, so much +so, in fact, as to be indistinguishable except by different names for +similar dishes, and frequently these are the same. + +The two famous and world-known dishes of this class of cooking are +tortillas and tamales. It is generally supposed that both of these are +the product of Mexico, but this is not the case. The tamale had its +origin in Spain and was carried to Mexico by the conquistadors, and +taken up as a national dish by the natives after many years. The +tortilla, on the other hand, is made now exactly as it was made by the +Mexican Indian when the Spanish found the country. The aborigine +prepared his corn on a stone metate and made it into cakes by patting it +with the hand, then cooked it on a hot stone before an open fire. It is +still made in that manner in the heart of Mexico, and we could tell a +story of how we saw this done one night in the midst of a dense tropical +forest, while muleteers and mozas of a great caravan sat around their +little campfires, whose fitful light served to intensify the weird +appearance of the shadows of the Indians as they passed to and fro among +their packs, but this is not the place for such stories. + +Of the old Mexican restaurants, those of us who can look back to the +days of a quarter of a century ago remember old Felipe and Maria, the +Mexican couple who kept the little place in the alley back of the old +county jail, off Broadway. Here one had to depend entirely upon +sentiment, or rather sentimentality, to be pleased. The cooking was +truly Mexican for it included the usual Mexican disregard for dirt. +Chattering monkeys and parrots were hanging around the kitchen, peering +into pots and fingering viands, and they served to attract attention +from myriads of cockroaches that swarmed about the walls. One could go +to this place just on the theory that one is willing to try anything +once, but aside from its picturesque old couple, and its Dantesque +appearance, it offered nothing to induce a return unless it was to +entertain a friend. + +Everyone who lived in San Francisco before the fire remembers Ricardo, +he of the one eye, who served so well at Luna's, on Vallejo and Dupont +streets. Ricardo had but one eye but he could see the wants of his +patrons much better than many of the later day waiters who have two. +Luna's brought fame to San Francisco and in more than one novel of San +Francisco life it was featured. Entering the place one came into the +home life of the Luna family, and reached the dining room through the +parlor, where Mrs. Luna, busy with her drawn work, and all the little +Lunas and the neighbors and their children foregathered in the window +spaces behind the torn Nottingham curtains which partially concealed the +interior from passers on the street. The elder sons and daughters +attended to the wants of those who fancied any of the curios displayed +in the long showcase that extended from the door to the rear of the +room. + +Passing through this family group one came to the curtained dining room +proper, although there were a number of tables in the family parlor to +be used in case of a rush of patrons. Luna's dinners were a feature of +the old San Francisco. They were strictly Mexican, from the unpalatable +soup (Mexicans do not understand how to make good soup) to the "dulce" +served at the close of the meal. First came the appetizers in form of +thin slices of salami and of a peculiar Mexican sausage, so extremely +hot with chili pepino as to immediately call for a drink of claret to +assuage the burning. Then came the soup which we experienced ones always +passed over. The salad of modern tables was replaced by an enchilada, +and then came either chili con carne or chili con polle according to the +day of the week, Sundays having as the extra attraction the chili con +pollo, or chicken with pepper. In place of bread they served tortillas, +which were rolled and used as a spoon or fork if one were so inclined. +Following this was what is known among unenlightened as "stuffed +pepper," but which is called by the Spanish, from which country it gets +its name, "chili reinas." To signify the close of the meal came +frijoles fritas or fried beans, and these were followed by the dessert +consisting of some preserved fruit or of a sweet tamale. Fifty cents +paid the bill and a tip of fifteen cents to Ricardo made him as happy +and as profuse with his thanks as the present day waiter on receipt of +half a dollar. + +Accepting Luna's as the best type of the Mexican restaurant of the days +before the fire, our inquiry developed the fact that the dish on which +he specialized was chili reinas, and this is the recipe he used in their +preparation: + +Chili Reinas + +Roast large bell peppers until the skin turns black. Wash in cold water +and rub off the blackened skin. Cut around the stem and remove the seed +and coarse veins. Take some dry Monterey cheese, grated fine, and with +this fill the peppers, closing the end with a wooden toothpick. + +Prepare a batter made as follows: Beat the yolks and whites of six eggs +separately, then mix, and stir in a little flour to make a thin batter. +Have a pan of boiling lard ready and after dipping the stuffed pepper +into the batter dip it into the lard. Remove quickly and dip again in +the batter and then again in the lard where it is to remain until fried +a light, golden brown, keeping the peppers entirely covered with the +boiling lard. + +Take the seeds of the peppers, one small white onion and two tomatoes, +and grind all together into a pulp, add a little salt and let cook ten +minutes. When the chilies are fried turn the remainder of the batter +into the tomatoes and boil twenty minutes, then turn this sauce over the +peppers. + +This is a most delicious dish and can be varied by using finely ground +meat to stuff the peppers instead of The cheese. + +Mexican restaurants of the present day in San Francisco are a delusion, +and unsatisfactory. + + + +On the Barbary Coast + +Much has been said and more printed regarding San Francisco's Barbary +Coast--much of truth and much mythical. Probably no other individual +district has been so instrumental in giving to people of other parts of +the country an erroneous idea of San Francisco. It is generally accepted +as a fact that in Barbary Coast Vice flaunted itself in reckless abandon +before the eyes of the world, showing those things usually concealed +behind walls and under cover of the darkness. According to the purists +here youth of both sexes was debauched, losing both money and souls. To +speak of seeing Barbary Coast brought furtive looks and lowered voices, +as if contamination even from the thought were possible. No slumming +party was completed without a visit to the "Coast," after Chinatown's +manufactured horrors had been shuddered at. + +One cannot well speak of the Barbary Coast without bringing into +consideration the Social Evil, for here was concentrated dozens of the +poor unfortunates of the underworld, compelled to eke out miserable +existence through playing on the foibles and vanities of men, or seek +oblivion in a suicide's grave. We do not propose to discuss this phase +of Barbary Coast as that is not a part of Bohemianism. + +We have visited the Coast many times, at all hours of the night, and +beyond the unconcealed license of open caresses we have seen nothing +shocking to our moral sense that equaled what we have seen in Broadway, +New York, or in some of the most fashionable hotels and restaurants of +San Francisco on New Year's Eve. Dancing, singing and music--all that +is embodied in the "wine, women and song" of the poets, was to be found +there, but it was open, and had none of the veiled suggestion to be +found in places considered among the best. + +In Barbary Coast we have seen more beautiful dancing than on any stage, +or in the famous Moulin Rouge, or Jardin Mabile of Paris. In fact, many +of the modern dances that have become the vogue all over the country, +even being carried to Europe, had their origin in Pacific street dance +halls. Texas Tommy, the Grizzly Bear, and many others were first danced +here, and some of the finest Texas Tommy dancers on eastern stages went +from the dance halls of San Francisco's Barbary Coast. + +Vice was there--yes. It was open--yes. But there was the attraction of +light and life and laughter that drew crowds nightly. + +Barbary Coast was a part of San Francisco's Bohemianism because of its +unconventionality, for, you know, there is conventionality even in Vice. +Here was the rendezvous of sailor men from all parts of the world, for +here they found companionship and joviality. + +Up to the time of the closing of Barbary Coast molestation of women on +the streets of San Francisco was almost unheard of. Since its closing it +is becoming more and more hazardous for women to walk alone at night in +the only large city in the world that always had the reputation of +guarding its womankind. + + + +The City That Was Passes + +Times change and we change with them is well evidenced by the restaurant +life of the present day San Francisco. Now, as before the fire, we have +the greatest restaurant city of the world--a city where home life is +subordinated to the convenience of apartment dwelling and restaurant +meals-but the old-time Bohemian finds neither the same atmosphere nor +the same restaurants. + +True, many of the old names have been retained or revived, but there is +not felt the old spirit of camaraderie. Old personalities have passed +away and old customs have degenerated. Those who await The Call feel +that with the passing of the old city there passed much that made life +worth living, and as they prepare to cross to the Great Beyond, they +live in their memories of the Past. + +With reverence we think of the men and women of the early San +Francisco--those who made the city the Home of Bohemia--and it is with +this feeling that we now come to discuss the Bohemian restaurants of +the New San Francisco. + + + +Sang the Swan Song + +In the latter part of April, 1906, when the fire-swept streets presented +their most forbidding aspect, and when the only moving figures to be +seen after nightfall were armed soldiers guarding the little remaining +of value from depredations of skulking vagabonds, a number of the old +Bohemian spirits gathered at the corner of Montgomery and Commercial +streets, and gazed through the shattered windows into the old dining +room where they had held many a royal feast. On the blackened walls +might still be seen scarred pictures, fringed by a row of black cats +along the ceiling. They turned their steps out toward the Presidio, +hunted among the Italian refugees and there found Coppa--he of the +wonderful black cats, and it took little persuasion to induce him to go +back to his ruined restaurant and prepare a dinner, such as had made his +place famous among artists, writers, and other Bohemians, in the days +when San Francisco was care-free and held her arms wide open in welcome +to all the world. + +It was such a dinner as has been accorded to few. Few there are who have +the heart to make merry amid crumbling ruins of all they held dear in +the material world. The favored ones who assembled there will always +hold that dinner in most affectionate memory, and to this day not one +thinks of it without the choking that comes from over-full emotion. It +was more than a tribute to the days of old--it marked the passing of +the old San Francisco and the inauguration of the new. + +It was Bohemia's Swan Song, sung by those to whom San Francisco held +more than pleasure--more than sentimentality. It held for them +close-knit ties that nothing less than a worldshaking cataclysm could +sever--and the cataclysm had arrived. + +The old Coppa restaurant in Montgomery street became a memory and on its +ashes came the new one, located in Pine street between Montgomery and +Kearny streets, and for a number of years this remained the idol of +Bohemia until changed conditions drove the tide of patronage far up +toward Powell, Ellis, Eddy and O'Farrell streets. At that time there +grew up a mushroom crop of so-called restaurants in Columbus avenue +close to Barbary Coast such as Caesar's, the Follies Cabaret, Jupiter +and El Paradiso, where space was reserved in the middle of the floor for +dancing. Coppa emulated the new idea by fitting out a gorgeous basement +room at the corner of Kearny and Jackson, which he called the Neptune +Palace. It represented a great grotto under the ocean, and here throngs +gathered nightly to dance and eat until the police commissioners closed +all of these resorts, as well as Barbary Coast. + +Coppa became financially injured by this venture and was forced to take +a partner in his old restaurant, and finally gave up his share and went +beyond the city limits and opened the Pompeiian Garden, on the San Mateo +road, and there with his heroic little wife tried to rebuild his +shrunken fortunes, leaving the historic restaurant with its string of +black cats and its memorable pictures on the walls to less skilled +hands. He struggled against hard times and at the time of this writing +he, with his wife, their son and his wife, are giving the old-time +dinners and trying to make the venture a success. + +In the old days it was considered a feat of gormandizing to go through +one of Coppa's dinners and eat everything set before you for one dollar. +Notwithstanding the delicious dishes he prepared and the wonderful +recipes, the quantity served was so great that one would have to be +possessed of enormous capacity, indeed, to be able to say at the end of +the meal that he had eaten all that was given him. + +In his Pompeiian Garden Coppa still maintains his old reputation for +most tasty viands and liberal portions, and if one desire to find the +true Bohemian restaurant of San Francisco today, one that approaches the +old spirit of the days before the fire, he need but go out to Coppa's +and while he will not have his eyes regaled by the quaint drawings with +which the old-time artists decorated the walls, nor the hurrying +footsteps along the ceiling to the famous center table where sat some of +the world's most notable Bohemians on their visits to San Francisco, nor +the frieze of black cats around the cornice, nor the Bohemian verse, +written under inspiration of "Dago red," he will find the same old +cooking, done by Coppa himself. + +We asked Coppa what he considered his best dish and he gave us the +Irishman's reply by asking another question: + +"What do you think of it?" + +There are so many to choose from that our answer was difficult but we +finally stopped at "Chicken Portola." It was then that the old smile +came back to Coppa's face. + +"Ah! Chicken Portola. That is my own idea. It is the most delicious way +chicken was ever cooked." + +This is the recipe as Coppa gave it to us, his little wife standing at +his side and giving, now and then, a suggestion as Coppa's memory +halted: + + +Chicken Portola a la Coppa + +Take a fresh cocoanut and cut off the top, removing nearly all of the +meat. Put together three tablespoonfuls of chopped cocoanut meat and two +ears of fresh, green corn, taken from the cob. Slice two onions into +four tablespoonfuls of olive oil, together with a tablespoonful of diced +bacon fried in olive oil, add one chopped green pepper, half a dozen +tomatoes stewed with salt and pepper, one clove of garlic, and cook all +together until it thickens. Strain this into the corn and cocoanut and +add one spring chicken cut in four pieces. Put the mixture into the +shell of the cocoanut, using the cut-off top as a cover, and close +tightly with a covering of paste around the jointure to keep in the +flavors. Put the cocoanut into a pan with water in it and set in the +oven, well heated, for one hour, basting frequently to prevent the +cocoanut's burning. + +A bare recital of the terms of the recipe cannot bring to the +uninitiated even a suspicion of the delightful aroma that comes from the +cocoanut when its top is lifted, nor can it give the slightest idea of +the delicacy of the savor arising from the combination of the cocoanut +with young chicken. It is not a difficult dish to prepare, and if you +cannot get it at any of the restaurants, and we are sure you cannot, try +it at home some time and surprise your friends with a dish to be found +in only one restaurant in the world. If you desire it at Coppa's on your +visit to San Francisco you will have to telephone out to him in advance +(unless he has succeeded in getting back to the city, which he +contemplates) so that he can prepare it for you, and, take our word for +it, you will never regret doing so. + +Coppa has many wonderful dishes to serve, and he delights so much in +your appreciation that he is always fearful something is wrong if you +fail to do full justice to his meal. He showed this one evening when he +had filled a little party of us to repletion by his lavish provision for +our entertainment, and nature rebelled against anything more. To us came +Coppa in tears. + +"What is the matter with the chicken, Doctor? Is it not cooked just +right?" + +It was with difficulty that we made him understand that there was a +limit to capacity, and that he had fed us with such bountiful hand we +could eat no more. Even now when we go to Coppa's we have a little +feeling of fear lest we offend him by not eating enough to convince him +that we are pleased. + +Coppa's walls were always adorned with strange conceits of the artists +and writers who frequented his place, and after a picture, or a bit of +verse had remained until it was too familiar some one erased it and +replaced it with something he thought was better. We preserved one +written by an unknown Bohemian. We give it just as it was: + +Through the fog of centuries, dim and dense, +I sometimes seem to see +The shadowy line of a backyard fence +And a feline shape of me. +I hear the growl, and yowl and howl +Of each nocturnal fight, +And the throaty stir, half cry, half purr +Of passionate delight, +As seeking an amorous rendezvous +My ancient brothers go stealing +Through the purple gloom of night. + +I've seen your eyes, with a greenish glint; +You move with a feline grace; +And when you are pleased I catch the hint +Of a purr in your throat and face. +Then I wonder if you are dreaming, too, +Of temples along the Nile, +Where you yowled and howled, and loved and prowled, +With many a sensuous wile, +And borrowed the grace you own today +From that other life in the far-away; +And if such dreams beguile. + +I know that you sit by your cozy fire, +When shadows crowd the room, +And my soul responds to an old desire +To roam through the velvety gloom, +So stealthily stealing, softly shod, +My spirit is hurrying thence +To the lure of an ancient mystic god, +Whose magnet is intense, +Where I know your soul, too, roams in fur, +For I hear it call with a throaty purr, +From the shadowy backyard fence. + + + +Bohemia of the Present + +San Francisco's care-free spirit was fully exemplified before the ashes +of the great fire of 1906 were cold. On every hand one could find little +eating places established in the streets, some made of abandoned boxes, +others of debris from the burned buildings, and some in vacant basements +and little store rooms, while a few enterprising individuals improvised +wheeled dining rooms and went from one part of the city to another +serving meals. + +The vein of humor of irrepressible effervescence of spirit born of +Bohemianism gave to these eating places high sounding names, and many +were covered with witty signs which laughed in the face of Fate. + +Fillmore became the great business street of the city now in ashes, and +here were established the first restaurants of any pretensions, the +Louvre being first to open an establishment that had the old-time +appearance. This was on the corner of Fillmore and Ellis, and had large +patronage, it being crowded nightly with men and women who seemed to +forget that San Francisco had been destroyed. Thompson opened a large +restaurant in O'Farrell street, just above Fillmore, and for two years +or more did a thriving business, his place being noted for its good +cooking and its splendid service. One of his waiters, Phil Tyson, was +one of the earlier ones to go back into the burned district to begin +business and he opened a restaurant called the Del Monte in Powell +street near Market, but it was too early for success and closed after a +short career. + +Thompson enlisted others to join with him in opening a magnificent place +under the new Flood building at the corner of Powell and Market street, +but through faulty understanding of financial power Thompson was +compelled to give up his interest and the place afterward closed. It has +since been reopened under the name of the Portola-Louvre, where now +crowds assemble nightly to listen to music and witness cabaret +performances. Here, as well as in a number of other places, one can well +appreciate the colloquial definition of "cabaret." That which takes the +rest out of restaurant and puts the din in dinner. If one likes noise +and distraction while eating such places are good to patronize. + +Across the street from the Portola-Louvre at 15 Powell street is the +modernized Techau Tavern now known as "Techau's". Here there is always +good music and food well cooked and well served, and always a lively +crowd during the luncheon, dinner and after-theatre hours. The room is +not large but its dimensions are greatly magnified owing to the covering +of mirrors which line the walls. This garish display of mirrors, and +elaborate decoration of ceiling and pillars, gives it the appearance of +the abode of Saturnalia, but decorum is the rule among the patrons. + +Around at 168 O'Farrell street, just opposite the Orpheum theatre, is +Tait-Zinkand restaurant, or as it is more popularly known, "Tait's". +John Tait is the presiding spirit here, he having made reputation as +club manager, and then as manager of the Cliff House. One of the +partners here was Carl Zinkand, who ran the old Zinkand's before the +fire. + +While these three restaurants are of similar type neither has the +pre-fire atmosphere. They are lively, always, with music and gay +throngs, and serve good food. + +One of the early restaurants established after the fire was Blanco's, at +857 O'Farrell street, and later Blanco opened the Poodle Dog in Mason +street just above Eddy. Both of these restaurants are of the old French +type and are high class in every respect. The Poodle Dog has a hotel +attachment where one may get rooms or full apartments. + +If you know how to order, and do not care to count the cost when you +order, probably the best dinner at these restaurants can be had at +either Blanco's or the Poodle Dog. The cuisine is of the best and the +chefs rank at the top of their art. Prices are higher than at the other +restaurants mentioned, but one certainly gets the best there is prepared +in the best way. + +But the same food, prepared equally well, is to be found in a number of +less pretentious places. At the two mentioned one pays for the +surroundings as well as for the food, and sometimes this is worth paying +for. + +The restaurants of the present day that approach nearest the old +Bohemian restaurants of pre fire days, of the French class, are Jack's +in Sacramento street between Montgomery and Kearny; Felix, in Montgomery +street between Clay and Washington, and the Poodle Dog-Bergez-Franks, in +Bush street between Kearny and Grant avenue. In either of these +restaurants you will be served with the best the market affords, cooked +"the right way." In Clay street opposite the California Market is the +New Frank's, one of the best of the Italian restaurants, and much +patronized by Italian merchants. Next to it is Coppa's, but it is no +longer run by Coppa. In this same district is the Mint, in Commercial +street between Montgomery and Kearny streets. It has changed from what +it was in the old days, but is still an excellent place to dine. + +Negro's, at 625 Merchant street, near the Hall of Justice, has quite a +following of those whose business attaches them to the courts, and while +many claim this to be one of the best of its class, we believe the claim +to be based less on good cooking than on the fact that the habitues are +intimate, making it a pleasant resort for them. The cooking is good and +the variety what the market affords. + +In Washington street, just off Columbus avenue, is Bonini's Barn, making +great pretense through an unique idea. So far as the restaurant is +concerned the food is a little below the average of Italian restaurants. +One goes there once through curiosity and finds himself in a room that +has all the appearance of the interior of a barn, with chickens and +pigeons strutting around, harness hanging on pegs, and hay in mangers, +and all the farming utensils around to give it the verisimilitude of +country. Tables and chairs are crude in the extreme and old-time +lanterns are used for lighting. It is an idea that is worth while, but, +unfortunately, the proprietors depend too much on the decorative feature +and too little on the food and how they serve it. + +The Fly Trap, and Charlie's Fashion, the first in Sutter street near +Kearny and the other in Market near Sutter, serve well-cooked foods, +especially soup, salads, and fish. Of course these are not the entire +menus but of all the well-prepared dishes these are their best. Felix, +mentioned before, also makes a specialty of his family soup, which is +excellent. + +Spanish dinners of good quality are to be had at the Madrilena, at 177 +Eddy street, and at the Castilian, at 344 Sutter street. Both serve good +Spanish dinners at reasonable prices. They serve table d'hote dinners, +but you can also get Spanish dishes on special order. + +Under the Monadnock building, in Market street near Third, is Jule's, +well liked and well patronized because of its good cooking and good +service. Jule is one of the noted restaurateurs of the city, having +attained high celebrity before the fire. His prices are moderate and his +cooking and viands of the best, and will satisfy the most critical of +the gourmets. + +At the corner of Market and Eddy streets is the Odeon, down in a +basement, with decorations of most garish order. There is a good chef +and the place has quite a vogue among lovers of good things to eat. +Probably at no place in San Francisco can one find game cooked better +than at Jack's, 615 Sacramento street. His ducks are always cooked so as +to elicit high praise. He has an old-style French table d'hote dinner +which he serves for $1.25, including wine. Or you may order anything in +the market and you will find it cooked "the best way." One of the +specialties of Jack's is fish, for which the restaurant is noted. It is +always strictly fresh and booked to suit the most fastidious taste. + + + +As it is in Germany + +When you see August (do not fail to pronounce it Owgoost) in repose you +involuntarily say, that is if you understand German, "Mir ist alles an," +which is the German equivalent of "I should worry." When August is in +action you immediately get a thirst that nothing but a stein of cold +beer will quench. August is the pride of the Heidelberg Inn at 35 Ellis +street. All you can see from the street as you pass around the corner +from Market, is a sign and some stairs leading down into a basement, but +do not draw back just because it is a basement restaurant, for if you do +you will miss one of the very few real Bohemian restaurants of San +Francisco. Possibly our point of view will not coincide with that of +others, but while there are dozens of other Bohemian restaurants there +is but one Heidelberg Inn. Here is absolute freedom from irksome +conventionality of other people, and none of the near Bohemianism of so +many places claiming the title. + +At the Heidelberg Inn one need never fear obtrusiveness on the part of +other visitors, for here everybody attends strictly to his or her own +party, enjoying a camaraderie that has all the genuine, whole-souled +companionship found only where German families are accustomed to +congregate to seek relaxation from the toil and worry of the day. + +An evening spent in Heidelberg Inn is one replete with character study +that cannot be excelled anywhere in San Francisco--and this means that +everybody there is worth while as a study, from the little, bald-headed +waiter, Heme, and the big, imposing waiter, August, to the "Herr Doctor" +who comes to forget the serious surgical case that has been worrying him +at the hospital. Here you do not find obtrusive waiters brushing +imaginary crumbs from your chair with obsequious hand, nor over zealous +stewards solicitous of your food's quality. It is all perfect because it +is made perfect by good management. Here are German families, from +Grossfader and Grossmutter, down to the newest grandchild, sitting and +enjoying their beer and listening to such music as can be heard nowhere +else in San Francisco, as they eat their sandwiches of limburger, or +more dainty dishes according to their tastes. + +One can almost imagine himself in one of the famous rathskellers of Old +Heidelberg--not at the Schloss, of course, for here you cannot look +down on the Weiser as it flows beneath the windows of the great wine +stube on the hill. But you have the real atmosphere, and this is +enhanced by the mottoes in decoration and the flagons, stems and plaques +that adorn the pillars as well as typical German environment. + +It is when the martial strains of "De Wacht am Rhein" are heard from the +orchestra, which of itself is an institution, that the true camaraderie +of the place is appreciated, for then guests, waiters, barkeepers, and +even the eagle-eyed gray-haired manager, join in the swelling chorus, +and you can well understand why German soldiers are inspired to march to +victory when they hear these stirring chords. + +But there is other music--sometimes neither inspiring nor beautiful +when heard in a German rathskeller--the music of rag time. If there is +anything funnier than a German orchestra trying to play rag-time music +we have never heard it. It is unconscious humor on part of the +orchestra, consequently is all the more excruciating. + +But if you really love good music--music that has melody and rhythm and +soothing cadences, go to the Heidelberg Inn and listen to the concert +which is a feature of the place every evening. And while you are +listening to the music you can enjoy such food as is to be found nowhere +else in San Francisco, for it is distinctly Heidelbergian. We asked for +the recipe that they considered the very best in the restaurant, and +Hirsch, with a shrug of his shoulders, said: "Oh, we have so many fine +dishes." We finally got him to select the one prized above all others +and this is what Chef Scheiler gave us: + +German Sauer Braten + +Take four pounds of clear beef, from either the shoulder or rump, and +pickle it for two days in one-half gallon of claret and one-half gallon +of good wine vinegar (not cider). To the pickle add two large onions cut +in quarters, two fresh carrots and about one ounce of mixed whole +allspice, black peppers, cloves and bay leaves. + +When ready for cooking take the meat out of the brine and put in a +roasting pan. Put in the oven and brown to a golden color. Then take it +out of the roasting pan and put it into a casserole, after sprinkling it +with two ounces of flour. Put into the oven again and cook for half an +hour, basting frequently with the original brine. + +When done take the meat out of the sauce. Strain the sauce through a +fine collander and add a few raisins, a piece of honey cake, or ginger +snaps and the meat of one fresh tomato. Season with salt and pepper and +a little sugar to taste. Slice and serve with the sauce over it. + +For those who like German dishes and German cooking it is not necessary +to confine yourself to the Heidelberg Inn, for both the Hof Brau, in +Market just above Fourth street, and the German House Rathskeller, at +Turk and Polk streets are good places where you can get what you want. +The Hof Brau, however, is less distinctively German as the greater +number of its patrons are Americans. The specialty of the Hof Brau is +abalone's, and they have as a feature this shell fish cooked in several +ways. They also have as the chef in charge of the abalone dishes, +Herbert, formerly chef for one of the yacht clubs of the coast, who +claims to have the only proper recipe for making abalone's tender. Under +ordinary circumstances the abalone is tough and unpalatable, but after +the deft manipulation of Herbert they are tender and make a fine dish, +either fried, as chowder or a la Newberg. In addition to abalone's the +Hof Brau makes a specialty of little Oregon crawfish. While there is a +distinctive German atmosphere at the Rathskeller of the German House, +the place is too far out to gather such numbers as congregate at either +the Heidelberg or the Hof Brau, but one can get the best of German +cooking here and splendid service, and for a quiet little "Dutch supper" +we know of no place that will accommodate you better than the +Rathskeller. + +On special occasions, when some German society or club is giving a dance +or holding a meeting at the German House, the Rathskeller is the most +typical German place in San Francisco, and if you go at such a time you +will get all the "atmosphere" you will desire, as well as the best the +market affords in the way of good viands. + + + +In the Heart of Italy + +What a relief it is sometimes to have a good waiter say: "You do not +know what you want? Will you let me bring you the best there is in the +house?" Sometimes, you know, you really do not know what you want, and +usually when that is the case you are not very hungry. That is always a +good time to try new things. It is also possible that you do not know +what you want because you do not know how to order. In either instance +our advice is, if the waiter gets confidential and offers his assistance +you will certainly miss something if you do not accept his good offices. + +This was the case with us, one day when we were over at 1549 Stockton +street, near Washington Square, at the Gianduja. The proper +pronunciation of this is as if it were spelled Zhan-du-ya. This is one +of the good Italian restaurants of the Latin quarter. At the Gianduja +you get the two prime essentials to a good meal--good cooking and +excellent service. It matters not whether you take their thirty-five +cent luncheon or order a most elaborate meal, you will find that the +service is just what it ought to be. We asked Brenti what he considered +his most famous dish, and like all other proprietors, he shrugged his +shoulders and said, with hands emphasizing his words: + +"We have so many fine dishes." + +"Of course we know that, but what do you consider the very best?" + +"There is no one the 'very best'. I could give you two." + +"Let it be two, then," was our immediate rejoinder, and here is what he +gave us as the best recipes of the Gianduja. + +First, let us give you an idea of the difficulty under which we secured +these recipes by printing them just as he wrote them down for us, and +then we shall elaborate a little and show the result of skillful +questioning. This is the way he wrote the recipe for Risotto Milanaise: + +Risotto ala Milanaise + +"Onions chop fine--marrow and little butter--rice--saffron--chicken +broth--wen cook add fresh butter and Parmesan cheese seasoned." + +What was embodied in the words "wen cook" was the essential of the +recipe and here is the way we got it: + +Chop one large onion fine. Cut a beef marrow into small dice and stir it +with the chopped onion. Put a small piece of butter in a frying pan and +into this put the onion and marrow and fry to a delicate brown. Now add +one scant cup of rice, stirring constantly, and into this put a pinch of +saffron that has been bruised. When the rice takes on a brown color add, +slowly, chicken broth as needed, until the rice is thoroughly cooked. +Then add a lump of fresh butter about the size of a walnut, and sprinkle +liberally with grated Parmesan cheese, seasoning to taste with pepper +and salt. This is to be served with chicken or veal. + +The second recipe was for Fritto Misto, and he wrote it as follows: + +Fritto Misto + +"Lamb chops and brains breaded--sweetbreads--escallop of veal--fresh +mushrooms--Italian squash when in season--asparagus or cauliflower--fried +in fresh butter--dipped in beaten eggs--lime jus." + +"Fritto Misto" means fried mixture, and the recipe as we finally +elucidated it is as follows: + +Take a lamb chop, a piece of calf brain, one sweetbread, a slice of +veal, a fresh mushroom, sliced Italian squash, a piece of asparagus or +of cauliflower and dip these into a batter made of an egg well beaten +with a little flour. Sprinkle these with a little lime juice and fry to +a delicate brown in butter, adding salt and pepper to taste. + +At the Gianduja, as at all other Italian restaurants not much affected +by Americans, you will find an atmosphere of unconventionality that is +delightful to the Bohemian. There is no irksome espionage on the part of +other patrons, all of whom are there for the purpose of attending +strictly to their own business, and the affairs of other diners are of +no consequence to them. There is freedom of expression and +unconsciousness, most pleasing after having experienced those other +restaurants where it seems to be the business of all the rest of the +guests to know just what you are eating and drinking. There is little of +the obnoxious posing that one finds in restaurants of the downtown +districts, for while Italians, in common with all other Latins, are +natural born poseurs, they are not offensive in it, but rather impress +you with the same feeling as the antics of a child. + +One of the little, out-of-the way restaurants of the Italian quarter is +the Leon d'Oro, at 1525 Grant avenue, and it is one of the surprises of +that district. Lazzarini, he with the big voice, presides over the tiny +kitchen in the rear of the room devoted to public service and family +affairs. Soft-voiced Rita, with her demure air and her resemblance to +Evangeline, with her crossed apron, strings and delicate features, takes +your order, and soon comes the booming sound from the neighborhood of +the range, that announces to all patrons, as well as to some who may be +in the vicinity on the street, that your order is ready, and then +everybody knows what you are eating. As you sit, either in curtained +alcove or at the common table in the main room, little Andrea will visit +you with his cat. Both are institutions of the place and one is, prone +to wonder how a cat can have so much patience with a little boy. Andrea +speaks Italian so fluently and so rapidly that it gives you the +impression of a quick rushing stream of pure water, tumbling over the +stones of a steep declivity. He is not yet old enough to understand that +it is not everybody who knows how to speak Italian, but that makes not +the slightest difference with him, for he talks without ever expecting +an answer. + +Lazzarini understands the art and science of cooking, and some of the +dishes he prepares are so unusual that one goes again and again to +partake of them: Possibly his best dish is the following: + +Chicken a la Leon D'oro + +Cut a spring chicken into pieces. Place these in a pan containing hot +olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Turn the chicken until it is +thoroughly browned, and add finely chopped green peppers. Let it cook +awhile then add a finely chopped clove of garlic and a little sage. Put +in a small glass of Marsala wine, tomato sauce and French mushrooms and +let simmer for ten minutes. Before taking from the pan add half a +tablespoonful of butter and serve on a hot plate. + +Lazzarini also makes a specialty of snails, and they are well worth +trying while you are experimenting with the unusual things to eat. The +recipe for these is as follows: + +Snails a la Bordelaise + +Put ten pounds of snails in a covered barrel and keep for ten days. Then +put in a tub with a handful of salt and a quarter of a gallon of +vinegar. Stir for twenty minutes until a foam rises, then take out and +wash thoroughly until the water runs clear. Put in a large pot a pint of +virgin olive oil, four large onions and eight cloves of garlic, all +chopped fine, and a small bunch of parsley, chopped fine. Put the pot +over the fire and when the onions are browned stir in some white wine or +Marsala and then put in the snails. Cover and let simmer for thirty-five +minutes. While cooking add a pint of meat stock, a little butter and +some anise seed. When done put in a soup tureen and serve. To remove the +snails use small wooden toothpicks. + + + +A Breath of the Orient + +San Francisco's world-famed Chinatown, like the rest of the city, is +changed since the big fire, and the Chinatown of today is but a +reminiscence of the old Oriental city that was set in the midst of the +most thriving Occidental metropolis--The City That Was. There has never +been much of Chinatown that savored of Bohemianism, but it has always +been the vogue for visitors to make a trip through its mysterious +alleys, peering into the fearsome dark doorways, listening to the +ominous slamming doors of the "clubs," and shuddering in a delightful +horror at the recumbent opium smokers, pointed out to them by the +industrious guide. And when they were taken into one of the gambling +houses and shown the double doors, and the many contrivances used to +prevent police interference with the innocent games of fan tan and then +were shown the secret underground passage leading from one of the +gambling houses to the stage of the great Chinese theatre, two blocks +away, they went home ready to believe anything told them about "the ways +that are dark and tricks that are vain," for they were sure "the heathen +Chinee was peculiar." + +Chinese restaurant life never appealed to Bohemians, and when it became +necessary to entertain visitors with a trip to a Chinatown restaurant +the ordinary service was of tea and rice cakes, served from lacquered +trays, in gaudy rooms, and the admiring visitors could well imagine +themselves in "far off Cathay." + +Then came the fire and Chinatown, with the rest of the down-town portion +of San Francisco, passed away. In the rebuilding the owners of the +properties concluded to give the quarter a more Chinese aspect and +pagoda like structures are now to be found in all parts of the section. +The curiosity of the tourist is an available asset to Chinatown, and +with queer houses and queerer articles on sale there is always plenty of +uninitiated to keep the guides busy, but from a city of more than +twenty-five thousand Orientals in the midst of an enlightened city--an +Asiatic city that had its own laws and executed its criminals with the +most utter disregard for American laws, it has changed into one of the +most law-abiding parts of the great city. With the passing of the queue +came the adoption of the American style of dressing, and much of the +picturesqueness of the old Chinatown has disappeared. + +But with the changed conditions there has come a change in the +restaurant life of the quarter, and now a number of places have been +opened to cater to Americans, and on every hand one sees "chop suey" +signs, and "Chinese noodles." It goes without saying that one seldom +sees a Chinaman eating in the restaurants that are most attractive to +Americans. Some serve both white and yellow and others serve but the +Chinese, and a few favored white friends. + +Probably the best restaurant in Chinatown is that of the Hang Far Low +Company, at 723 Grant avenue. Here is served such a variety of strange +dishes that one has to be a brave Bohemian, indeed, to partake without +question. Ordinarily when Chinese restaurants are mentioned but two +dishes are thought of--chop suey and chow main. But neither is +considered among the fine dishes served to Chinese epicures. It is much +as if one of our best restaurants were to advertise hash as its +specialty. Both these dishes might be termed glorified hash. The +ingredients are so numerous and so varied with occasion that one is +tempted to imagine them made of the table leavings, and that is not at +all pleasant to contemplate. + +We asked one of the managers at the Hang Far Low what he would order if +he wished to get the best dish prepared in the restaurant, and he was +even more emphatic in his shrugs than the French or Italian managers. He +protested that there were so many good things it was impossible to name +just one as being the best. "You see, we have fish fins, they are very +good. Snails, China style. Very good, too. Then we have turtle brought +from China, different from the turtle they have here, and we cook it +China style. Eels come from China and they are cooked China style, too. +What is China style? That I cannot tell you for the cook knows and +nobody else. When we cook China style everything is more better. We have +here the very best tea." + +This may be taken as a sample of what to expect when visiting +Chinatown's restaurants, and while we confess to having some excellent +dishes served us in Chinatown, our preference lies in other paths of +endeavor. We suppose it is all in the point of view, and our point of +view is that there is nothing except superficiality in the ordinary +Chinese restaurants frequented by Americans, and those not so +frequented are impossible because of the average Chinaman's disregard +for dirt and the usual niceties of food preparation. + + + +Artistic Japan + +We wish it were in our power to describe a certain dinner as served us +in a Japanese restaurant in the days that followed the great fire. +Desiring to observe in fitting manner a birthday anniversary, we asked a +Japanese friend if he could secure admission for a little party at a +restaurant noted for serving none but the highest class Japanese. We did +not even know where the restaurant was but had heard of such a place, +and when we received word that we would be permitted to have a dinner +there we invited a newspaper friend who was in the city from New York, +together with two other friends and the Japanese, who was the editor of +the Soko Shimbun. He took us to a dwelling house in O'Farrell street, +having given previous notice of our coming. There was nothing on the +outside to indicate that it was anything but a residence, but when we +were ushered into the large front room, we found it beautifully +decorated with immense chrysanthemums, and glittering with silver and +cut glass on a magnificently arranged table. + +In deference to the fact that all but our Japanese friend were +unaccustomed to chopsticks, forks were placed on the table as well as +the little sticks that the Orientals use so deftly. At each place was a +beautiful lacquer tray, about twelve by eighteen inches, a pair of +chopsticks, a fork and a teaspoon. Before the meal was over several of +us became quite expert in using the chopsticks. + +When we were seated in came two little Japanese women, in full native +costume, bearing a service of tea. The cups and saucers were of a most +delicate blue and white ware, with teapot to match. Our first cup was +taken standing in deference to a Japanese custom where all drank to the +host. Then followed saki in little artistic bottles and saki cups that +hold not much more than a double tablespoonful. Saki is the Japanese +wine made of rice, and is taken in liberal quantities. At each serving +some one drank to some one else, then a return of the compliment was +necessary. Having always heard that Orientals turned menus topsy-turvy +we were not at all surprised when the little serving women brought to +each of us two silver plates and set them on our trays. These plates +contained what appeared to be cake, one seeming to be angel food with +icing, and the other fruit cake with the same covering. With these came +bowls of soup, served in lacquer ware, made of glutinous nests of +swallows, and also a salad made of shark fins. We ate the soup and salad +and found it good, and then made tentative investigation of the "cake." +To our great surprise we discovered the angel food to be fish and the +"icing" was shredded and pressed lobster. The "fruitcake" developed into +pressed dark meat of chicken, with an icing of pressed and glazed white +meat of the same fowl. + +Following this came the second service of tea, this time in cups of a +rare yellow color and beautiful design, with similar teapot. + +The next course was a mixture of immature vegetables, served in a sort +of saute. These were sprouting beans, lentils, peas and a number of +others with which we were unfamiliar. The whole was delicately flavored +with a peculiar sauce. + +After a short wait, during which the saki bottles circulated freely, one +of the women came in bearing aloft a large silver tray on which reposed +a mammoth crayfish, or California lobster. This appeared to be covered +with shredded cocoanut, and when it was placed before the host for +serving he was at loss, for no previous experience told him what to do. +It developed that the shredded mass on top was the meat of the lobster +which had been removed leaving the shell-fish in perfect form. It was +served cold, with a peculiar sauce. + +Now followed the piece de resistance. A tub of water was brought in and +in this was swimming a live fish, apparently of the carp family. After +being on view for a few minutes it was removed and soon the handmaidens +appeared with thinly sliced raw fish, served with soy sauce. Ordinarily +one can imagine nothing more repulsive than a dish of raw fish, but we +were tempted and did eat, and found it most delicious, delicate, and +with a flavor of raw oysters. + +Next came the third service of tea, this time in a deep red ware. Then +came a dessert of unusual flavor and appearance, followed by preserved +ginger and fruit. + +It must be remembered that during the meal, which lasted from seven +until past midnight, saki was served constantly yet no one felt its +influence in more than a sense of increased exhilaration. It is +customary to let the emptied bottles remain on the table until the close +of the meal, and there was a mighty showing. + +It was impossible to eat all that was set before us, but Japanese custom +forbids such a breach of etiquette as an indication that the food was +not perfection, consequently the serving maids appeared bearing six +carved teak boxes, and placed one at each plate. Into these we arranged +the food that was unconsumed, and when we went away we carried it with +us. To cap the climax the Japanese stripped the room of its bounteous +decoration of chrysanthemums and piled them into our arms and we went +home loaded with food and flowers. + +Proprietor and all his household accompanied us to the door with many +bows and gesticulations, wishing us best of luck, and we went back to +our homes in the desolated city with the feeling of having been +transported to Fairyland of the Orient. + +We discovered later that our Japanese friend was of the family of the +Emperor and was here on a diplomatic mission. + + + +Old and New Palace + +One cannot well write a book on Bohemian restaurants of San Francisco +without saying something about the great hotel whose history is so +intimately intertwined with that of the city since 1873, when William C. +Ralston determined that the city by the Golden Gate should have a hotel +commensurate with its importance. San Francisco and the Palace Hotel +were almost synonymous all over the world, and it was conceded by +travelers that nowhere else was there a hostelry to equal this great +hotel. + +To the bon vivant the grills of the Palace Hotel contained more to +enhance the joy of living than anywhere else, and here the chefs prided +themselves with providing the best in the land, prepared in such perfect +ways as to make a meal at the Palace the perfection of gastronomic art. + +There are three distinct eras to the history of the Palace Hotel, the +first being from 1876 to 1890, the second from 1890 to 1906, and the +third from 1906 to the present day. In the earlier days the grills, both +that for gentlemen and that for ladies, were noted for their magnificent +service and their wonderful cooking. A breakfast in the Ladies' Grill, +with an omelet of California oysters, toast and coffee, was a meal long +to be remembered. Possibly the most famous dish of the old Palace was +this one of omelet with California oysters, and it was prepared in the +following manner: + +Oyster Omelet + +(For two): Take six eggs, one hundred California oysters, one small +onion, one tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of flour, salt and +pepper to taste. Beat the eggs to a froth and stir in the onion chopped +fine. Put the eggs into an omelet pan over a slow fire. Mix the flour +and butter to a soft paste with a little cream, and stir in with the +oysters, adding salt and pepper to taste. When the eggs begin to stiffen +pour the oysters over and turn the omelet together. Serve on hot plate +with a dash of paprika. + +This is the recipe of Ernest Arbogast, the chef for many years of the +old Palace. The slightly coppery taste of the California oysters gives a +piquancy to the flavor of the omelet that can be obtained in no other +way, and those who once ate of Arbogast's California oyster omelet, +invariably called for it again and again. + +We asked Jules Dauviller, the present chef of the Palace, for the recipe +of what he considered the best dish now prepared at the Palace and he +said he would give us two, as it was difficult to decide which was the +best and most distinctive. These are the recipes as he wrote them for +us: + +Planked Fillet Mignon + +Trim some select fillet mignon of beef, about four ounces of each, +nicely. Saute these in a frying pan with clarified butter on a hot fire. +Dress on a small round plank, about four and a half inches in diameter, +decorated with a border of mashed potatoes. Over the fillet mignon pour +stuffed pimentoes, covered with a sauce made of fresh mushrooms, sauteed +sec over which has been poured a little chateaubriand sauce. Serve +chateaubriand sauce in a bowl. + +The second is: + +Cold Fillet of Sand-Dabs, Palace + +Select six nice fresh sand-dabs. Raise the fillets from the bone skin +and pare nicely, and season with salt and paprika. Arrange them in an +earthenware dish. Cut in Julienne one stalk of celery, one green pepper, +one cucumber, two or three tomatoes, depending on their size. + +With the bone of the sand-dab, well cleaned, make a stock with one +bottle of Riesling, juice of one lemon and seasoning. Add chervil and +tarragon. Season to taste and cook the Julienne ingredients with some of +the stock. When the rest of the stock is boiling poach it in the fillets +of sand-dab, then remove from the fire and let get cold. Put the +garnishing around the fillets and put on ice to get in jelly. When ready +to serve decorate around the dish with any kind of salad you like, and +with beets, capers, olives and marinated mushrooms. This must be served +very cold and you may serve mayonnaise sauce on the side. + +We asked Dauviller what he considered his most delicate salad and he +gave us this recipe: + +Palace Grill Salad + +Select three hearts of celery and cut them Julienne. Cut some pineapple +and pimentoes into dice. Mix all well together in a bowl and add +mayonnaise sauce and a little whipped cream. Sprinkle some finely +chopped green peppers on top and serve very cold. + + + +At the Hotel St. Francis + +On the morning of April 18, 1906, one of us stood in the doorway of the +Hotel St. Francis, and watched approaching fires that came from three +directions. It was but a few hours later when all that part of the city +was a mass of seething flames, and in the ruins that lay in the wake of +devastation was this magnificent hostelry. + +Before business in the down-town district was reorganized, and while the +work of removing the tangled masses of debris was still in progress the +Merchants Association of San Francisco called its members together in +its annual banquet, and this banquet was held in the basement of the +Hotel St. Francis, the crumbling walls, and charred and blackened +timbers hidden under a mass of bunting and foliage and flowers. Here was +emphasized the spirit of Bohemian San Francisco, and it was one of the +most merry and enjoyable of feasts ever held in the city. + +It was made possible by the fact that the management of the Hotel St. +Francis was undaunted in the face of almost overwhelming disaster. The +same spirit has carried the hotel through stress of storm and it stands +now, almost as a monument to the energy of James Woods, its manager. +There has always been a soft spot in our hearts for the Hotel St. +Francis, and it is here that we have always felt a most pleasurable +emotion when seeking a place where good things are served. Whether it be +in the magnificent white and gold dining room, or the old tapestry room +that has been remodeled into a dining room, or in the electric grill +below stairs, it has always been the same. + +We asked Chef Victor Hertzler what he considered his best recipe and his +answer was characteristic of him. + +"I shall give you Sole Edward VII. If this is not satisfactory I can +give you a meat, or a salad or a soup recipe." We considered it +satisfactory, and here it is: + +Sole Edward VII + +Cut the fillets out of one sole and lay them flat on a buttered pan, and +season with salt and pepper. Make the following mixture and spread over +each fillet of sole: Take one-half pound of sweet butter, three ounces +of chopped salted almonds, one-fourth pound of chopped fresh mushrooms, +a little chopped parsley, the juice of a lemon, salt, pepper and a +little grated nutmeg. + +Add to the pan one-half glassful of white wine and put in the oven for +twenty minutes. + +When done serve in the pan by placing it on a platter, with a napkin +under it. + +Hertzler has another recipe which he prizes greatly and which he calls +"Celery Victor," and this is the recipe which he gave us: + +Celery Victor + +Take six stalks of celery well washed. Make a stock of one soup hen or +chicken bones, and five pounds of veal bones in the usual manner, with +carrots, onions, parsley, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Place the celery +in a vessel and strain the broth over it. Boil until soft and let cool +off in its own broth. + +When cold press the broth out of the celery with the hand, gently, and +place on a plate. Season with salt, fresh ground black pepper, chervil, +and one-quarter white wine vinegar with tarragon to three-quarters of +best olive oil. + + + +Amid Bright Lights + +Streets centering around Powell from Market up to Geary, may well be +termed the "Great White Way" of San Francisco, if New York will permit +the plagiarism. Here are congregated the most noted of the lively +restaurants of the present day San Francisco. Here the streets are +ablaze with light at night, and thronged with people, for here is the +restaurant and theatre district proper of the city. + +Among the restaurants deserving of special mention in this district are +the two Solaris. When Solari opened his restaurant at 354 Geary street, +where he continues to attract good livers by the excellence of his +cooking, he at once achieved fame which has never waned. It so happened +that there were two brothers, and as sometimes occurs brothers disagreed +with the result that Fred Solari withdrew and opened a restaurant at +Geary and Mason, just a short distance from the original place. + +Evidently the recipe for what is considered best in both of the Solari +restaurants came from common ownership, for each of these places gave in +response to a request for its best recipe, the following: + +Chicken Country Style + +Cut a chicken in eight pieces and drop them into some cold milk, +seasoning with salt. After soaking for a few minutes dry the chicken in +flour and lay in a frying pan in good butter. Place in the oven and let +them cook slowly, turning them occasionally until they are nice and +brown on all sides, when remove them. In the gravy put a tumblerful of +cream and a pinch of paprika, mix well and let it cook for ten minutes, +until it gets thick, then strain and pour over the chicken and serve. + +The following "don'ts" are added to the recipe: Don't use frozen +poultry. Don't substitute corn starch and milk for cream. + + + +Around Little Italy + +San Francisco holds no more interesting district than that lying around +the base of Telegraph Hill, and extending over toward North Beach, even +as far as Fisherman's Wharf. Here is the part of San Francisco that +first felt the restoration impulse, and this was the first part of San +Francisco rebuilt after the great fire, and in its rebuilding it +recovered all of its former characteristics, which is more than can be +said of any other part of the rebuilt city. + +Here, extending north from Jackson street to the Bay, are congregated +Italians, French, Portuguese and Mexicans, each in a distinct colony, +and each maintaining the life, manners and customs, and in some +instances the costumes, of the parent countries, as fully as if they +were in their native lands. Here are stores, markets, fish and vegetable +stalls, bakeries, paste factories, sausage factories, cheese factories, +wine presses, tortilla bakeries, hotels, pensions, and restaurants; each +distinctive and full of foreign life and animation, and each breathing +an atmosphere characteristic of the country from which the parent stock +came. + +Walk along the streets on the side of Telegraph Hill and one can well +imagine himself transported to a sunny hillside in Italy, for here he +hears no other language than that which came from the shores of the +Mediterranean. Here are Italians of all ages, sexes and conditions of +servitude, from the padrone to the bootblack who works for a pittance +until he obtains enough to start himself in business. If one investigate +closely it will be found that many of the people of this part of San +Francisco have been here for years and still understand no other +language than that of their native home. Why should they learn anything +else, they say. Everybody around them, and with whom they come in +contact speaks Italian. Here are the Corsicans, with their peculiar +ideas of the vendetta and the cheapness of life in general, and the +Sicilians and Genoese and Milanese. Here are some from the slopes of +Vesuvius or Aetna, with inborn knowledge of the grape and of wine +making. All have brought with them recipes and traditions, some dating +back for hundreds of years, or even thousands, to the days before the +Christian Era was born. It is just the same to them as it was across the +ocean, for they hear the same dialect and have the same customs. Do they +desire any special delicacy from their home district, they need but go +to the nearest Italian grocery store and get it, for these stores are +supplied direct from Genoa or Naples. This is the reason that many of +the older men and women still speak the soft dialect of their native +communities, and if you are so unfortunate as not to be able to +understand them, then it is you who are the loser. + +Do you wish to know something about conditions in Mexico? Would you like +to learn what the Mexicans themselves really think about affairs down in +that disturbed republic? Go along Broadway west of Grant avenue, and +then around the corner on Stockton, and you will see strange signs, and +perhaps you will not know that "Fonda" means restaurant, or that +"Tienda," means a store. But these are the signs you will see, and when +you go inside you will hear nothing but the gentle Spanish of the +Mexican, so toned down and so changed that some of the Castilians +profess to be unable to understand it. + +Here you will find all the articles of household use that are to be +found in the heart of Mexico, and that have been used for hundreds of +years despite the progress of civilization in other countries. You will +find all the strange foods and all the inconsequentials that go to make +the sum of Mexican happiness, and if you can get sufficiently close in +acquaintance you will find that not only will they talk freely to you, +but they will tell you things about Mexico that not even the heads of +the departments in Washington are aware of. + +Perhaps you would like to know something about the bourgeoise French, +those who have come from the peasant district of the mother country. Go +a little further up Broadway and you will begin to see the signs +changing from Spanish to French, and if you can understand them you will +know that here you will be given a dinner for twenty-five cents on week +days and for thirty-five cents on Sundays. The difference is brought +about by the difference between the price of cheap beef or mutton and +the dearer chicken. + +Up in the second story on a large building you may see a sign that tells +you meals will be served and rooms provided. One of these is the +rendezvous of Anarchists, who gather each evening and discuss the +affairs of the world, and how to regulate them. But they are harmless +Anarchists in San Francisco, for here they have no wrongs to redress, so +they sit and drink their forbidden absinthe, and dream their dreams of +fire and sword, while they talk in whispers of what they are going to do +to the crowned heads of Europe. It is their dream and we have no quarrel +with it or them. + +But for real interest one must get back to the slope of Telegraph Hill; +to the streets running up from Columbus avenue, until they are so steep +that only goats and babies can play on them with safety. At least we +suppose the babies are as active as the goats for the sides of the hill +are alive with them. + +Let us walk first along Grant avenue and do a little window shopping. +Just before you turn off Broadway into Grant avenue, after passing the +Fior d'Italia, the Buon Gusto, the Dante and Il Trovatore restaurants, +we come to a most interesting window where is displayed such a variety +of sausages as to make one wonder at the inventive genius who thought of +them all. As you wonder you peep timidly in the door and then walk in +from sheer amazement. You now find yourself surrounded with sausages, +from floor to ceiling, and from side wall to side wall on both ceiling +and floor, and such sausage it is! + +From strings so thin as to appear about the size of a lady's little +finger, to individual sausages as large as the thigh of a giant, they +hang in festoons, crawl over beams, lie along shelves, decorate +counters, peep from boxes on the floor, and invite you to taste them in +the slices that lay on the butcher's block. One can well imagine being +in a cave of flesh, yet if you look closely you will discover that +sausage is but a part of the strange edible things to be had here. + +Here are cheeses in wonderful variety. Cheeses from Italy that are made +from goats' milk, asses' milk, cows' milk and mares' milk, and also +cheeses from Spain, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, and all the other +countries where they make cheese, even including the United States. +These cheeses are of all sizes and all shapes, from the great, round, +flat cheese that we are accustomed to see in country grocery stores, to +the queer-shaped caciocavallo, which looks like an Indian club and is +eaten with fruit. + +There are dried vegetables and dried fruits such as were never dreamed +of in your limited experience, and even the grocer himself, the smiling +and cosmopolitan Verga, confesses that he does not know the names of all +of them. + +As you go out into the street you blink at the transformation, for you +have been thousands of miles away. You think that surely there can be +nothing more. Wait a bit. Turn the corner and walk along Grant avenue +toward the Hill. See, here is a window full of bread. Look closely at it +and you will notice that it is not like the bread you are accustomed to. +Count the different kinds. Fourteen of them in all, from the long sticks +of grissini to the great slid loaves weighing many pounds. Light bread, +heavy bread, good bread, soft bread, hard bread, delicate bread, each +having its especial use, and all satisfying to different appetites. + +Now go a little further to the corner, cross the street and enter the +store of the Costa Brothers. It is a big grocery store and while you +will not find the sausage and mystifying mass of food products in such +lavish display and profuseness, as in the previous place, if you look +around you will find this even more interesting, for it is on a +different plane. Here you find the delicacies and the niceties of +Italian living. At first glance it looks as if you were in any one of +the American grocery stores of down-town, but a closer examination +reveals the fact that these canned goods and these boxes and jars, hold +peculiar foods that you are unaccustomed to. Perhaps you will find a +clerk who can speak good English, but if you cannot either of the Costa +brothers will be glad to show you the courtesy of answering your +questions. + +Turn around and look at the shelves filled with bottles of wine. Now you +feel that you are on safe ground, for you know about wines and can talk +about Cresta Blanca, and Mont Rouge, and Asti Colony Tipo Chianti. But +wait a minute. Here are labels that you do not understand and wines that +you never even heard of. Here are wines whose taste is so delicious that +you wonder why it is the whole world is not talking about it and +drinking it. + +Here are wines from the slopes of Aetna, sparkling and sweet. Here are +wines from grapes grown on the warm slopes of Vesuvius, and brought to +early perfection by the underground fires. Here are wines from the +colder slopes of mountains; wines from Parma and from Sicily and Palermo +where the warm Italian sunshine has been the arch-chemist to bring +perfection to the fruit of the vine. Here are still wines and those that +sparkle. Here the famed Lacrima Christi, both spumanti and fresco, said +to be the finest wine made in all Italy, and the spumanti have the +unusual quality for an Italian wine of being dry. But to tell you of all +the interesting articles to be found in these Italian, and French and +Mexican stores, would be impossible, for some of them have not been +translated into English, and even the storekeepers would be at a loss +for words to explain them. + +This is all a part of the Bohemianism of San Francisco, and that is why +we are telling you about it in a book that is supposed to be devoted to +the Bohemian restaurants. The fact is that San Francisco's Bohemian +restaurants would be far less interesting were it not for the fact that +they can secure the delicacies imported by these foreign storekeepers to +supply the wants of their people. + +But do not think you have exhausted the wonders of Little Italy when you +have left the stores, for there is still more to see. If you were ever +in Palermo and went into the little side streets, you saw the strings of +macaroni, spaghetti and other pastes drying in the sun while children +and dogs played through and around it, giving you such a distaste for it +that you have not eaten any Italian paste since. + +But in San Francisco they do things differently. There are a number of +paste factories, all good and all clean. Take that of P. Fiorini, for +instance, at a point a short distance above Costa Brothers. You cannot +miss it for it has a picture of Fiorini himself as a sign, and on it he +tells you that if you eat his paste you will get to be as fat as he is. +Go inside and you will find that Fiorini can talk just enough English to +make himself understood, while his good wife, his sole assistant, can +neither speak nor understand any but her native Italian. But that does +not bother her in the least, for she can make signs, and you can +understand them even better than you understand the English of her +husband. + +Here you will see the making of raviolis by the hundred at a time. +Tagliarini, tortilini, macaroni, spaghetti, capellini, percatelli, +tagliatelli, and all the seventy and two other varieties. The number of +kinds of paste is most astonishing, and one wonders why there are so +many kinds and what is done with them. Fiorini will tell you that each +kind has its distinctive use. Some are for soups, some for sauces, and +all for special edibility. There are hundreds of recipes for cooking the +various pastes and each one is said to be a little better than the +others, if you can imagine such a thing. + +Turn another corner after leaving Fiorini's and look down into a +basement. You do not have to go to the country to see wine making. Here +is one of the primitive wine presses of Italy, and if you want to know +why some irreverent people call the red wine of the Italians "Chateau la +Feet," you have but to watch the process of its making in these +Telegraph Hill wine houses. The grapes are poured into a big tub and a +burly man takes off his shoes and socks and emulates the oxen of +Biblical times when it treaded out the grain. Of course he washes his +feet before he gets into the wine tub. But, at that, it is not a +pleasant thing to contemplate. Now you look around with wider and more +comprehensive eyes, and now you begin to understand something about +these strange foreign quarters in San Francisco. As you look around you +note another thing. Italian fecundity is apparent everywhere, and the +farther up the steep slope of the Hill you go the more children you see. +They are everywhere, and of all sizes and ages, in such reckless +profusion that you no longer wonder if the world is to be depopulated +through the coming of the fad of Eugenics. The Italian mother has but +two thoughts--her God and her children, and it is to care for her +children that she has brought from her native land the knowledge of +cookery, and of those things that help to put life and strength in their +bodies. + +An Italian girl said to us one day: + +"Mama knows nothing but cooking and going to church. She cooks from +daylight until dark, and stops cooking only when she is at church." + +It was evident that her domestic and religious duties dominated her +life, and she knew but two things--to please her God and to care for +her family, and without question if occasion demanded the pleasure of +her family took precedence. + +San Francisco's Latin quarter is appealing, enticing and hypnotizing. Go +there and you will learn why San Francisco is a bohemian city. You will +find out that so many things you have thought important are really not +at all worth while. Go there and you will find the root of Bohemian +restaurants. These people have studied gastronomy as a science, and they +have imparted their knowledge to San Francisco, with the result that the +Bohemian spirit enters into our very lives, and our minds are broadened, +and our views of life and our ideas have a wider scope. It is because of +this condition, born on the slopes of Telegraph Hill, that we are drawn +out of depressing influences, out of the spirit of self-consciousness, +and find a world of pleasure, innocent and educational, the inspiration +for which has been handed down through generations of Latina since the +days of early Roman empire, which inspiration is still a power for good +because it takes people out of themselves and places them where they can +look with understanding and speak the language of perception. Little +Italy's charm has long been recognized by artists and writers, and many +of them began their careers which led to fame and fortune in little +cheap rooms on Telegraph Hill. Here have lived many whose names are now +known to fame, and to name them would be almost like a directory of +world renowned artists and writers. Here is still the memory of Bret +Harte and Mark Twain. Here is where Keith had his early studio. +Cadenasso, Martinez, and many others know these slopes and love them. + +To all these and many more the Latin Quarter of San Francisco possessed +a charm they could find nowhere else, and if one desire to bring a +saddened look to the faces of many now living elsewhere it is but +necessary to talk of the good old days when Bohemia was on Telegraph +Hill in San Francisco. Here they had their domicile, and here they +foregathered in the little restaurants, whose claims to merit lay +chiefly in the fact that they were rarely visited by other than the +Italians of the quarter and these Bohemians who lived there. + +Here was the inspiration of many a good book and many a famous picture +whose inception came from thoughts that crystallized amid these +surroundings, and here many a needy Bohemian struggled through the lean +days with the help of these kind-hearted Latina. Here they, even as we, +were taught something of the art of cooking. + +Of course, if one desire to learn various methods of preparing food, it +is necessary to keep both eyes open and to ask many questions, seeking +the information that sometimes comes from unlooked for sources. Even at +that it is not always a good idea to take everything for granted or to +accept every suggestion, for you may meet with the Italian vegetable +dealer who is so eager to please his customers that he pretends a +knowledge he does not possess. We discovered him one day when he had on +display a vegetable that was strange to us. + +"How do you cook it?" was our question. + +"Fry it." + +Then his partner shouted his laughter and derision. + +"Oh, he's one fine cook. All the time he say 'fry it.' One day a lady +she come into da store an' she see da big bucket of ripe olives. Da lady +she from the East and she never see olives like dat before. 'How you +cook it?' say da lady. 'Fry it,' say my partner. Everything he say fry +it." + +In another vegetable stand we found an Italian girl, whose soft lisping +accent pronounced her a Genoese, and she, diffidently suggested "a fine +Italian dessert." + +A Fine Desert + +"You take macaroons and strawberries. Put a layer of macaroons in a dish +and then a layer of strawberries, cover these with sugar, and then +another layer of macaroons and strawberries and sugar until you have all +you want. Over these pour some rum and set fire to it. After it is +burned out you have a fine dessert." + +We bought the macaroons and strawberries on the way home and did not +even wait for dinner time to try it. We pronounce it good. + +It was made the right way and we advise you to try it, for it is simple +and leaves a most delicious memory. + + + +Where Fish Come In + +It was very early one morning. So early that one of us strenuously +pretended sleep while the other gave urgent reminder that this was the +day we were to go to Fishermen's Wharf. Daylight came early and it was +just four o'clock when we began preparations. A cup of hot coffee while +dressing served to get us wide-awake, and we were off to see the fish +come in. + +Fishermen's Wharf lies over at North Beach, at the end of Meiggs's +Wharf, where the Customs Officers have their station, and to reach it +one takes either the Powell and North Beach cars, or the Kearny and +North Beach cars, and at the end of either walks two blocks. When you +get that far anybody you see can tell you where to go. + +Fog mist was stealing along the Marin shore, and hiding Golden Gate when +we arrived, and the rays of the sun took some time to make a clear path +out to sea. Out of the bank of white came gliding the heavy power boats +of the Sicilian and Corsican fishermen, while from off shore were the +ghostly lateen rigged boats of those who had been fishing up the +Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, their yards aslant to catch the faint +morning breeze. As they slipped through the leaden water to their +mooring at the wharf we could see the decks and holds piled with fish +and crabs. + +Roosting on piles, and lining the water's edge on everything that served +to give foothold, were countless seagulls, all waiting for the breakfast +they knew was coming from the discarded fish, and fit companions were +the women with shawls over their heads irreverently called mud hens, and +old men in dilapidated clothing, who sat along the stringers of the +wharf, some with baskets, some with buckets and others with little paper +bags, in which to put the fish which they could get so cheaply it meant +a meal for them when otherwise they would have to go without. The +earlier boats were moored and on the decks fires were burning in +charcoal braziers, on which the fishermen cooked their breakfasts of +fish and coffee, with the heavy black loaves of bread for which they +seem to have special fancy. As the odor of the cooking fish came up from +the water the waiting gulls and men and women moved a little closer. + +Breakfast over the fishermen turned to the expectant crowd and began +taking notice of the pitiful offerings of coin. Tin buckets, newspapers, +bags, rags and even scooped hands were held down, each containing such +coin as the owner possessed, and in return came bountiful supply of +fish. A fine, fat crab for which your market man would charge you forty +cents was sold for ten. Beautiful, fresh sand-dabs, but an hour or two +out of the water, were five cents a pound, while sea bass, fresh cod, +mackerel, and similar fish went at the same price. Small fish, or white +bait, went by quantity, ten cents securing about half a gallon. Smelt, +herring, flounder, sole, all went at equally low prices, and as each +buyer secured his allotment he went hurrying off through the mist, as +silently as the floating gulls. When these were all supplied the rest of +the fish and crabs were taken up to the wharf and put on the counters of +the free market, where they were sold at prices most tempting. + +Shrimps, alive and active, crayfish, clams, squid and similar sea food +was in profusion and sold at prices on a parity with that of the fish. +As the day wore on the early buyers were replaced by those who knew of +the free fish market and came to get good supplies for their money. Here +were boarding-house keepers, unmistakable anywhere, Bohemians in hard +luck who remembered that they could get good food here at a minimum of +price, and came now while on the down turn of the wheel. As a human +interest study it was better than a study of fish. Fishermen's Wharf is +where the independent fishermen bring their catches to San Francisco, +but it is not where the city's great supply comes in. To see that we had +to go along the docks until we came to the Broadway wharf where +Paladini, the head of the fish trust, unloads his tugs of their tons and +tons of fish. It is not nearly so interesting to look at, but it gives a +good idea of what comes out of the sea every day to supply the needs of +San Francisco and the surrounding country. These tugs bring in the +catches of dozens of smaller boats manned by fishermen who are toiling +out beyond the heads, and up the two great rivers. From far out around +the Farallones, from up around the Potato Patch with its mournful fog +bell constantly tolling, from down the coast as far as Monterey Bay +where fish are in such abundance that it is said they have to give a +signal when they want to turn around, from up the rivers, come fish to +the man who has grown from the owner of a small sail boat to be the +power who controls prices of all the fish that go to the markets of the +city. + +By the time we finished with Paladini's fish we felt ready for breakfast +and took a car down to Davis and Pacific street where we found Bazzuro's +serving breakfast to dozens of market gardeners who had finished their +unloading, and there, while partaking of the fresh fish we had brought +from Fishermen's Wharf, we saw another phase of San Francisco's early +morning life. Here were gardeners who came in the darkness of early +morning to supply hucksters, small traders and a few thrifty people who +knew of the cheapness, and in Columbo market they drove their great +wagons and discharged their day's gathering of vegetables of all kinds. + +But a few steps away is the great fruit market of the early morning and +here tons of the finest fruits are distributed to the hundreds of wagons +that crowd the street to such an extent that it takes all the ingenuity +of experienced policemen to keep clearway for traffic. Threading their +way in and out between the wheels and the heels of horses, were men and +women, all looking for bargains in food. Amid a din almost deafening +business was transacted with such celerity that in three hours the +streets were cleared, fruits and vegetables sold and on their way to +distant stands, and the tired policemen leaning against friendly walls, +recuperating after the strenuous work of keeping order in chaos. + +It is when one goes to these places in the morning and sees the +cheapness of these foods that he can understand in a small way why it is +that so many Italian restaurants can give such good meals for so little +money. One wonders at a table d'hote dinner of six or seven courses for +twenty-five cents, or even for half a dollar, and one accustomed to +buying meats, fish, vegetables and fruits at the exorbitant prices +charged at most of the markets and fruit and vegetable stands now sees +why the thrifty foreigner can make and save money while the average +American can hardly keep more than two jumps ahead of the sheriff. + + + +Fish in Their Variety + +Probably the most frequent question asked us by those who come to San +Francisco is: "Where can we get the best fish?" With San Francisco's +wonderful natural advantages as a fish market one is sometimes surprised +that more attention is not given to preparing fish as a specialty. But +one restaurant in the city deals exclusively with sea food, and even +there one is astonished at an overlooked opportunity. + +Darbee & Immel have catered to San Francisco in oysters for many years +and after the fire they opened the Shell Fish Grotto, in O'Farrell +street, between Powell and Mason streets, and this is one of the very +few distinctive fish restaurants of the country. It is when one +considers the possibilities that a shock comes from the environing +decorations. White and gold pillars, with twining ivy reaching to the +old gold and rose mural and ceiling embellishments seem out of place in +a restaurant that is devoted entirely to catering to lovers of fish. +Nothing in the place indicates its character except the big lobster in +front of the building. Not even so much as a picture to bring a +sentiment of the ocean to the mind. + +We are going to take a liberty, and possibly Darbee & Immel may call it +an impertinence, and give them a bit of advice. It costs them nothing +consequently they can act on it or not and it will make no difference. +This is our suggestion: + +Change the interior of the place entirely by having around the walls a +series of large glass aquaria, with as many different kinds of fish +swimming about as it is possible to get; something on the order of the +interior of the aquarium in Battery Park in New York. Paint the ceiling +to represent the surface of the water as seen from below. Have seaweed +and kelp in place of ivy, and a fish net or two caught up in the corners +of the room, with here and there a starfish or a crab--not too many, for +profuseness in this sort of decoration is an abomination. Then you will +have a restaurant that will be talked about wherever people sit at meat. +But to get back to our talk about fish, and where to get it prepared and +cooked the best. We must say that the finest fish we have eaten in San +Francisco was not in the high-priced restaurants at all, but in a +little, dingy back room, down at Fishermen's Wharf, where there was sand +on the floor and all the sounds of the kitchen were audible in the +dining room. The place was patronized almost solely by the Italian +fishermen who not only know how to catch a fish but how it ought to be +cooked. One may always rest assured that when he gets a fish in one of +the Italian restaurants it is perfectly fresh, for there are two things +that an Italian demands in eating, and they are fresh fish and fresh +vegetables. + +At the Gianduja at Union and Stockton streets, one is certain to get +fish cooked well and that it is perfectly fresh. The variety is not so +good as at the Shell Fish Grotto, but otherwise it is just as good in +every respect. At the Grotto there is a wonderful variety but the +quantity is at the minimum because there, too, they will have no fish +that has been twenty-four hours out of the water. + +One wonders how a full course dinner entirely of fish can be prepared, +but if you will go to the Shell Fish Grotto you will find that it is +done, and done well at that. Here you can get a good dinner for one +dollar, or if you prefer it they have a Fish Dinner de Luxe for which +they charge two dollars. Both are good, the latter having additional +wines and delicacies. + +Down in Washington street, just off Columbus avenue, is the Vesuvius, an +Italian restaurant of low price, but excellent cooking. A specialty +there is fish which is always brought fresh from the nearby Clay street +market as ordered, consequently is perfect. When you give your order a +messenger is dispatched to the market and usually he brings the fish +alive and the chef prepares it in one of his many ways, for he is said +to have more secrets about the cooking of fish than one would think it +possible for one brain to contain. The trouble about this restaurant is +that the rest of the menu does not come up to the fish standard, but if +you desire a simple luncheon of fish there is no better place to get it. + +There are three things in which an Easterner will be disappointed in San +Francisco, and these are oysters. Pacific Coast oysters fail in size, +flavor and cooking, when compared with the luscious bivalve of the +Atlantic, so far as the ordinary forms of preparation is concerned. Even +fancy dishes, such as Oysters Kirkpatrick, would be better if made of +the eastern oyster, not what they call the eastern oyster here, for that +is a misnomer, but the oysters that grow in the Atlantic Ocean. + +Of the Pacific oysters the best is the Toke Point, that comes from +Oregon. They are similar in size to the Blue Point, but lack the flavor. +When, in a San Francisco restaurant, you are asked what sort of oyster +you will have, and you see the familiar names on the menu card, remember +that these are transplanted oysters, and have lost much of their flavor +in the transplanting, or else they are oysters that have been shipped +across the continent and have thereby lost their freshness. + +The California oyster proper, is very small, and it has a peculiar +coppery taste, which bon vivants declare adds to its piquancy. Instead +of ordering these by the dozen you order them by the hundred, it being +no difficult task to eat an hundred at a meal, especially when prepared +in a pepper roast. + +Everyone knows the staple ways of preparing oysters, and every chef +looks upon the oyster as the source of new flavors in many dishes, but +to our mind the best way we have found in San Francisco was at a little +restaurant down in Washington street before the fire. It was the Buon +Gusto, where they served fish and oysters better than anything else +because the owners were the chefs, and they were from the island of +Catalan, off the coast of Italy. Their specialty was called "Oysters a +la Catalan," and their recipe, which is given, can be prepared +excellently in a chafing dish: + +Oysters a la Catalan + +Take one tablespoonful of butter, two teaspoonfuls grated Edam or +Parmesan cheese, four tablespoonfuls catsup, one-half teaspoonful +Worcestershire sauce, two tablespoonfuls cream, meat of one good-sized +crab cut fine and two dozen oysters. Put the cheese and butter into a +double boiler and when melted smooth add the catsup and Worcestershire +sauce. Mix well and add the cream and then the crab meat. When creamy +and boiling hot drop in the oysters. As soon as the oysters are crinkled +serve on hot buttered toast on hot plates. + +In the days before the fire when you went to a restaurant and ordered +fish or oysters the waiter invariably put before you either a plate of +crab salad or a dish of shrimps, with which you were supposed to amuse +yourself while the meal was being prepared. Shrimps and crabs were then +so plentiful that their price was never considered. Under our new +conditions these always appear on the bill when ordered, and if they be +not ordered they do not appear for they now are made to increase the +income. + +To the uninitiated visitor the shrimps so served were always something +of a mystery, and after a few futile efforts to get at the meat they +generally gave it up as too much work for the little good derived. The +Old Timer, however, cracked the shrimp's neck, pinched its tail, and out +popped a delicious bonne bouche which added to the joy of the meal and +increased the appetite. But there are many other ways of serving +shrimps, and they are also much used to give flavor to certain fish +sauces. One of the most delicious ways of preparing shrimp is what is +known as "Shrimp Creole, a la Antoine," so named after the famous New +Orleans Antoine by a chef in San Francisco who had regard for the New +Orleans caterer. We doubt if it can be had anywhere in San Francisco now +unless you are well enough known to have it prepared according to the +recipe. This recipe, by the way, is a good one to use in a chafing dish +supper. This is the way it was prepared at the old Pup restaurant, one +of the noted restaurants before the fire and earthquake changed +conditions: + +Shrimp Creole + +Take three pints of unshelled shrimps and shell them, one-half pint of +cream, two tablespoonfuls of butter, two tablespoonfuls of flour, two +tablespoonfuls of catsup, one wine glass of sherry, paprika, chili +powder and parsley. Brown the flour in the butter and add the milk until +it is thickened. Color with the catsup and season with paprika and chili +powder. Stir in the sherry and make a pink cream which is to be mixed +through the shrimps and not cooked. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and +serve with squares of toast or crackers. + + + +Lobsters and Lobsters + +When is a lobster not a lobster? When it is a crayfish. This question +and answer might well go into the primer of information for those who +come to San Francisco from the East, for what is called a lobster in San +Francisco is not a lobster at all but a crayfish. The true lobster is +not found in the Pacific along the California coast, and so far efforts +at transplanting have not been successful. The Pacific crayfish, +however, serves every purpose, and while many contend that its meat is +not so delicate in flavor as that of its eastern cousin, the Californian +will as strenuously insist that it is better, but, of course, something +must always be allowed for the patriotism of the Californian. + +Lobster, served cold with mayonnaise, or broiled live lobster are most +frequently called for, and while they are both excellent, we find so +many other ways of preparing this crustacean that we rarely take the +common variety of lobster dishes into consideration. Probably nowhere in +San Francisco could one get lobster better served than in the Old +Delmonico restaurant of the days before the fire. A book could be +written about this restaurant and then all would not be told for all its +secrets can never be known. + +In New York City they have what they are pleased to call "Lobster +Palaces," but there is not a restaurant in that great metropolis that +could approach the Delmonico of San Francisco in its splendid service +and its cuisine arrangements; neither could they approach the romance +that always surrounded the O'Farrell street restaurant. It was here that +most magnificent dinners were arranged; it was here that extraordinary +dishes were concocted by chefs of world-wide fame; it was here that +Lobster a la Newberg reached its highest perfection, and this is the +recipe that was followed when it was prepared in the Delmonico: + +Lobster a la Newberg + +One pound of lobster meat, one teaspoonful of butter, one-half pint of +cream, yolks of four eggs, one wine glass of sherry, lobster fat. Three +hours before cooking pour the sherry over the lobster meat and let it +stand until ready to cook. Heat the butter and stir in with the lobster +and wine, then place this in a stewpan, or chafing dish, and cook for +eight minutes. Have the yolks of eggs well beaten and add to them the +cream and lobster fat, stir well and then stir in a teaspoonful of +flour. Put this in a double boiler and let cook until thick, stirring +constantly. When this is cooked pour it over the lobster and let all +cook together for three minutes. Serve in a chafing dish with thin +slices of dry toast. + + + +King of Shell Fish + +One has to come to San Francisco to partake of the king of shell fish--the +mammoth Pacific crab. I say "come to San Francisco" advisedly, for +while the crab is found all along the coast it is prepared nowhere so +deliciously as in San Francisco. Of course our friends in Portland will +take exception to this, but the fact remains that nowhere except in San +Francisco have so many restaurants become famous because of the way they +prepare the crab. The Pacific crab is peculiar, and while it has not the +gigantic claws such as are to be seen on those in the Parisian and +London markets, its meat is much more delicate in flavor, and the dishes +of crab prepared by artists of the gastronomic profession in San +Francisco are more savory than those found elsewhere. + +In the pre-fire days there were many places which paid especial +attention to the cooking of the crab, among them being the Cobweb +Palace, previously mentioned, and Gobey's. Gobey ran one of those places +which was not in good repute, consequently when ladies went there they +were usually veiled and slipped in through an alley, but the enticement +of Gobey's crab stew was too much for conventionality and his little +private rooms were always full. + +Gobey's passed with the fire, and the little restaurant bearing his +name, and in charge of his widow, in Union Square avenue, has not +attained the fame of the old place. It is possible that she knows the +secret of preparing crab as it was prepared in the Gobey's of before the +fire, but his prestige did not descend to her. + +Almost all of the Italian restaurants will give you crab in many forms, +and all of them are good; many restaurants use crab meat for flavoring +other, dishes, but of all the recipes for cooking crab we have found +none that we consider so good as that of Gobey's. It is as follows: + +Gobey's Crab Stew + +Take the meat of one large crab, scraping out all of the fat from the +shell. One good-sized onion, one tomato, one sweet pepper, one +teaspoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of flour, half a glass of sherry, +a pinch of rosemary, one clove of garlic, paprika, salt and minionette +pepper. Soak the crab meat in the sherry two hours before cooking. Chop +fine the onion, sweet pepper and tomato with the rosemary. Mash the +clove of garlic, rubbing thoroughly in a mortar and on this put the +butter and flour, mixing well together, and gradually adding the salt +and minionette pepper, and stir in two tablespoonfuls of cream. Heat +this in a stewpan and when simmering add the sherry and crab meat and +let all cook together with a slow fire for eight minutes. Serve in a +chafing dish with toasted crackers or thin slices of toasted bread. A +dash of Worcestershire sauce just before it is taken up adds to the +flavor. + + + +Lobster in Miniature + +Crawfish, or ecravisse, has never been very popular in San Francisco, +probably because there are so many other delicate crustaceans that are +more easily handled, yet the crawfish grows to perfection in Pacific +waters, and importation's of them from Portland, Oregon, are becoming +quite an industry. So far it has been used mostly for garnishment of +other dishes, and it is only recently that the Hof Brau has been making +a specialty of them. All of the better class restaurants, however, will +serve them if you order them. + +The full flavor of the crawfish is best obtained in a bisque, and the +best recipe for this is by the famous chef Francatelli, who boasts +having been the head of the cuisine of Queen Victoria. His recipe is +long, and its preparation requires much patience, but the result is such +a gastronomic marvel that one never regrets the time spent in its +accomplishment. This is the recipe for eight people, and it is well +worth trying if you are giving a dinner of importance: + +Bisque of Crawfish + +Take thirty crawfish, from which remove the gut containing the gall in +the following manner: Take firm hold of the crawfish with the left hand +so as to avoid being pinched by its claws; with the thumb and forefinger +of the right hand pinch the extreme end of the central fin of the tail, +and, with a sudden jerk, the gut will be withdrawn. + +Mince or cut into small dice a carrot, an onion, one head of celery and +a few parsley roots, and to these add a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, a +little minionette pepper and two ounces of butter. Put these ingredients +into a stewpan and fry them ten minutes, then throw in the crawfish and +pour on them half a bottle of French white wine. Allow this to boil and +then add a quart of strong consomme and let all continue boiling for +half an hour. Pick out the crawfish and strain the broth through a +napkin by pressure into a basin in order to extract all the essence from +the vegetables. + +Pick the shells off twenty-five of the crawfish tails, trim them neatly +and set them aside until wanted. Reserve some of the spawn, also half of +the body shells with which to make the crawfish butter to finish the +soup. This butter is made as follows: Place the shells on a baking sheet +in the oven to dry; let the shells cool and then pound them in a mortar +with a little lobster coral and four ounces of fresh butter, thoroughly +bruising the whole together so as to make a fine paste. Put this in a +stewpan and set it over a slow fire to simmer for about five minutes, +then rub it through a sieve with considerable pressure into a basin +containing ice water. As soon as the colored crawfish butter is become +firmly set, through the coldness of the water, take it out and put it +into a small basin and set in the refrigerator until wanted. + +Reverting to the original recipe: Take the remainder of the crawfish and +add thereto three anchovies, washed for the purpose, and also the crusts +of French rolls, fried to a light brown color in butter. Pound all these +thoroughly together and then put them into a stewpan with the broth that +has been reserved in a basin, and having warmed the bisque thus prepared +rub it through a sieve into a fine puree. Put this puree into a soup pot +and finish by incorporating therewith the crawfish butter and season +with a little cayenne pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Pour the +bisque quite hot into the tureen in which have been placed the crawfish +tails, and send to the table. + +This is not so difficult as it appears when you are reading it and if +you wish to have something extra fine take the necessary time and +patience and prepare it. + + + +Clams and Abalone's + +We cannot dispose of the shell fish of San Francisco without a word or +two about clams, for certainly there is no place where they are in +greater variety and better flavor. In fact the clam is the only bivalve +of this part of the coast that has a distinctive and good flavor. +Several varieties are to be found in the markets, the best and rarest +being the little rock clams that come from around Drake's Bay, just +above the entrance to Golden Gate. These are most delicious in flavor +and should never be eaten otherwise than raw. The sand, or hard shell, +or as they are sometimes called little necks, are next in choiceness, +and then come the Pismo beach clams, noted for their flavor and enormous +size. The mud clam is good for chowder but not so good as either of the +other varieties mentioned. + +The Bohemian way to have your clams is to go to the shore of Bolinas Bay +or some other equally retired spot, and have a clam bake, or else take a +pot along with the other ingredients and have a good clam chowder. This, +however, may be prepared at any time and is always a good meal. + +Clam fritters when prepared according to the recipe given herein, is one +of the best methods of preparing the clam, and it has the peculiarity of +being so tasty that one feels that there is never enough cooked. + +Of all the ways of cooking clams chowder takes precedence as a rule, and +it is good when made properly. By that we do not mean the thin, watery +stuff that is served in most of the restaurants and called clam chowder +just because it happens to be made every Friday. That is fairly good as +a clam soup but it is no more chowder than a Mexican soup approaches a +crawfish bisque. There is but one right way to make clam chowder, and +that is either to make it yourself or closely superintend the making, +and this is the way to make it: + +Clam Chowder + +Take one quart of shelled sand clams, two large potatoes, two large +onions, one clove of garlic, one sweet pepper, one thick slice of salt +pork, one-half pound small oyster crackers, one-half glass sherry, one +tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce, one tomato, salt, and pepper. In a +large stewpan place the salt pork cut into small dice, and let this fry +slightly over a slow fire until the bottom of the stewpan is well +greased. Take this off the fire and put in a layer of potatoes sliced +thin, on top of the salt pork, then a layer of onions sliced thin, and a +layer of clams. Put on this salt and pepper and sprinkle with a little +flour and then a layer of crackers. Chop the sweet pepper and tomato +fine and mix with them the bruised and mashed garlic. On top of each +succession of layers put a little of the mixture. Continue making these +layers until all the ingredients are placed in the stewpan, and then +pour on the top sufficient water to just show. Cover tightly and let +cook gently for half an hour. Pour on the Worcestershire sauce and +sherry just before serving. Do not stir this while cooking, and in order +to prevent its burning it should be cooked over an asbestos cover. + +When done this should be thick enough to be eaten with a fork. + +Among the good Bohemians who lived in San Francisco as a child when it +was in the post-pioneer days, and who has enjoyed the good things of all +the famous restaurants is Mrs. Emma Sterett, who has given us the +following recipe for clam fritters which we consider the most delicious +of all we have ever eaten, and when you try them you will agree with us: + +Clam Fritters + +Take two dozen clams, washed thoroughly and drained. Put in chopping +bowl and chop, not too fine. Add to these one clove of garlic mashed, +one medium-sized onion chopped fine, add bread crumbs sufficient to +stiffen the mass, chopped parsley, celery and herbs to taste. Beat two +eggs separately and add to the clams. If too stiff to drop from a spoon +add the strained liquor of clams. Drop tablespoonfuls of this mixture +into hot fat, turn and cook for sufficient time to cook through, then +drain on brown paper and serve. + +Abalone's are a univalve that has been much in vogue among the Chinese +but has seldom found place on the tables of restaurants owing to the +difficulty in preparing them, as they are tough and insipid under +ordinary circumstances. When made tender either by the Chinese method of +pounding, or by steeping in vinegar, they serve the purpose of clams but +have not the fine flavor. The Hof Brau restaurant is now making a +specialty of abalone's, but it takes sentiment to say that one really +finds anything extra good in them. + +Another shell fish much in vogue among the Italian restaurants is +mussels, which are found to perfection along the coast. These are +usually served Bordelaise, and make quite a pleasant change when one is +surfeited with other shell fish, but the best recipe is: + +Mussels Mariniere + +Thoroughly clean the mussels and then put them in a deep pan and pour +over them half a glass of white wine. Chop an onion, a clove of garlic +and some parsley fine and put in the pan, together with a tablespoonful +of butter. Let these boil very quick for twelve minutes, keeping the pan +tightly covered. Take off half shells and place the mussels in a chafing +dish and pour over them Bechamel sauce and then add sufficient milk +gravy to cover. Serve hot from chafing dish. + + + +Where Fish Abound + +According to David Starr Jordan, acknowledged world authority on fish, +there is greater variety of fish in Monterey Bay than anywhere else in +the world. Monterey Bay is one of San Francisco's sources of supply +consequently we have a greater variety of fish in our markets than are +to be found anywhere else. In the markets are fish from all parts of the +Pacific Ocean, from the Tropics to far north in the Arctics, while +denizens of the waters all the way, between add to the variety. + +The essential element of goodness in fish is freshness, and it is always +fresh in San Francisco markets, and also in the restaurants. Of all +varieties two rank first in the estimation of gourmets, but, of course, +that is purely a matter of individual taste. According to the +above-mentioned authority, "the finest fish that swims is the sand-dab." +Some gourmets, however, will take issue with him on this and say the +pompano is better. Others will prefer the mountain trout. Be that as it +may they all are good, with many others following close in choice. + +Fine striped bass from the ocean, or black bass from the fresh water +takes high place in preference. Then there is sole, both in the fillet +and Rex, as prepared at Jule's under the Monadnock building. Tom cod, +rock cod, fresh mackerel and fresh cod, white bait and boned smelt all +are excellent fish, but were we to attempt to tell of all the fish to be +found here we would have to reproduce a piscatorial directory. There are +two good methods of acquiring knowledge of the fish of San Francisco. Go +to the wharves and see them come and and go to the wholesale markets +down in Clay street, below Montgomery. You will then begin to realize +that we certainly do have a variety of good fish. + +Now for a little Bohemianism of a different sort: Recently there came to +San Francisco, with his wife, an actor whose name used to be almost a +household word among theater-goers, and when we say "the villain still +pursued her," all you old timers will know whom we mean. When he was +here in the years long gone by it was his custom to go to the old +California market, select what he desired to eat, then take it to the +restaurant and have it cooked, and the old atmosphere came back to him +on his recent arrival and he revived the old custom. + +"Meet us at the California market," was the telephone message that came +to us, and we were there, for we knew that something good was in store +for us. + +First we went through the market from end to end and all the side +aisles, "spying out the land." It is not possible to enumerate what we +saw. If you want to know go there and see for yourselves. Having seen we +were told to go and select what we wished to have for our dinner, and +then the selection began and there was a feast of buying fish, meats, +vegetables and delicacies of all sorts, even to French pastry. + +Our purchases were ordered sent to the restaurant in the corner of the +market where the chef had already been duly "seen," and then came each +particular idea as to how the food was to be cooked. We had sand-dabs +munier, chateaubriand with mushrooms, Italian squash, fried in oil with +a flavor of garlic, French pastry, and coffee, together with some good +California Tipo Chianti, all flavored with such a stream of reminiscence +that we forgot that such things as clocks existed. + +It was the first time our theatrical friends had tasted sand-dabs, for +this fish has come to San Francisco markets only in recent years, and +they declared that it was the "only" fish fit to be eaten. It is +possible that they were prejudiced by the sentiment of the surroundings +and consequently not exactly in position to be good judges. + +All Italian restaurants serve fish well. At the New Buon Gusto you will +find a most excellent cippino with polenti, and if you have not +experienced this we advise you to try it as soon as possible. At the +Gianduja you will find sand-dabs au gratin to be very fine. At Jack's, +striped bass cooked in wine is what we think the best of the fish to be +found in the market, or at the restaurants, cooked that way. Jule's is +famous for his Rex sole. At all of the French and Italian restaurants +small fry is cooked to perfection. If you wish fish in any way or of any +kind you will make no mistake in asking for it at any of the French or +Italian restaurants, or at the Shell Fish Grotto, and if you are in +doubt regarding what to order just take the proprietor into your +confidence, tell him you are a stranger in the city and ask him to serve +you fish the best way he prepares it. You will not be disappointed. + + + +Some Food Variants + +Variants of food preparation sometimes typify nationalities better even +than variants of language or clothing. Take the lowly corn meal, for +instance. We find that Italian polenti, Spanish tamale, Philadelphia +scrapple and Southern Darkey crackling corn bread are but variants of +the preparation of corn meal in delectable foods. It is a long step from +plain corn meal mush to scrapple, which we consider the highest and best +form of preparing this sort of dish, but all the intermediate steps come +from a desire to please the taste with a change from simple corn meal. +Crackling corn bread is the first step, and here we find that the +darkies of the South found good use for the remnants of the pork after +lard was tried out at hog-killing time, by mixing the cracklings with +their corn meal and making a pone which they cooked before an open fire +on a hoe blade, the first of this being called "cracklin' hoe cake." + +Good scrapple is one of the finest breakfast dishes that we know during +the winter, and when prepared after the recipe given here it precedes +all other forms of serving corn meal. To mix it properly one must know +the proper values of herbs and condiments, and this recipe is the result +of much discriminating study. Modesty prevents us giving it more than +the name of "scrapple." It is prepared in the following manner, +differing from that made in Philadelphia: + +Scrapple + +Take a young pig's head and boil it until the flesh drops from the +bones, in water to which has been added two good-sized onions, +quartered, five bruised cloves of garlic, one bay leaf, sweet marjoram, +thyme, rosemary, a little sage, salt, and pepper. Separate the meat from +the bones and chop fine. Strain off the liquor and boil with corn meal, +adding the chopped meat. Put in the corn meal gradually, until it makes +a stiff mush, then cook for half an hour with the meat. Put in shallow +pans and let cool. To serve slice about half an inch thick and fry in +olive oil or butter to a light brown. + +As originally prepared the tamale was made for conveyance, hence the +wrappings of corn husk. This is a Spanish dish, having been brought to +this country by the early Spanish explorers, and adopted by the Indian +tribes with whom they came in contact. In the genuine tamale the +interior is the sauce and meat that goes with the corn meal which is +alternately laid with the husks, and when made the ends are tied with +fine husk. For meat, chicken, pork, and veal are considered the best. +There is also a sweet tamale, made with raisins or preserves. + +The following recipe for tamales was given us by Luna: + +Tamales + +Boil one chicken until the meat comes from the bones. Chop the neat fine +and moisten it with the liquor in which it was boiled. Boil six large +chili peppers in a little water until cooked so they can be strained +through a fine strainer, and add to this the chopped chicken, with salt +to taste and a little chopped parsley. Take corn meal and work into it a +lump of butter the size of an egg, adding boiling water and working +constantly until it makes a paste the consistency of biscuit dough. Have +ready a pile of the soft inner husks of green corn and on each husk +spread a lump of dough, the size of a walnut, into a flat cake covering +the husk. In the center of the dough put a teaspoonful of the chopped +meat with minced olive. On a large husk put several tablespoonfuls of +chopped meat with olives. Roll this together and lay on them other husks +until the tamale is of the size desired. Tie the ends together with +strips of fine husk and put in boiling water for twenty minutes. Either +veal or pork may be used instead of chicken. + +Polenti, properly prepared, is a dish that requires much labor, and +scarcely repays for the time and exertion spent in its making. It +differs from scrapple in that the ingredients are mixed in a sauce and +poured over the mush instead of being mixed in the meal. In the New Buon +Gusto restaurant, in Broadway, they cook polenti to perfection, and when +it is served with cippino it leaves nothing to be desired. This is the +recipe: + +Polenti + +For the gravy: Make a little broth with veal bone, a small piece of +beef, a pig's foot, neck, feet and gizzard of chicken. In a separate +kettle cook in hot oil one sliced onion, one clove of garlic, a little +parsley, one bell pepper, one tomato, a small piece of celery, and a +carrot. Cook until soft and then add this to the broth with a few dried +mushrooms. Cook slowly for thirty minutes and then strain. + +For the mush: Boil corn meal until it is thoroughly done and then cool +it until it can be cut in slices for frying. Mix butter and olive oil +and heat in a frying pan and into this put the slices of corn meal, +frying to a light brown. Place the fried corn meal in a platter in +layers, sprinkling each with grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. +Take parsley and one clove of garlic chopped fine and a can of French +mushrooms cut in quarters, and fry in butter, then add enough gravy to +pour over the fried corn meal. Place this in an oven for a few minutes +then serve. + + + +About Dining + +Table d'hote is the feature of San Francisco's restaurant life. It is +the ideal method for those who wish a good dinner and who have not the +inclination, or the knowledge, to order a special dinner. It is also the +least expensive way of getting a good dinner. It also saves an +exhibition of ignorance regarding the dishes, for if you are in doubt +all you have to do is to leave it to the waiter, and he will bring the +best there is on the day's menu and will serve it properly. + +It is really something to elicit wonder when one considers the +possibilities of a table d'hote dinner in some of the less expensive +restaurants. Take, for instance, the Buon Gusto, in Broadway. This +restaurant boasts a good chef, and the food is the finest the market +affords. Here is served a six course dinner for fifty cents, and the +menu card is typical of this class of restaurants. What is provided is +shown by the following taken from the bill of fare as it was served us: + +Hor d'ouvres--four kinds; five kinds of salad; two kinds of soup; seven +kinds of fish; four kinds of paste; broiled spring chicken; green salad +with French dressing; ice cream or rum omelet; mixed fruits; demi tasse. + +With this is served a pint of good table wine. + +As one goes up with the scale of prices in the restaurants that charge +$1, $1.25, $1.50, $2, $2.50, and $3 for their dinners it will be found +that the difference lies chiefly in the variety from which to choose and +from the surroundings and service. + +Take, for example, the following typical menu for a dollar dinner, +served at the Fior d'Italia, and compare it with the fifty-cent dinner +just mentioned: + +Salami and anchovies; salad; chicken broth with Italian paste; fillet of +English sole, sauce tartare; spaghetti or ravioli; escallop of veal, +caper sauce; French peas with butter; roast chicken with chiffon salad; +ice cream or fried cream; assorted fruits and cakes; demi tasse. Wine +with this dinner is extra. + +Now going a step up in the scale we come to the $1.50 dinner as follows: + +Anchovies, salami (note that it is the same as above); combination +salad; tortellini di Bologna soup; striped bass a la Livornaise; ravioli +a la Genoese and spaghetti with mushrooms; chicken saute, Italian style, +with green peas; squab with lettuce; zabaione; fruit; cheese; coffee. +Wine is extra. + +Let us now look at the menu of the $3.50 dinner, without wine: + +Pate 'de foie gras--truffles on toast; salad; olives; Alice Fallstaff; +Italian ham "Prosciutto;" soup--semino Italiani with Brodo de Cappone; +pompano a la papillote; tortellini with fungi a funghetto; fritto misto; +spring chicken saute; Carcioffi all'Inferno; Capretto al Forno con +Insallata; omelet Celestine; fruit; cheese, and black coffee. + +This dinner must be ordered three days in advance. + +These menus will give a good idea of the different classes of dinners +that can be obtained. Between are dinners to suit all tastes and +pocketbooks. If you wish to go beyond these there is no limit except the +amount of money you have. If but the food value be taken into +consideration then one will be as well pleased with the fifty-cent +dinner as he will be at the higher priced meals, but if light and music +and brilliant surroundings are desired, then one must pay for them as +well as for the meal he eats. + +All of the restaurants mentioned serve good table d'hote dinners, giving +an astonishing variety of foods for the money, and it is all cooked and +served in a manner that leaves nothing to be desired. As before +mentioned if you wish a table d'hote dinner composed entirely of sea +food you can get it at the Shell Fish Grotto for one dollar. + +A good rule to follow when dining at any of the restaurants is: When in +doubt order a table d'hote dinner. You will always get a good meal, for +the least out lay of money and least expenditure of thought. Often one +desires something a little different, and this is easy, too, and you +can conserve your brain energy and get the most for the least money by +seeing the proprietor or manager of the restaurant and telling him that +you wish to give a little dinner. Tell him how many will be in the party +and give him the amount you wish to spend. It will be surprising, +sometimes, to see how much more you can get for a slight increase in the +price. Of course your wines and cocktails will be extra and these must +be reckoned in the cost. + +From this we come to the ordered dinner, and here is where your own +knowledge and special desires come in. Here, too, comes a marked +increase in the cost. You now have the widest range of possibilities +both as to viands and as to price. It is not at all difficult to have a +dinner, without wine, that costs twenty-five dollars a plate, and when +you come down to the more normal dinners, unless you confine yourself to +one or two dishes you will find that you far exceed in price the table +d'hote dinners of equal gastronomic value. + +While this is true it is well to be able to order your dinner for it +frequently occurs that one does not care to go through the heavy course +dinner provided table d'hote. Sometimes one wants a simple dish, or +perhaps two, and it is well to know something about them and how to +order them. We have made it a rule whenever we have seen something new +on the bill of fare to order it, on the theory that we are willing to +try anything once, and in this way we have greatly enlarged our +knowledge of good things. + +It is also well to remember national characteristics and understand that +certain dishes are at their best at certain restaurants. For instance, +you will be served with an excellent paste at a French restaurant, but +if you want it at its best you will get it at an Italian restaurant. On +the other hand if you desire a delicate entree you will get the best at +a French restaurant. For instance, one would not ask for sauer braten +anywhere except at a German restaurant. It will readily be seen that the +Elegant Art of Dining in San Francisco means much more than the sitting +at table and partaking of what is put before you. Dining is an art, and +its pleasure is greatly enhanced by a knowledge of foods, cooking, +serving, national characteristics, and combinations of both foods and +wines. How few people are there, for instance, who know that one should +never drink any hard liquor, like whisky, brandy, or gin, with oysters. +Many a fit of acute stomach trouble has been attributed to some food +that was either bad or badly prepared when the cause of the trouble was +the fact that a cocktail had been taken just prior to eating oysters. + +Some of the possibilities of dining in San Francisco may be understood +when we tell you of a progressive dinner. We had entertained one of the +Exposition Commissioners from a sister State and he was so well pleased +with what he had learned in a gastronomic way that he said to us: + +"The Governor of my State is coming and I should like to give him a +dinner that will open his eyes to San Francisco's possibilities. Would +it be asking too much of you to have you help me do it?" + +"We shall be glad to. What do you want us to do?" + +"Take charge of the whole business, do as you please and go as far as +you like." + +"That is a wide order, General. What is the limit of price, and how many +will be in the party?" + +"Just six. That will include the Governor and his wife, you two and +myself and wife. Let it be something unusual and do not let the cost +interfere. What I want is something unusual." + +It has been told us that when the Governor got back home he tried to +tell some of his friends about that dinner, but they told him he had +acquired the California habit of talking wide. This is the way we +carried out the dinner, everything being arranged in advance: At 6:30 we +called at the rooms of the Governor in the Palace Hotel and had served +there dry Martini cocktails with Russian caviar on toasted rye bread. + +An automobile was in waiting, and at seven o'clock we were set down at +Felix's, in Montgomery street, where a table was ready for us and on it +were served salami of various kinds, artichokes in oil and ripe olives. +Then came a service of soup, for which this restaurant is famous, +followed by a combination salad, with which was served a bottle of +Pontet Canet. + +The automobile carried us then over to Broadway and at the Fior d'Italia +our table was waiting and here we were served with sand-dabs au gratin, +and a small glass of sauterne. + +All the haste we made was on the streets, and when we finished our +course at the Fior d'Italia we whirled away over toward North Beach to +the Gianduja, where had been prepared especially for us tagliarini with +chicken livers and mushrooms, and because of its success we had a bottle +of Lacrima Christi Spumanti, the enjoyment of which delayed us. + +Again in the automobile to Coppa's where Chicken Portola was served, +with green peas. Accompanying this was a glass of Krug, and this was +followed by a glass of zabaione for dessert. + +Back again to the heart of the city and we stopped at Raggi's, in +Montgomery street near Commercial where we had a glass of brandy in +which was a chinotti (a peculiar Italian preserved fruit which is said +to be a cross between a citron and an orange). + +Then around the corner to Gouailhardou & Rondel's, the Market Cafe, +where from a plain pine table, and on sanded floor, we had our coffee +royal. As a fitting climax for this evening we directed the chauffeur to +drive to the Cliff House, where, over a bottle of Krug, we talked it all +over as we watched the dancing and listened to the singing of the +cabaret performers. + +This dinner, including everything from the automobile to the tips cost +but fifteen dollars for each one in the party. + + + +Something About Cooking + +Cooking is sometimes a pleasure, sometimes a duty, sometimes a burden +and sometimes a martyrdom, all according to the point of view. The +extremes are rarities, and sometimes duty and burden are synonymous. In +ordinary understanding we have American cooking and Foreign cooking, and +to one accustomed to plain American cooking, all variants, and all +additions of spices, herbs, or unusual condiments is classed under the +head of Foreign. In the average American family cooking is a duty +usually considered as one of the necessary evils of existence, and food +is prepared as it is usually eaten--hastily--something to fill the +stomach. + +The excuse most frequently heard in San Francisco for the restaurant +habit, and for living in cooped-up apartments, is that the wife wants to +get away from the burden of the kitchen and drudgery of housework. And +like many other effects this eventually becomes a cause, for both +husband and wife become accustomed to better cooking than they could get +at home and there is a continuance of the custom, for both get a +distaste for plainly cooked food, and the wife does not know how to cook +any other way. + +Yet when all is considered the difference between plain American cooking +and what is termed Foreign cooking, is but the proper use of condiments +and seasoning, combined with proper variety of the food supply from the +markets. Herein lies the secret of a good table-proper combination of +ingredients and proper variation and selection of the provisions +together with proper preparation and cooking of the food. + +We have met with many well educated and well raised men and women whose +gastronomic knowledge was so limited as to be appalling. All they knew +of meats was confined to ordinary poultry, i. e., chickens and turkeys, +and to beef, veal, pork, and mutton. Of these there were but three modes +of cooking--frying, stewing and baking, sometimes boiling. Their chops +were always fried as they knew nothing of the delicate flavor imparted +by broiling. In fact their knowledge was confined to the least healthful +and least nutritious modes of preparation and cooking. Not only is this +true of the average American family, but their lack of knowledge of the +fundamentals of cooking and food values brings about a waste largely +responsible for what is called the "high cost of living." It is a trite, +but nevertheless true saying that a French family could live well on +what an American family wastes. Waste in preparation is but the mildest +form of waste. Waste consequent upon lack of knowledge of food values is +the waste that is doubly expensive for it not only wastes food but it +also wastes the system whose energy is exhausted in trying to assimilate +improper alimentation. + +It is a well recognized medical fact that much of the illness of +Americans arises from two causes, improper food and improper eating +methods. In Europe this fact was recognized and generally known so long +ago that the study of food values and preparation for proper +assimilation is one of the essential parts of every woman's education, +and to such a degree has this become raised to a science that schools +and even colleges in cooking are to be found in many parts of England, +France and Germany. Francatelli, the great chef who was at the head of +Queen Victoria's kitchen, boasts proudly of his diploma from the +Parisian College of Cooking. + +The United States is now beginning to wake up to the fact that the +preparation of food is something more than a necessary evil, and from +the old cooking classes of our common schools has developed the classes +in Domestic Science, that which was formerly considered drudgery now +being elevated to an art and dignified as a science. In Europe this +stage was reached many generations ago, and there it is now an art which +has elevated the primitive process of feeding to the elegant art of +dining. In San Francisco probably more than in any other city in the +United States, not even excepting New Orleans, this art has flourished +for many years with the result that the average San Franciscan is +disappointed at the food served in other cities of his country, and +always longs for his favorite restaurant even as the children of Israel +longed for the flesh pots of Egypt. + +One needs to spend a day in the Italian quarter of San Francisco to come +to a full realization of the difference between the requirements of even +the poorest Italian family and the average American family of the better +class. We need but say that we have been studying this question for +nearly twenty years yet even now we meet with surprises in the way of +new delicacies and modes of using herbs and spices in food preparation. + +If we were to attempt even to enumerate the various herbs, spices, +flavorings, delicacies, and pastes to be found in a well regulated +Italian shop it would take many pages of this book, yet every one of +these articles has its own individual and peculiar use, and the +knowledge of these articles and how to use them is what makes the +difference between American and Foreign cooking. Each herb has a +peculiar quality as a stomachic and it must be as delicately measured as +if it were a medicine. The use of garlic, so much decried as plebeian, +is the secret of some of the finest dishes prepared by the highest +chefs. It must not be forgotten that in the use of all flavors and +condiments there may be an intemperance, there lying the root of much of +the bad cooking. + +Garlic, for instance, is a flavor and not a food, yet many of the lower +class foreigners eat it on bread, making a meal of dark bread, garlic +and red wine. It is offensive to sensitive nostrils and vitiates the +taste when thus used, but when properly added to certain foods it gives +an intangible flavor which never fails to elicit praise. What is true of +garlic is also true of the many herbs that are used. It is easy to pass +from a rare flavor that makes a most savory dish to a taste of medicine +that spoils a dinner. With the well-known prodigal and wasteful habits +of America the American who learns the use of herbs usually makes the +initial mistake of putting in the flavoring herbs with too lavish a +hand, and it is only after years of experience that a knowledge of +proper combinations is obtained. + +Visitors have often expressed wonder at the variety of foods and +delicate flavors in San Francisco restaurants, and possibly this brief +explanation may give some comprehension of why San Franciscans always +want to get back to where they "can get something to eat." + + + +Told in a Whisper + +"Surely the old Bohemians of San Francisco did not spend all their time +in restaurants. How did they live when at home?" This is what was said +to us one day when we were talking about the old days and the old +people. Indeed they did not live all their time in restaurants. Some of +the most enjoyable meals we have eaten have been in the rooms and +apartments of our Bohemian friends, and these meals were prepared +generally by each one present doing his or her part in making it a +success. One would make the salad, another the main dish, and others do +various forms of scullery work, and in the end we would have a meal that +would often put to blush the efforts of many of the renowned chefs. + +Many people who come to San Francisco will wish to conserve their +finances as much as possible, and they will wish to enjoy life in their +apartments. There are also many people who live in San Francisco who +need a little advice on how to get the best out of life, and we are +going to whisper a few words to all such as these we have mentioned. + +You can be a Bohemian and have the very best sort of living in your own +room for less than half the money it will take to live at the hotels and +restaurants, and we are sure many of you would like to know something +about how to do it. It is not necessary to confine yourself to the few +things in your limited experience. If you are going to be in San +Francisco for more than a week, you will find that a little apartment, +furnished ready for housekeeping, will give you opportunity to be +independent and free. You will get your own breakfasts, when and how you +want them. Your luncheons and dinners can be gotten in your rooms or at +the restaurants just as you are inclined. + +You will find delight and education in visiting the markets, and the +foreign stores where all the strange and unusual foods of all nations +are to be found. You will discover better articles at less prices at the +little Italian, French, Mexican or Chinese stores and stalls than can be +had in the most aristocratic stores in the city. Above all you will find +a joy of invention and will be surprised at the delectable dishes you +can prepare at a minimum of cost. + +When you visit San Francisco you are desirous of so arranging your +finances that you may see the most for the least outlay of money. After +a strenuous day of sight-seeing you will scarcely feel like getting up a +good meal, consequently then you will follow the ideas suggested in this +book and visit the various restaurants, thus obtaining a variety both in +foods and in information of an educational nature. But sometimes you +will not be tired, or you will wish to get up a little late supper after +theatre, and it is then that you will be glad of the opportunity +afforded by having your own kitchen arrangements so that you can carry +out your tastes, and cook some of the strange and new foods that you +have discovered in your rambles through the foreign quarters. + +Take the simple matter of sausage, for instance. Ordinarily we know of +but three kinds--pork sausage, frankfurter and bologna--neither very +appetizing or appealing, except sometimes the pork sausage for +breakfast. Over in the little Italian and French shops you will find +some of the most wonderful sausages that mind can conceive of. Some of +these are so elaborate in their preparation that they cost even in that +inexpensive part of the city, seventy cents a pound, and the variety is +almost as infinite as that of the pastes. In the Mexican stores you will +find a sausage that gives a delightful flavor to anything it is cooked +with, and it is when you see these sausages that your eyes begin to be +opened. + +You now take cognizance of many things that heretofore escaped your +observation. You see new canned goods; a wonderful variety of cheeses; +strange dried vegetables and delicacies unheard of; preserved vegetables +and fish and meats in oil; queer fish pickled and dried. You begin to +learn of the many uses of olive oil in cooking and in food preparation. +You see the queer shapes of bread, and note the numerous kinds of cakes +and pastry that you never saw or heard of before. You see boxes of dried +herbs, and begin to realize why you have never been able to reproduce +certain flavors you have tasted in restaurants. You see strange-looking, +flat hams, and are told that they are Italian hams, and if you buy some +you will find that they cut the ham the wrong way, and instead of +slicing it across the grain they cut in very thin slices down the length +of the bone. Their flavor is more delicious than that of any ham you +have tasted since you used to get the old-time, genuine country smoked +hams. But if you investigate a little deeper you will learn that these +hams were not put up in Italy at all, but that it is a special brand +that is prepared in Virginia for the Italians. + +In the French stores you will find preserved cockscombs, snails, +marvelous blood sausages with nuts in them, rare cheeses, prepared meats +in jellies, and hundreds of delicacies unknown to you. You can spend +days in these stores, finding something new all the time. We have been +going there for years and still run across new things. + +Remember that to the people of the Latin Quarter these things are all +usual consequently they think you know as much about them as they do, +and will volunteer no information regarding them. Possibly they will +smile at your ignorance when you ask them questions, but do not hesitate +to ask, for they are courteous and that is the only way you can find out +things, and learn what all these new edibles are and what they are good +for. There is no greater possibility of interest than is to be found in +the stores of San Francisco's Latin Quarter, and we mean by this the +stores that cater to the people of the Quarter. In stores and +restaurants frequented by Americans they cater to American tastes and +lose much of the foreign flavor. + +It is also well to bear in mind that it is not in the largest stores +that you find the greatest variety when it comes to odd and new goods. A +little shop, barely large enough to turn around in between counter and +wall, may have enough of interest to entertain you for half an hour, and +here the prices will be remarkably low, for these people have so little +of the outside trade that they have not learned to add to their prices +when they see an American face coming. + +What is true of the stores is also true of the vegetable stands, the +meat shops, the fish stalls, and bakeries. Here you will find better and +fresher food supplies than in any of the similar places in other parts +of the city, and the price is generally one-third less. The high cost of +living has not reached this thrifty people with their inborn knowledge +of the values of foods. They live twice as well as the average American +family at half the cost. They combine knowledge of food values with the +art of preparation and have a resultant meal that is tasty, full +flavored, and nourishing at a minimum of expense. + +Perhaps you want a meal. Your thoughts at once run to steaks and chops, +and fried potatoes. Nothing but a porterhouse or tenderloin steak or a +kidney chop will do. It is the most expensive meat and you think that of +course it is the best and most nourishing. If the knowledge of food +values were with you, you would get the less expensive and more +nourishing cuts. A flank steak, perhaps, prepared en casserole, and you +would have a fine dish for half the money. As it is in meats so it is in +all foods. For ten cents two people can have a dinner of tagliarini that +is at once nourishing and satisfying in flavor. Of course all this +requires knowledge, but that is easily acquired, and it adds to the zest +of life to know that you can do that which lifts eating from the plane +of feeding to that of dining; that you can change existence into living. +All because you dare to break away from conventionalities which make so +many people affect ignorance of how to live because they imagine it is +an evidence of refinement. If they but knew it, their affectation and +their ignorance is the hall mark of low caste. + +Now about this whisper: We have a friend who has a little apartment +where he has kept bachelor's hall for many years. Here some of our most +pleasant evenings have been spent, and we never fear to go on account of +the possibility that he may be embarrassed or inconvenienced through +lack of something to eat or drink, for he is never at a loss to prepare +something dainty and appetizing for us, and it really seems, sometimes, +that he makes a meal out of nothing. Often Charlie telephones us that he +has discovered a new dish and hurries us over to pass judgment on it. +And, by the way, many of the good dishes of Bohemia are the result of +accident rather than design. + + + +Out of Nothing + +It is surprising what a good meal you can get up sometimes when "there's +not a thing in the house to eat." Let us give you an example. One +evening two of our young friends came over to tell us their sweet +secret, and with them was another young lady. While we were talking it +over and making plans for the wedding another friend dropped in because +he said our "light looked inviting." + +An hour or so of talk and then one of us signaled to the other and +received the shocking signal back, "There's not a thing to eat in the +house." This called for an investigation of the larder in which all +joined with the following result: Item--two cans of reed birds from +China, each containing twelve of the little birds as large as your +thumb. Item--one egg. Other items--one onion, two slices of dry bread, +one green pepper, rather small, one dozen crackers. Item--one case of +imported Italian Vin d'Oro Spumanti. Item--six hearty appetites to be +appeased. + +The gentleman who saw our light saw another, and rushed off to a barber +shop, and got four more eggs. Barbers use eggs, and they must be fresh +ones, in shampooing, and our friend remembered it. + +The two young ladies and the young man prepared the table, and the other +lady and the two gentlemen set about getting a meal. One of us made an +omelet of the five eggs, the onion and the green pepper, with crumbs of +bread, and this is the recipe: + +Omelet a la Peruquier + +Take five eggs and beat until very light. Roll two slices of dried bread +to crumbs and mix with the beaten eggs. Chop fine one onion and one +green pepper, season with salt and pepper. Pour a tablespoonful of olive +oil in an omelet pan and in this fry the peppers and onion to a light +brown. When ready turn into this the beaten eggs, and cook until done. +Follow the rule of never disturbing a cooking egg or a sleeping child. +Serve on a hot dish. + +Take two cans of Chinese reed birds, open them and take therefrom the +two dozen birds contained therein. In a hot frying pan place the birds +in the grease that comes around them and heat them through. Toast twelve +square crackers and on each place two reed birds, and serve two on each +of six hot plates. With both the omelet and the reed birds serve Vin +d'Oro. + + + +Paste Makes Waste + +In an Italian grocery store we noticed a great variety of pastes in +boxes arranged along the counter and began counting them. The proprietor +noticed us and, with a characteristic shrug of his shoulders, said: +"That is but a few of them. We have not room to show them all." In +response to our inquiry regarding the number of kinds of paste made by +Italians he said there were more than seventy-five. Ordinarily we think +of one--spaghetti--or possibly two, including macaroni. If our +knowledge goes a little farther we think also of tagliarini, which is +the Italian equivalent of noodles, as it is made with eggs. + +In New York we were much impressed with the stress they laid on the +serving of spaghetti, and one restaurant went so far as to advertise +dinners given "under the spaghetti vine." It appears that this is the +only paste they know anything about. + +After one eats tagliarini or ravioli one feels like paraphrasing the +darkey and saying, "go way spaghetti, yo done los' yo tase." + +Then comes tortelini which, like ravioli, combines paste with meat and +spinach. These may be considered the most prominent of the pastes, the +others being variants in the making and cutting, each serving a special +purpose in cooking, some being for soups, others for sauces and others +for dressing for meats. It is more than probable that the great variety +comes from individual tastes in cutting or rolling. + +All Italian restaurants serve the paste as a releve rather than as an +entree, which it usually follows, preceding the roast in the dinner. As +a separate and distinct dish it can well be made to serve as a full +meal, especially when tagliarini is prepared after the following recipe: + +Tagliarini Des Beaux Arts + +Cook one pound of tagliarini in boiling water twenty-five minutes, then +draw off the water. To the tagliarini add a handful of mushrooms which +have been sliced and fried in butter. Then add three chicken livers +which have been chopped small and fried, one sliced truffle, one red +pepper chopped fine and a little Parmesan cheese. Make a brown sauce of +one-third beef broth thickened with melted butter and flour and +two-thirds tomato sauce, and pour this over the tagliarini. Sprinkle +with the Parmesan cheese and serve very hot from a chafing dish. (By +Oliver, chef of the Restaurant des Beaux Arts, Paris.) + +In San Francisco one finds both the imported and the domestic paste, and +frequently one hears the assertion that the imported is the better. This +idea is born of the thought that all things from Europe are better than +the same made in America. In fact the paste that comes from Italy is +neither so good in taste, nor is it so clean in the making. We have +visited a number of paste factories in San Francisco and have found them +all scrupulously clean, with the best of materials in the composition of +the pastes. + +One often wonders how the pastes came to be so many and how they +received their names. Names of some of them are accidents, as is +illustrated by macaroni. According to an Italian friend who vouches for +the fact, it received its name from an expression of pleasure. "Macari" +means "fine, excellent," and the superlative is "macaroni." A famous +Italian gourmet constantly desired new dishes to please his taste, and +one day his chef carried to him something that was unusual. The gourmet +tasted it, cried out "macari!" Tasted again, threw out his arms in +delight and cried "macaroni!" + +"What is the name of this wonderful dish?" + +"You have named it. It is macaroni." + + + +Tips and Tipping + +Tipping is variously designated. Some say it is a nuisance and should be +abolished. Some call it an outrage and ask for legislative interference. +Some say it is an extortion and refuse to pay it. Some say it is a +necessary evil and suffer it. The wise ones look at it a little +differently. Possibly it is best explained or excused, whichever way you +wish to call it, by one of Gouverneur Morris's characters in a recent +story, who says: + +"Whenever I go anywhere I find persons in humble situations who smile at +me and wish me well. I smile back and wish them well. It is because at +some time or other I have tipped them. To me the system has never been +an annoyance but a delightful opportunity for the exercise of tact and +judgment." + +We look upon tipping as a part of expense to be calculated upon, +necessary to insure good service, not only now but in the future, and it +should always be computed in the expense of a trip or a dinner. Tipping, +to our minds, is the oil that makes the wheels of life run smoothly. + +The amount of the tip is always a matter of individual judgment, +dependent upon the service rendered, and the way it is rendered. The +good traveler wants to tip properly, neither too little nor too much, +thereby getting the best service, for in the last analysis the pleasure +of a trip depends upon the service received. American prodigality and +asininity is responsible for much of the abuse of tipping. Too many +Americans when they travel desire to appear important and the only way +they can accomplish this is by buying the subserviency of menials who +laugh at them behind their backs. + +A tip should always depend upon the service rendered. We make it a rule +to withhold the tip from a careless or inconsiderate waiter, and always +add to the tip a word of commendation when there has been extra good +service. The amount of the tip depends, first on the service, second on +the amount of the bill, and third, on the character of the place where +you are served. When we order a specially prepared dinner, with our +suggestions as to its composition and service, we tip the head waiter, +the chef, the waiter and the bus boy. We have given dinners where the +tips amounted to fully half as much as the dinner itself, and we felt +that this part of the expense brought us the greatest pleasure. + +It is impossible to make a hard and fast rule regarding how much to give +a waiter. Each person must use his or her own judgment. If you are in a +foreign country you might do as we did on our first trip to Paris. We +wanted to do what was right but not what most Americans think is right +We were at a hotel where only French were usually guests, and in order +to do the right thing we took the proprietor into our confidence and +explained to him our dilemma. We asked him whom to tip and how much to +give, and he got us out of our difficulty and we found that the tips +amounted to about as much for one whole week as we had been held up for +in one day at the Waldorf-Astoria. + + + +The Mythical Land + +Notwithstanding the fact that Webster gives no recognition in his +dictionary to the Land of Bohemia or the occupants thereof, the land +exists, perhaps not in a material way, but certainly mentally. Some have +not the perception to see it; some know not the language that admits +entrance; some pass it by every day without understanding it. Yet it as +truly exists as any of the lands told of in our childhood fables and +fairy stories. + +The old definition of Bohemian was "a vagabond, a wayfarer." Possibly +that definition may, to a certain extent, be true of the present-day +Bohemian, for he is a mental vagabond and a mental wayfarer. + +In our judgment the word comes from the French "Bon Homme," for surely +the Bohemian is a "good man." + +Whatever may be the derivation the fact remains that not to all is given +the perception to understand, nor the eyes to see, and therein lies one +of the dangers of writing such a book as this. If you read this and then +hurry off to a specified restaurant with the expectation of finding the +Bohemian atmosphere in evidence you are apt to be disappointed, for +frequently it is necessary to create your own Bohemian atmosphere. + +Then, too, all nights are not the same at restaurants. For instance if +you desire the best service afforded in any restaurant do not select +Saturday or Sunday night, but if you will lay aside your desire for +personal comfort in service, and wish to study character, then take +Saturday or Sunday night for your visit. It is very possible that you +will think the restaurant has changed hands between Friday and Saturday. +On Saturday and Sunday evening the mass of San Francisco's great +cosmopolitan population holds holiday and the great feature of the +holiday is a restaurant dinner, where there is music, and glitter, and +joyous, human companionship. At such times waiters become careless and +sometimes familiar. Cooks are rushed to such an extent that they do not +give the care to their preparation that they take pride in on other +nights, consoling themselves frequently with the thought that the +Saturday and Sunday night patrons do not know or appreciate the highest +form of gastronomic art. + +Remember, also, that the world is a looking glass. Smile into it and it +smiles back; frown and you get black looks. In Bohemia we sometimes find +it well to overlook soiled table napery, sanded floor or untidy +appearance. Of course this is not in the higher class of restaurants, +but there are times and places when you must remember you are making a +study of human interest and not getting a meal, and you must leave your +fastidiousness and squeamishness at home. + +It takes some time to get well within the inner circle of Bohemianism, +but after you have arrived you have the password and all doors are open +to you. If our friends think of a new story they save it up until our +next coming and tell us something that always has a bearing on Bohemia. +For instance, how few of us know the origin of the menu card. It seems +to be a natural thing, yet, like all things, it had a beginning, and +this is the way it began (according to a good friend who told it to us): + +Frederick the Great was a lover of good eating and his chef took pride +in providing new and rare dishes for his delectation. But it frequently +occurred that the great ruler permitted his appetite to overcome his +judgment, and he would eat so heartily of the food first set before him +that when later and more delicious dishes came to the table he was +unable to do them justice. To obviate this he ordered his chef to +prepare each day a list of what was to be served, and to show their +rotation during the meal, and in compliance with this order the first +menu card was written. To Frederick the Great is also attributed the +naming of the German bread now called pumpernickel. According to one of +our Italian friends the story runs this way: Frederick wished some bread +and his chef sent him in a loaf that was of unusual color and flavor. It +did not please the king and he was not slow to express his disapproval. +He owned a horse named Nicholas but commonly called "Nicho!" and when +the chef appeared before him to receive his censure for sending in +distasteful bread, Frederick threw the loaf at his head, exclaiming, +"Bon pour Nichol." From this it received its name which has become +corrupted to "pumpernickel." + +After the doors are open to you, you will find not only many new +stories, but you will learn of customs unusual and discover their origin +dating back to the days whose history remains only in Folk Lore. You +will be let into family secrets of the alien quarters, and will learn of +hopes, aspirations, and desires, that will startle you with their +strangeness. You will find artists, sculptors, and writers of verse in +embryo, and if you remain long enough in the atmosphere you may see, as +we have, some of these embryonic thinkers achieve fame that becomes +nation wide. + +It is said of the Islands of the South Seas that when one eats of +certain fruit it creates such a longing that the mind is never content +until another visit is made. San Francisco's Bohemia lays no claim to +persuasive fruit, but it is true that when one breathes in the +atmosphere of this mythical world it leaves an unrest that is only +appeased by a return to where the whispering winds tell of Enchanted +Land where "you get the best there is to eat, served in a manner that +enhances its flavor and establishes it forever in your memory." + + + +Appendix + + + +How to Serve Wines + +A few hints regarding the proper serving of wines may not be amiss, and +we give you here the consensus op opinion of the most noted gourmets who +have made a study of the best results from combinations. + +Never drink any hard liquors, such as whisky, brandy, gin, or cocktails, +with oysters or clams, as it is liable to upset you for the rest of the +evening. + +With hor d'ourves serve vermouth, sherry, marsala or madeira wine. + +With soup and fish serve white wines, such as Rhein wine, sauterne or +white burgundy. + +With entrees serve clarets or other red wines, such as Swiss, Bordeaux, +Hungarian or Italian wines. + +Burgandy may also be served at any of the later courses. + +With roasts serve champagne or any of the sparkling wines. + +With coffee serve kirch, French brandy or fine champagne. + +After coffee serve a liqueur. Never serve more than one glass of any +liqueur. + + +The following wines may be considered the best types: + +Amontillado, Montilo and Olorosa sherries. + +Austrian burgundy is one of the finest wines, possessing rich flavor and +fine perfume. + + +Other burgundies are: + +Chablis: A white burgundy, dry and of agreeable aroma. + +Chambertin: A sound, delicate wine with a flavor resembling raspberry. + +Clos de Vogeot: Similar to chambertin, and often called the king of +burgandy. + +Romanee: A very rare and costly wine of rich, ruby color, with a +delicate bouquet. + + +Clarets are valued for their flavor and for their tonic properties. Some +of the best are: + +Chateau Grille: A desert wine of good flavor and fine aroma. + +Chateau Lafitte: Has beautiful color and delicate flavor. + +Chateau la Rose: Greater alcoholic strength and of fine flavor. + +Chateau Margaux: Rich, with delicate flavor and excellent bouquet. + +Pontet Canet: A heavier wine with good bouquet and fine flavor. + +St. Julien: A lighter claret with good bouquet. + +German wines are of lighter character, and are generally termed Rhein +wines. The best varieties are: + +Hochheimer: A light, pleasing and wholesome wine. + +Brauneberger: A good variety with pleasing flavor and aroma. + +Dreimanner: Similar to Brauneberger. + +Deidesheimer: Similar to Brauneberger. + +Graffenberg: Light and pleasant. Good aroma. + +Johannisberger Schloss: One of the best of the German wines. + +Rudesheimer Schloss: In class with Johannisberger. + + +Italian wines are mostly red, the most noted in California being +Chianti, and its California prototype. Tipo Chianti, made by the Asti +Colony. + +Lacrima Christi Spumanti: The finest Italian champagne. Dry and of +magnificent bouquet. + +Vin d'Oro Spumanti: A high-class champagne. Sweet and of fine bouquet +and flavor. + +Lacrima Christi: A still wine of excellent flavor and bouquet. + +Malaga: A wine of high repute. Sweet and powerful. A peculiar flavor is +given to it through the addition of a small quantity of burned wine. + +Marsala: Is a golden wine of most agreeable color and aroma. + + +Sauterne: Is a white Bordeaux, a strong luscious wine, the best known +varieties being: + +Chateau Yquem: Remarkable for its rich and velvety softness. + +Barsac: Rich and good. + +Chateau Filhot: Of rich color and good flavor. + +Chateau Latour Blanche: A white sauterne of exquisite bouquet. + +Haut Sauterne: Soft and mild. Of good flavor. + +Vin de Graves: Good and Strong. Good aroma and flavor. + + +Vintage years have much to do with the quality of wines. The best +vintage years are as follows: + +Champagnes: 1892. +Rhein and Moselle: 1893. +Burgandy: 1892, 1899 and 1904. +Claret: 1898 and 1904. +Port: 1896 and 1904. +Sherry: 1882, 1890, 1898 and 1900. + + + +A Good Bohemian Dinner + + + +Sometimes people desire to give a dinner and are at loss as to the +proper time to serve wines. The following menu will give some ideas on +the subject: + +Menu + +Gibson Cocktail Canape Norwegian + +(Serve these before entering dining room) + +Artichoke Hearts in Oil Ripe Olives Celery + +Amontillado Sherry + +Oysters on Half Shell + +Bisque of Ecrevisse Chablis, or White Sauterne + +Sand-dabs Edward VII Sliced Cucumbers, Iced + +Escargot Francais Chateau Lafitte + +Cassolette of Terrapin, Maryland Romanee + +Tagliarini des Beaux Arts + +Punch Pistache Cigarettes + +Alligator Pears with Cumquats, French Dressing + +Chicken Portola Krug Private Cuvee Brut + +Creamed New Potatoes Celery Victor French Peas + +Zabaione + +Reina Cabot + +Coffee Royal Cigarettes + +Grand Marnier + + + +In our travels through Bohemia it has been our good fortune to gather +hundreds of recipes of new, strange and rare dishes, prepared by those +who look farther than the stoking of the physical system in the +preparation of foods. Some of these are from chefs in restaurants and +hotels, some from men and women of the foreign colonies and some from +good friends who lent their aid in our pleasurable occupation. That we +cannot print them all in a volume of this size is our regret, but +another book now in preparation will contain them, together with other +talks about San Francisco's foreign quarters. + +From our store we have selected the following as being well worth +trying: + +Onion Soup + +Cut four large onions in large pieces and put them in six ounces of +butter with pepper and salt. Slowly stew this in a little beef stock and +a little milk, stirring constantly, for one hour. Add more stock and +milk and let cook slowly for another hour. In a tureen place slices of +bread sprinkled with two tablespoonfuls of Parmesan cheese. Beat the +yolks of four eggs and mix them with a tablespoonful of the soup and +pour this over the bread and cheese. Cover this for five minutes and +then pour over it the rest of the soup. + +Creole Gumbo Soup + +Take two young chickens, cut in pieces, roll in flour and fry to light +brown. Take the fried chicken, a ham bone stripped of meat for flavor, a +tablespoonful of chopped thyme, of rosemary, two bay leaves, a sprig of +tarragon and boil in four quarts of water until the meat loosens from +the bones. Slice and fry brown two large onions and add two heaping +quarts of sliced okra and one cut up pod of red pepper. Stir all over +the fire until the okra is thoroughly wilted then remove the larger +bones and let cook three quarters of an hour before serving. Half an +hour before serving add a can of tomatoes or an equal quantity of fresh +ones, and a pint of shrimps, boiled and shredded. Have a dish of well +boiled and dry rice and serve with two or three tablespoonfuls in each +soup plate. + +Oyster Salad + +To a solid pint of oysters use a dressing made as follows: Beat well two +eggs and add to them half a gill each of cream and vinegar, half +teaspoonful mustard, celery seed, salt each, one-tenth teaspoonful +cayenne, and a tablespoonful of butter. Put all in a double boiler and +cook until it all is as thick as soft custard (about six minutes), +stirring constantly. Take from the fire. Heat the oysters in their own +liquor to a boiling point then drain and add the dressing, mixing +lightly. Set away in cold place until needed. + +Italian Salad + +Soak two salt herrings in milk over night and then remove the bones and +skin and cut up in small pieces. Cut in small pieces one and one-half +pounds each of cold roast veal and cold boiled tongue and add to these +and the herrings six boiled potatoes, half a dozen small cucumber +pickles and two small boiled beets, all cut up, and two raw apples, +three boiled carrots and one large boiled celery root, all minced. Mix +all the above in salad bowl and pour over it mayonnaise dressing. +Garnish the tops with hard boiled eggs, sliced, and capers, and ripe +olives from which the stones have been removed. Garnish the bowl with +parsley and in the center put hard boiled eggs stuffed with capers. + +Solari's Crab Louis + +Take meat of crab in large pieces and dress with the following: +One-third mayonnaise, two-thirds chili sauce, small quantity chopped +English chow-chow, a little Worcestershire sauce and minced tarragon, +shallots and sweet parsley. Season with salt and pepper and keep on ice. + +Soles with Wine + +Take fillets of sole and pound lightly with blade of knife then soak +them two hours in beaten eggs seasoned with salt and pepper. When ready +to cook roll them in bread crumbs and fry in olive oil. Take a little of +that oil and put in another pan with a tablespoonful of butter and +season with salt and pepper and again cook fish in this, adding half a +glass of dry white wine. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and let cook five +minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and put slices of lemon around +it. Serve on hot plates. + +Grilled Mushrooms + +Skin and remove stalks from large fresh mushrooms and lay on a dish with +a little fine olive oil, pepper, and salt, over them for one hour. Broil +on a gridiron over a clear sharp fire and serve them with the following +sauce: + +Mushroom Sauce + +Mince the stalks or any spare pieces of mushrooms fine, put in a stewpan +with a little broth, some chopped parsley, young onions, butter and the +juice of a lemon, or instead of the latter the yolk of an egg beaten up +in cream. Beat all together and pour around the mushrooms. + +Italian Turta + +Cut very fine the tender part of one dozen artichokes. Take one loaf of +stale bread crumbs, moisten and squeeze, and add three tablespoonfuls of +grated cheese, three cloves of garlic, bruised, one onion chopped fine, +several sprigs of parsley chopped fine, a little celery and half a cup +of olive oil. Mix all together thoroughly with plenty of pepper and salt +and make into a loaf. Bake slowly forty-five minutes. + +Oeuffs Au Soliel + +Poach eight fresh eggs then take them out and place in cold water until +cool; lay them for a quarter of an hour to marinade in a glass of white +wine with sweet herbs. Dry on a cloth and dip in a batter of flour mixed +with equal quantities of ale and water to the consistency of double +cream. Fry to light brown. + +Eggs with Wine + +Put three cupfuls of red wine Into a casserole and add three +tablespoonfuls of sugar, rind of half a lemon, raisins, and sweet +almonds, blanched and chopped. When the wine boils break the eggs into +it as in poaching eggs. Let them cook well and then put in serving dish. +Add one tablespoonful of flour to the wine and cook to a cream then pour +over the eggs. + +Italian Risotto + +Soak two level teacups of rice. Mash two cloves of garlic and mix with a +little minced parsley. Soak a dozen dried mushrooms in a little water +until soft, then chop fine and drain. Cover the bottom of a saucepan +with olive oil, place over the fire until quite hot, then put in the +garlic, parsley, and mushrooms, add half a can of tomatoes and cook half +an hour. Drain the rice and put in a saucepan, adding a little broth, +half a cup at a time, to keep from burning, and add, stirring +constantly, the other ingredients, cooking all together until the rice +is done. Salt to taste; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. + +Scallops of Sweetbread + +Parboil the sweetbreads and then glaze in reduced Allemande sauce. Dip +in bread crumbs and fry in butter until a light brown. When done dish in +close order and fill center with Toulouse Ragout, as follows: + +Toulouse Ragout + +Prepare half a dozen fine, large cockscombs, two dozen button mushrooms, +small pieces of sweetbreads and a proportionate quantity of truffles. +Place all in a stewpan and add a small ladleful of drawn butter sauce, +and the juice of a lemon. Cook a few minutes. + +Lamb Chops Marinade + +Soak kidney lamb chops in the following mixture for twelve hours and +then broil: Four tablespoonfuls olive oil, one tablespoonful tarragon +vinegar, one small sliced onion, one mashed clove of garlic, one broken +up bay leaf, twelve whole black peppers, six cloves, one saltspoon of +salt, two teaspoonfuls dried thyme, strips of parsley and lemon peel. + +Spanish Chicken Pie + +Cut up a chicken and boil until tender. Cut up and fry in chicken fat +two onions, two green peppers, stirring in one and one-half +tablespoonfuls of flour. Have ready five tomatoes, stewed, and put in +two dozen ripe olives with a small clove of garlic, mashed. Grate seven +large ears of corn, season with salt and put a layer in a greased baking +pan, then chicken, then the other ingredients, with a little of the +gravy. Stir all together and bake until brown. + +Chicken Jambalaya + +Cut a young chicken into small pieces and stew until tender, having the +meat covered with the broth when done. Remove the meat, drain and fry to +light brown with two slices of onion. Put in the chicken, onion, and one +hundred California oysters, back into the broth and season with salt, +pepper, juice of a lemon, bruised clove of garlic, chopped green pepper, +and a pinch of red pepper. Let all come to a boil. Wash and dry two cups +of rice and put into the soup and cook until thoroughly done and +moderately dry (twenty-five minutes). Serve hot or cold. + +Quajatale En Mole + +This is Mexican Turkey in Red Pepper, a favorite banquet dish. Cut a +young turkey into small pieces and boil with shallots and salt. Take +half a pound of red peppers, scalded and seeded, and grind fine with +black peppers, celery seed, cloves, allspice, and mustard (about half a +teaspoonful of each) and add to this some of the broth in which the +turkey was cooked. Put a pound of lard in a skillet and, when boiling, +put in the mixture with the turkey and let cook ten minutes, sending it +to the table hot. + +Delmonico Raisin Sauce + +Brown butter in a skillet and stir in a teaspoonful of flour, forming a +smooth paste. Add one cup of hot soup stock, stirring constantly. While +boiling put into this a handful of raisins, handful of blanched almonds, +pounded, half a lemon, sliced thin, a few cloves, a pinch of cinnamon, +and a little horseradish. Fine for roast beef. + +Poulet a la Napoli + +Cut and trim a chicken as for fricassee. Take the wings, drumsticks, +thighs and two pieces of the breast and steep them in cold water half an +hour. Drain and wipe dry and dust over with flour and set aside. + +Take the rest of the chicken with the giblets and chop small. With water +let this simmer for two hours, making a strong broth with a little veal +(two ounces or more). Slice an onion into rings which place in the +bottom of a stewpan with an ounce of butter. To this add the meat and +giblets and a pint of white broth. Let all simmer but not boil or let +color. Over this pour common broth until covered and bring slowly to +boiling point. Add a small bouquet of herbs and simmer for an hour, then +strain. Thicken a little and then simmer in this the stalks and peelings +of a quarter of a pound of mushrooms and the chicken that was previously +prepared and dusted with flour. When done strain them and drain the +chicken. Strain the sauce and thicken with flour until it is of the +consistency of a rather thin batter. + +Dip the pieces of chicken into the batter until well coated and set +aside until it is cold. Then dip the chicken into well-beaten eggs and +cover with bread crumbs. Let set and then repeat. In hot olive oil fry +the chicken until a golden brown. Serve on a napkin and garnish with +parsley and potatoes Duchesse. Cook the peeled mushrooms in the +remaining sauce before the last thickening, and serve in gravy boat to +pour over the chicken. + +Zabaione + +Beat together, hard, for six minutes, six eggs and four teaspoonfuls of +powdered sugar in a double boiler and place over a gentle fire, never +ceasing to whip until the contents become stiff enough to sustain a +coffee spoon upright in the middle. While whipping add three +wine-glassfuls of Marsala and one liqueur glass of Maraschino brandy. +Pour into tall glasses or cups and serve either hot or cold. + +Peaches a la Princesse + +Halve six fine peaches, not too ripe, and place in saucepan with concave +side up. Take one peach, peeled, and mince with a dozen macaroons, +adding the yolk of an egg and half an ounce of sugar. Mix all well +together and with this fill the half peaches. Moisten all with half a +cup of white wine and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a hot oven ten +minutes and pour over zabaione and serve. This will make a most +delicious dessert dish. + +Sultana Roll + +Add the beaten yolks of seven eggs to one pint of boiling milk, one cup +of sugar, one-half teaspoonful of vanilla, one-quarter teaspoonful of +almond extract. When thick add two and a half cups of thick cream. Cool +and freeze. Line the bottom of a mold with Sultana raisins which have +been soaked in sherry wine twenty-four hours. Put a layer of frozen +cream, then raisins, continuing until all is used. Pack in ice and salt +two hours and serve with caramel sauce. + +Caramel Sauce + +Butter the inside of a saucepan. Put in two ounces of unsweetened +chocolate and melt over hot water. Add two cups of light brown sugar and +mix well. Add one ounce of butter and half a cup of rich milk. Cook +until mixture forms a soft ball when tested in cold water. Flavor with +vanilla and pour, while hot, over each service of the roll. It +immediately hardens, forming a delicious caramel covering to the ice +cream. + +Welsh Rarebit + +Take one pound of mild American cheese and put in saucepan. Add five +wineglassful of old ale, place over the fire and stir until it is +thoroughly blended and melted. Pour this over slices of delicately +browned toast, serving hot. + +Coffee Royal + +Take of the best Mocha coffee one part, of the best Java coffee two +parts. Put six tablespoonfuls of the mixture into a bowl and add an egg, +well beaten. Stir the mixture five minutes. Add half a cup of cold +water, cover tightly and let stand several hours. Put into a coffeepot +the coffee mixture and add four large cups of boiling water, stirring +constantly. Let it boil briskly for five minutes only then set on the +back of the stove five minutes. Before serving add a small tablespoonful +of pure French brandy to each cup. Sweeten to taste. + +Reina Cabot + +Mix at table and serve on hot, toasted Bent's biscuit. Take a quarter of +a pound of ripe, dark Roquefort cheese and rub with a piece of butter +the size of a walnut until smooth, adding a teaspoonful of +Worcestershire sauce and a wineglassful of sherry, with a pinch of +paprika, rubbing until it is smooth. This is best mixed in shallow bowl +or soup plate. + +Virginia Egg Nog + +Beat separately the yolks and whites of ten eggs, the yolks to a soft +cream. To the beaten yolks add one pound of granulated sugar, beating +until fully blended and very light. Let one quart of fresh milk come to +a boil and pour over the yolk of egg and sugar, stirring constantly +until well blended. To this add one gill of French brandy or one-half +pint of good whisky. On top of this place the beaten white of egg and +grated nutmeg. Serve either hot or cold. + +Mint Julep + +Bruise several sprigs of mint in a mixing glass with pulverized sugar. +Fill the glass with ice and pour over it a jigger of whisky. Let stand +for ten minutes and then put in a dash of Jamaica rum. Dress with sprigs +of mint, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with straws. + + + +Index + + + +Bills of Fare +Beefsteak Spanish +Celery Victor +Chicken, Country Style + In the Shell + Jambalaya + Leon d'Oro + A la Napoli + Pie (Spanish) + Portola +Chili Rienas +Clam Fritters + Chowder +Coffee Royal +Crab Louis + Stew +Dessert (Italian) +Egg Nog (Virginia) +Eggs, Spanish + With Wine + Des Soliel +Fish: Soles with Wine + Sole Edward VII + Sand-dab Fillet, Cold +Fritto Misto +Lobster a la Newburg +Lamb Chops Marinade +Mussels Mariniere +Mushrooms, Grilled +Mint Julep +Menu (Model) +Oysters a la Catalan + A la Poulette + Omelette +Peaches a la Princesse +Planked Fillet Mignon +Polenti +Quajatole en Mole +Rice, Spanish + Milanaise + Italian +Riena Cabot +Salad, Italian + Palace Grill + Oyster +Sauer Braten +Sauce, Delmonico Raisin + Caramel + Mushroom +Scrapple +Shrimp Creole, Antoine +Snails Bordelalse +Soup: Bisque of Crawfish + Creole Gumbo + Onion +Sultana Roll +Sweetbreads Scalloped +Turta (Italian) +Toulouse Ragout +Tamales +Tagliarini des Beaux Arts +Terrapin a la Maryland +Wines, How to Serve +Welsh Rarebit +Zabaoine +Restaurants + Blanco's + Bonini's Barn + Buon Gusto + Castilian + Coppa's + Fashion, Charlie's + Felix + Fior d'Italia + Fly Trap + Frank's + Fred Solari's + Gianduja + Hang Far Low + Heidelberg Inn + Hof Brau + Hotel St. Francis + Jack's + Jule's + La Madrelina + Leon d'Oro + Luna's + Mint + Negro's + Odeon + Palace Hotel + Poodle Dog + Poodle Dog--Bergez-Frank's + Portola-Louvre + Rathskeller + Shell Fish Grotto + Solari's + Tait's + Techau's + Vesuvius +Old Time Restaurants + Bab's + Baldwin Hotel + Bazzuro's + Bergez + California House + Call + Captain Cropper + Campi's + Christian Good + Cliff House + Cobweb Palace + Delmonico + El Dorado House + Frank's + Gobey's + Good Fellows' Grotto + Hoffman House + Iron House + Johnson's Oyster House + Jack's + Louvre + Ma Tanta + Manning's + Marchand's Marshall's Chop House + Martin's + Maison Doree + Nevada + New York + Old Louvre + Perini's + Pierre + Poodle Dog + Pup + Peter Job + Palace of Art + Pop Floyd + Reception + Sanguinetti's + Tehama House + Three Trees + Tortoni + Thompson's + Viticultural + Zinkand's + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Bohemian San Francisco, by Clarence E. 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Edwords + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9464] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 3, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOHEMIAN SAN FRANCISCO *** + + + + +Produced by David A. Schwan + + + + +THE ELEGANT ART OF DINING + + + +Bohemian San Francisco + +Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes-- +The Elegant Art of Dining + + + +By Clarence E. Edwords + + + +1914 + + + +Dedication To Whom Shall I Dedicate This Book? +To Some Good Friend? To Some Pleasant Companion? +To None of These, For From Them Came Not The Inspiration. +To Whom, Then? +To The Best Of All Bohemian Comrades, +My Wife. + + + +Foreword + + + +No apologies are offered for this book. In fact, we rather like it. Many +years have been spent in gathering this information, and naught is +written in malice, nor through favoritism, our expressions of opinion +being unbiased by favor or compensation. We have made our own +investigation and given our own ideas. + +That our opinion does not coincide with that of others does not concern +us in the least, for we are pleased only with that which pleases us, and +not that with which others say we ought to be pleased. + +If this sound egotistical we are sorry, for it is not meant in that way. +We believe that each and every individual should judge for him or +herself, considering ourselves fortunate that our ideas and tastes are +held in common. + +San Franciscans, both residential and transient, are a pleasure-loving +people, and dining out is a distinctive feature of their pleasure. With +hundreds of restaurants to select from, each specializing on some +particular dish, or some peculiar mode of preparation, one often becomes +bewildered and turns to familiar names on the menu card rather than +venture into fields that are new, of strange and rare dishes whose +unpronounceable names of themselves frequently are sufficient to +discourage those unaccustomed to the art and science of cooking +practiced by those whose lives have been spent devising means of +tickling fastidious palates of a city of gourmets. + +In order that those who come within our gates, and many others who have +resided here in blindness for years, may know where to go and what to +eat, and that they may carry away with them a knowledge of how to +prepare some of the dishes pleasing to the taste and nourishing to the +body, that have spread San Francisco's fame over the world, we have +decided to set down the result of our experience and study of our +Bohemian population and their ways, and also tell where to find and how +to order the best special dishes. + +Over North Beach way we asked the chef of a little restaurant how he +cooked crab. He replied: + +"The right way." + +One often wonders how certain dishes are cooked and we shall tell you +"the right way." + +It is hoped that when you read what is herein written some of our +pleasure may be imparted to you, and with this hope the story of San +Francisco's Bohemianism is presented. + +Clarence E. Edwords. +San Francisco, California, +September 22, 1914. + + + +Our Toast + +Not to the Future, nor to the Past; +No drink of Joy or Sorrow; +We drink alone to what will last; +Memories on the Morrow. +Let us live as Old Time passes; +To the Present let Bohemia bow. +Let us raise on high our glasses +To Eternity--the ever-living Now. + + + +Contents + +Foreword +The Good Gray City +The Land of Bohemia +As it was in the Beginning +When the Gringo Came +Early Italian Impression +Birth of the French Restaurant +At the Cliff House +Some Italian Restaurants +Impress of Mexico +On the Barbary Coast +The City That Was Passes +Sang the Swan Song +Bohemia of the Present +As it is in Germany +In the Heart of Italy +A Breath of the Orient +Artistic Japan +Old and New Palace +At the Hotel St. Francis +Amid the Bright Lights +Around Little Italy +Where Fish Come In +Fish in Their Variety +Lobsters and Lobsters +King of Shell Fish +Lobster In Miniature +Clams and Abalone's +Where Fish Abound +Some Food Variants +About Dining +Something About Cooking +Told in A Whisper +Out of Nothing +Paste Makes Waist +Tips and Tipping +The Mythical Land +Appendix (How to Serve Wines, Recipes) +Index + + + +Bohemian San Francisco + +"The best of all ways +To lengthen our days +Is to steal a few hours +From the night, my dear." + + + +The Good Gray City San Francisco! + +San Francisco! Is there a land where the magic of that name has not been +felt? Bohemian San Francisco! Pleasure-loving San Francisco! Care-free +San Francisco! Yet withal the city where liberty never means license and +where Bohemianism is not synonymous with Boorishness. + +It was in Paris that a world traveler said to us: + +"San Francisco! That wonderful city where you get the best there is to +eat, served in a manner that enhances its flavor and establishes it +forever in your memory." + +Were one to write of San Francisco and omit mention of its gustatory +delights the whole world would protest, for in San Francisco eating is +an art and cooking a science, and he who knows not what San Francisco +provides knows neither art nor science. + +Here have congregated the world's greatest chefs, and when one exclaims +in ecstasy over a wonderful flavor found in some dingy restaurant, let +him not be surprised if he learn that the chef who concocted the dish +boasts royal decoration for tickling the palate of some epicurean ruler +of foreign land. + +And why should San Francisco have achieved this distinction in the minds +of the gourmets? + +Do not other cities have equally as good chefs, and do not the people of +other cities have equally as fine gastronomic taste? + +They have all this but with them is lacking "atmosphere." + +Where do we find such romanticism as in San Francisco? Where do we find +so many strange characters and happenings? All lending almost mystic +charm to the environment surrounding queer little restaurants, where +rare dishes are served, and where one feels that he is in foreign land, +even though he be in the center of a high representative American city. + +San Francisco's cosmopolitanism is peculiar to itself. Here are +represented the nations of earth in such distinctive colonies that one +might well imagine himself possessed of the magic carpet told of in +Arabian Nights Tales, as he is transported in the twinkling of an eye +from country to country. It is but a step across a street from America +into Japan, then another step into China. Cross another street and you +are in Mexico, close neighbor to France. Around the corner lies Italy, +and from Italy you pass to Lombardy, and on to Greece. So it goes until +one feels that he has been around the world in an afternoon. + +But the stepping across the street and one passes from one land to the +other, finding all the peculiar characteristics of the various countries +as indelibly fixed as if they were thousands of miles away. Speech, +manners, customs, costumes and religions change with startling rapidity, +and as you enter into the life of the nation you find that each has +brought the best of its gastronomy for your delectation. + +San Francisco has called to the world for its best, and the response has +been so prompt that no country has failed to send its tribute and give +the best thought of those who cater to the men and women who know. + +This aggregation of cuisinaire, gathered where is to be found a most +wonderful variety of food products in highest state of excellence, has +made San Francisco the Mecca for lovers of gustatory delights, and this +is why the name of San Francisco is known wherever men and women sit at +table. + +It has taken us years of patient research to learn how these chefs +prepare their combinations of fish, flesh, fowl, and herbs, in order +that we might put them down, giving recipes of dishes whose memories +linger in the minds of world wanderers, and to which their thoughts +revert with a sigh as they partake of unsatisfactory viands in other +countries and other cosmopolitan cities. + +Those to whom only the surface of things is visible are prone to express +wonder at the love and enthusiasm of the San Franciscan for his home +city. The casual visitor cannot understand the enchantment, the mystery, +the witchery that holds one; they do not know that we steal the hours +from the night to lengthen our days because the gray, whispering wraiths +of fog hold for us the very breath of life; they do not know that the +call of the wind, and of the sea, and of the air, is the inspiration +that makes San Francisco the pleasure-ground of the world. + +It is this that makes San Francisco the home of Bohemia, and whether it +be in the early morning hours as one rises to greet the first gray +streaks of dawn, or as the sun drops through the Golden Gate to its +ocean bed, so slowly that it seems loth to leave; whether it be in the +broad glare of noon-day sun, or under the dazzling blaze of midnight +lights, San Francisco ever holds out her arms, wide in welcome, to those +who see more in life than the dull routine of working each day in order +that they may gain sufficient to enable them to work again on the +morrow. + + + +The Land of Bohemia + +Bohemia! What vulgarities are perpetrated in thy name! How abused is the +word! Because of a misconception of an idea it has suffered more than +any other in the English language. It has done duty in describing almost +every form of license and licentiousness. It has been the cloak of +debauchery and the excuse for sex degradation. It has been so misused as +to bring the very word into disrepute. + +To us Bohemianism means the naturalism of refined people. + +That it may be protected from vulgarians Society prescribes conventional +rules and regulations, which, like morals, change with environment. + +Bohemianism is the protest of naturalism against the too rigid, and, +oft-times, absurd restrictions established by Society. + +The Bohemian requires no prescribed rules, for his or her innate +gentility prevents those things Society guards against. In Bohemia men +and women mingle in good fellowship and camaraderie without finding the +sex question a necessary topic of conversation. They do not find it +necessary to push exhilaration to intoxication; to increase their +animation to boisterousness. Their lack of conventionality does not tend +to boorishness. + +Some of the most enjoyable Bohemian affairs we know of have been full +dress gatherings, carefully planned and delightfully carried out; others +have been impromptu, neither the hour, the place, nor the dress being +taken into consideration. + +The unrefined get everywhere, even into the drawing rooms of royalty, +consequently we must expect to meet them in Bohemia. But the true +Bohemian has a way of forgetting to meet obnoxious personages and, as a +rule, is more choice in the selection of associates than the vaunted +"400." With the Bohemian but one thing counts: Fitness. Money, position, +personal appearance and even brains are of no avail if there be the bar +sinister--unfit. + +In a restaurant, one evening, a number of men and women were seated +conspicuously at a table in the center of the room. Flowing neckties +such as are affected by Parisian art students were worn by the men; all +were coarse, loud and much in evidence. They not only attracted +attention by their loudness and outre actions, but they called notice by +pelting other diners with missiles of bread. To us they were the last +word in vulgarity, but to a young woman who had come to the place +because she had heard it was "so Bohemian" they were ideal, and she +remarked to her companion: + +"I do so love to associate with real Bohemians like these. Can't we get +acquainted with them?" + +"Sure," was the response. "All we have to do is to buy them a drink." + +In San Francisco there are Bohemians and Near-Bohemians, and if you are +like the young woman mentioned you are apt to miss the real and take the +imitation for the genuine article. + +We mean no derogation of San Francisco's restaurants when we say that +San Francisco's highest form of Bohemianism is rarely in evidence in +restaurants. We have enjoyed wonderful Bohemian dinners in restaurants, +but the other diners were not aware of it. Some far more interesting +gatherings have been in the rooms of Bohemian friends. Not always is it +the artistic combination of famous chef that brings greatest delight, +for we have as frequently had pleasure over a supper of some simple dish +in the attic room of a good friend. + +This brings us to the crux of Bohemianism. It depends so little on +environment that it means nothing, and so much on companionship that it +means all. + +To achieve a comprehensive idea of San Francisco's Bohemianism let us +divide its history into five eras. First we have the old Spanish days-- +the days "before the Gringo came." Then reigned conviviality held within +most discreet bounds of convention, and it would be a misnomer, indeed, +to call the pre-pioneer days of San Francisco "Bohemian" in any sense of +the word. + +Courtesy unfailing, good-fellowship always in tune, and lavish +hospitality, marked the days of the Dons--those wonderfully considerate +hosts who always placed a pile of gold and silver coins on the table of +the guest chamber, in order that none might go away in need. Their +feasts were events of careful consideration and long preparation, and +those whose memories carry them back to the early days, recall bounteous +loading of tables when festal occasion called for display. + +Lips linger lovingly over such names as the Vallejos, the Picos, and +those other Spanish families who spread their hospitality with such +wondrous prodigality that their open welcome became a by-word in all +parts of the West. + +But it was not in the grand fiestas that the finest and most palatable +dishes were to be found. In the family of each of these Spanish Grandees +were culinary secrets known to none except the "Senora de la Casa," and +transmitted by her to her sons and daughters. + +We have considered ourselves fortunate in being taken into the +confidence of one of the descendants of Senora Benicia Vallejo, and +honored with some of her prize recipes, which find place in this book, +not as the famous recipe of some Bohemian restaurants but as the tribute +to the spirit of the land that made those Bohemian restaurants possible. +Of these there is no more tasty and satisfying dish than Spanish Eggs, +prepared as follows: + +Spanish Eggs + +Empty a can of tomatoes in a frying pan; thicken with bread and add two +or three small green peppers and an onion sliced fine. Add a little +butter and salt to taste. Let this simmer gently and then carefully +break on top the number of eggs desired. Dip the simmering tomato +mixture over the eggs until they are cooked. + +Another favorite recipe of Mrs. Vallejo was Spanish Beefsteak prepared +as follows: + +Spanish Beefsteak + +Cut the steak into pieces the size desired for serving. Place these +pieces on a meat board and sprinkle liberally with flour. With a wooden +corrugated mallet beat the flour into the steak. Fry the steak in a pan +with olive oil. In another frying pan, at the same time, fry three +good-sized onions and three green peppers. When the steak is cooked +sufficiently put it to one side of the pan and let the oil run to the +other side. On the oil pour sufficient water to cover the meat and add +the onions and peppers, letting all simmer for a few minutes. Serve on +hot platter. + +Spanish mode of cooking rice is savory and most palatable, and Mrs. +Vallejo's recipe for this is as follows: + +Spanish Rice + +Slice together three good-sized onions and three small green peppers. +Fry them in olive oil. Take one-half cup of rice and boil it until +nearly done, then drain it well and add it to the frying onions and +peppers. Fry all together until thoroughly brown, which will take some +time. Season with salt and serve. + +These three recipes are given because they are simple and easily +prepared. Many complex recipes could be given, and some of these will +appear in the part of the book devoted to recipes, but when one +considers the simplicity of the recipes mentioned, it can readily be +seen that it takes little preparation to get something out of the +ordinary. + + + +When the Gringo Came + +To its pioneer days much of San Francisco's Bohemian spirit is due. When +the cry of "Gold" rang around the world adventurous wanderers of all +lands answered the call, and during the year following Marshall's +discovery two thousand ships sailed into San Francisco Bay, many to be +abandoned on the beach by the gold-mad throng, and it was in some of +these deserted sailing vessels that San Francisco's restaurant life had +its inception. With the immediately succeeding years the horde of gold +hunters was augmented by those who brought necessities and luxuries to +exchange for the yellow metal given up by the streams flowing from the +Mother Lode. With them also came cooks to prepare delectable dishes for +those who had passed the flap-jack stage, and desired the good things of +life to repay them for the hardships, privations and dearth of woman's +companionship. As the male human was largely dominant in numbers it was +but natural that they should gather together for companionship, and here +began the Bohemian spirit that has marked the city for its own to the +present day. + +These men were all individualists, and their individualism has been +transmitted to their offspring together with independence of action. +Hence comes the Bohemianism born of individuality and independence. + +It was only natural that the early San Franciscans should foregather +where good cheer was to be found, and the old El Dorado House, at +Portsmouth Square, was really what may be called the first Bohemian +restaurant of the city. So well was this place patronized and so +exorbitant the prices charged that twenty-five thousand dollars a month +was not considered an impossible rental. + +Next in importance was the most fashionable restaurant of early days, +the Iron House. It was built of heavy sheet iron that had been brought +around the Horn in a sailing vessel, and catered well, becoming for +several years the most famed restaurant of the city. Here, in Montgomery +street, between Jackson and Pacific, was the rendezvous of pioneers, and +here the Society of California Pioneers had its inception, receiving +impressions felt to the present day in San Francisco and California +history. Here, also, was first served Chicken in the Shell, the dish +from which so many later restaurants gained fame. The recipe for this as +prepared by the Iron House is still extant, and we are indebted to a +lady, who was a little girl when that restaurant was waning, whose +mother secured the recipe. It was prepared as follows: + +Chicken in a Shell + +Into a kettle containing a quart of water put a young chicken, one +sliced onion, a bay leaf, two cloves, a blade of mace and six +pepper-corns. Simmer in the covered kettle for one hour and set aside to +cool. When cool remove the meat from the bones, rejecting the skin. Cut +the meat into small dice. Mix in a saucepan, over a fire without +browning, a tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of flour, then add +half a pint of cream. Stir this constantly until it boils, then add a +truffle, two dozen mushrooms chopped fine, a dash of white pepper and +then the dice of chicken. Let the whole stand in a bain marie, or +chafing dish, until quite hot. Add the yolks of two eggs and let cook +two minutes. Stir in half a glass of sherry and serve in cockle shells. + + + +Early Italian Impression + +Almost coincident with the opening of the Iron House an Italian named +Bazzuro took possession of one of the stranded sailing vessels +encumbering the Bay, and anchored it out in the water at the point where +Davis and Pacific streets now intersect. He opened a restaurant which +immediately attracted attention and gained good reputation for its +service and its cooking. Later, when the land was filled in, Bazzuro +built a house at almost the same spot and opened his restaurant there, +continuing it up to the time of the great fire in 1906. + +After the fire one of the earliest restaurants to be established in that +part of the city was Bazzuro's, at the same corner, and it is still run +by the family, who took charge after the death of the original +proprietor. Here one can get the finest Italian peasant meal in the +city, and many of the Italian merchants and bankers still go there for +their luncheons every day, preferring it to the more pretentious +establishments. + +The French peasant style came a little later, beginning in a little +dining room opened in Washington street, just above Kearny, by a French +woman whose name was a carefully guarded secret. She was known far and +wide as "Ma Tanta" (My Aunt). Her cooking was considered the best of all +in the city, and her patrons sat at a long common table, neat and clean +to the last degree. Peasant style of serving was followed. First +appeared Ma Tanta with a great bowl of salad which she passed around, +each patron helping himself. This was followed by an immense tureen of +soup, held aloft in the hands of Ma Tanta, and again each was his own +waiter. Fish, entree, roast, and dessert, were served in the same +manner, and with the black coffee Ma Tanta changed from servitor to +hostess and sat with her guests and discussed the topics of the day on +equal terms. + +In California street, just below Dupont, the California House boasted a +great chef in the person of John Somali, who in later years opened the +Maison Riche, a famous restaurant that went out of existence in the fire +of 1906. Gourmets soon discovered that the California House offered +something unusual and it became a famed resort. Somali's specialties +were roast turkey, chateaubriand steak and coffee frappe. It is said of +his turkeys that their flavor was of such excellence that one of the +gourmands of that day, Michael Reece, would always order two when he +gave a dinner--one for his guests and one for himself. It is also said +that our well-beloved Bohemian, Rafael Weill, still holds memories of +the old California House, of which he was an habitue, and from whose +excellent chef he learned to appreciate the art and science of cooking +as evidenced by the breakfasts and dinners with which he regales his +guests at the present day. + +But many of the hardy pioneers were of English and American stock and +preferred the plainer foods of their old homes to the highly seasoned +dishes of the Latin chefs, and to cater to this growing demand the +Nevada was opened in Pine street between Montgomery and Kearny. This +place became noted for its roast beef and also for its corned beef and +cabbage, which was said to be of most excellent flavor. + +Most famous of all the old oyster houses was Mannings, at the corner of +Pine and Webb streets. He specialized in oysters and many of his dishes +have survived to the present day. It is said that the style now called +"Oysters Kirkpatrick," is but a variant of Manning's "Oyster Salt +Roast." + +At the corner of California and Sansome streets, where now stands the +Bank of California, was the Tehama House, one of the most famous of the +city's early hostelries, whose restaurant was famed for its excellence. +The Tehama House was the rendezvous of army and navy officers and high +state officials. Lieutenant John Derby, of the United States Army, one +of the most widely known western authors of that day, made it his +headquarters. Derby wrote under the names of "John Phoenix," and +"Squibob." + +Perini's, in Post street between Grant avenue and Stockton, specialized +in pastes and veal risotto, and was much patronized by uptown men. + +The original Marchand began business in a little room in Dupont street, +between Jackson and Washington, which district at that time had not been +given over to the Chinese, and he cooked over a charcoal brazier, in his +window, in view of passing people who were attracted by the novelty and +retained by the good cooking. With the extension of his fame he found +his room too small and he rented a cottage at Bush and Dupont street, +but his business grew so rapidly that he was compelled to move to more +commodious quarters at Post and Dupont and later to a much larger place +at Geary and Stockton, where he enjoyed good patronage until the fire +destroyed his place. There is now a restaurant in Geary street near +Mason which has on its windows in very small letters "Michael, formerly +of," and then in bold lettering, "Marchands." But Michael has neither +the art nor the viands that made Marchands famous, and he is content to +say that his most famous dish is tripe--just plain, plebeian tripe. + +Christian Good, at Washington and Kearny, Big John, at Merchant street +between Montgomery and Sansome, Marshall's Chop House, in the old Center +Market, and Johnson's Oyster House, in a basement at Clay and +Leidesdorff streets, were all noted places and much patronized, the +latter laying the foundation of one of San Francisco's "First Families." +Martin's was much patronized by the Old Comstock crowd, and this was the +favorite dining place of the late William C. Ralston. + +One of the most famous restaurants of the early '70s was the Mint, in +Commercial street, between Montgomery and Kearny, where the present +restaurant of the same name is located. It was noted for its Southern +cooking and was the favorite resort of W. W. Foote and other prominent +Southerners. The kitchen was presided over by old Billy Jackson, an +old-time Southern darkey, who made a specialty of fried chicken, cream +gravy, and corn fritters. + + + +Birth of the French Restaurant + +French impression came strongly about this time, and the Poodle Dog, of +Paris, had its prototype at Bush and Dupont streets. This was one of the +earliest of the type known as "French Restaurants," and numerous +convivial parties of men and women found its private rooms convenient +for rendezvous. Old Pierre of later days, who was found dead out on the +Colma road some two years after the fire of 1906, was a waiter at the +Poodle Dog when it started, and by saving his tips and making good +investments he was able to open a similar restaurant at Stockton and +Market, which he called the Pup. The Pup was famous for its frogs' legs +a la poulette. In this venture Pierre had a partner, to whom he sold out +a few years later and then he opened the Tortoni in O'Farrell street, +which became one of the most famous of the pre-fire restaurants, its +table d'hote dinners being considered the best in the city. When Claus +Spreckels built the tall Spreckels building Pierre and his partner +opened the Call restaurant in the top stories. With the fire both of the +restaurants went out of existence, and the old proprietor of the Poodle +Dog having died, Pierre and a partner named Pon bought the place, and +for a year or so after the fire it was one of the best French +restaurants in the city. After Pierre's untimely death the restaurant +was merged with Bergez and Frank's, and is now in Bush street above +Kearny. + +Much romance attached to Pierre, it being generally believed that he +belonged to a wealthy French family, because of his education, his +unfailing courtesy, his ready wit and his gentility. Pierre specialized +in fish cooked with wine, and as a favor to his patrons he would go to +the kitchen and prepare the dish with his own hands. + +In O'Farrell street the Delmonico was one of the most famous of the +French restaurants until the fire. It was several stories high, and each +story contained private rooms. Carriages drove directly into the +building from the street and the occupants went by elevator to +soundproof rooms above, where they were served by discreet waiters. + +The Poodle Dog, the Pup, Delmonico's, Jacques, Frank's, the Mint, +Bergez, Felix and Campi's are the connecting links between the fire and +the pioneer days. Some of them still carry the names and memories of the +old days. All were noted for their good dinners and remarkably low +prices. + +Shortly after the fire Blanco, formerly connected with the old Poodle +Dog, opened a place in O'Farrell street, between Hyde and Larkin, +calling it "Blanco's." During the reconstruction period this was by far +the best restaurant in the city, and it is still one of the noted +places. Later Blanco opened a fine restaurant in Mason street, between +Turk and Eddy, reviving the old name of the Poodle Dog, and here all the +old traditions have been revived. Both of these savor of the old type of +French restaurants, catering to a class of quiet spenders who carefully +guard their indiscretions. + +In the early '50s and '60s the most noted places were not considered +respectable enough for ladies, and at restaurants like the Three Trees, +in Dupont just above Bush street, ladies went into little private rooms +through an alley. Peter Job saw his opportunity and opened a restaurant +where special attention was paid to lady patrons, and shortly after the +New York restaurant, in Kearny street, did the same. + +Merging the post-pioneer, era with the pre-fire era came the Maison +Doree, which became famous in many ways. It was noted for oysters a la +poulette, prepared after the following recipe: + +Oysters a La Poulette + +One-half cup butter, three tablespoons flour, yolks of three eggs. One +pint chicken stock (or veal), one tablespoonful lemon juice, one-eighth +teaspoon pepper, one level teaspoon salt. Beat the butter and flour +together until smooth and white. Then add salt, pepper and lemon juice. +Gradually pour boiling stock on this mixture and simmer for ten minutes. +Beat the yolks of eggs in a saucepan, gradually pouring the cooked sauce +upon them. Pour into a double boiler containing boiling water in lower +part of utensil. Stir the mixture for one and one-half minutes. Into +this put two dozen large oysters and let cook until edges curl up and +serve hot. + +Captain Cropper, an old Marylander, had a restaurant that was much +patronized by good livers, and in addition to the usual Southern dishes +he specialized on terrapin a la Maryland, sending back to his native +State for the famous diamond-back terrapin. His recipe for this was as +follows: + +Terrapin a La Maryland + +Cut a terrapin in small pieces, about one inch long, after boiling it. +Put the pieces in a saute pan with two ounces of sweet butter, salt, +pepper, a very little celery salt, a pinch of paprika. Simmer for a few +minutes and then add one glass of sherry wine, which reduce to half by +boiling. Then add one cup of cream, bring to a boil and thicken with two +yolks of eggs mixed with a half cup of cream. Let it come to a near boil +and add half a glass of dry sherry and serve. + +You may thicken the terrapin with the following mixture: Two raw yolks +of eggs, two boiled yolks of eggs, one ounce of butter, one ounce corn +starch. Rub together and pass through a fine sieve. + +Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tony Oakes, the Hermitage, and Cornelius Stagg's were +noted road-houses where fine meals were served, but these are scarcely +to be considered as San Francisco Bohemian restaurants. + +The Reception, on the corner of Sutter and Webb streets, which continued +up to the time of the fire, was noted for its terrapin specialties, but +it was rather malodorous and ladies who patronized it usually went in +through the Webb street entrance to keep from being seen. The old +Baldwin Hotel, which stood where the Flood building now stands, at the +corner of Market and Powell and which was destroyed by fire some +fourteen years ago, was the favorite resort of many of the noted men of +the West, and the grill had the distinction of being the best in San +Francisco at that time. The grill of the Old Palace Hotel was also of +highest order, and this was especially true of the Ladies' Grill which +was then, as now, noted for its artistic preparation of a wondrous +variety of good things. + +Probably the most unique place of the pioneer and post-pioneer eras was +the Cobweb Palace, at Meiggs's Wharf, run by queer old Abe Warner. It +was a little ramshackle building extending back through two or three +rooms filled with all manner of old curios such as comes from sailing +vessels that go to different parts of the world. These curios were piled +indiscriminately everywhere, and there were boxes and barrels piled with +no regard whatever for regularity. This heterogeneous conglomeration was +covered with years of dust and cobwebs, hence the name. Around and over +these played bears, monkeys, parrots, cats, and dogs, and whatever sort +of bird or animal that could be accommodated until it had the appearance +of a small menagerie. Warner served crab in various ways and clams. In +the rear room, which was reached by a devious path through the debris, +he had a bar where he served the finest of imported liquors, French +brandy, Spanish wines, English ale, all in the original wood. He served +no ordinary liquor of any sort, saying that if anybody wanted whiskey +they could get it at any saloon. He catered to a class of men who knew +good liquors, and his place was a great resort for children, of whom he +was fond and who went there to see the animals. The frontispiece of this +book is from one of the few existing (if not the only one) photographs +of the place. + +Equally unique, yet of higher standard, was the Palace of Art, run by +the Hackett brothers, in Post street near Market. Here were some of the +finest paintings and marble carvings to be found in the city, together +with beautiful hammered silver plaques and cups. Curios of all sorts +were displayed on the walls, and among them were many queer wood growths +showing odd shapes as well as odd colorings. A large and ornate bar +extended along one side of the immense room and tables were placed about +the room and in a balcony that ran along one side. Here meals were +served to both men and women, the latter being attracted by the artistic +display and unique character of the place. This was destroyed by the +fire and all the works of art lost. + + + +At the Cliff House + +Three times destroyed by fire, and three times rebuilt, the Cliff House +stands on a rocky promontory overlooking the Sundown Sea, where San +Francisco's beach is laved by the waves of the Ocean. Since the first +Cliff House was erected this has been a place famous the world over +because of its scenic beauty and its overlooking the Seal Rocks, where +congregate a large herd of sea lions disporting much to the edification +of the visitors. Appealing from its romantic surroundings, interesting +because of its history, and attractive through its combination of +dashing waves and beautiful beach extending miles in one direction, with +the rugged entrance to Golden Gate in the other, with the mysterious +Farallones in the dim distance, the Cliff House may well be classed as +one of the great Bohemian restaurants of San Francisco. + +Lovers of the night life know it well for it is the destination of many +an automobile party. During the day its terraces are filled with +visitors from abroad who make this a part of their itinerary, and here, +as they drink in the wondrous beauty of the scene spread before them, +partake of well prepared and well served dishes such as made both the +Cliff House and San Francisco well and favorably known and whose fame is +not bounded by the continent. + +But for a most pleasant visit to the Cliff House one should choose the +early morning hours, and go out when the air is blowing free and fresh +from the sea, the waves cresting with amber under the magic touch of the +easterly sun. Select a table next to one of the western windows and +order a breakfast that is served here better than any place we have +tried. This breakfast will consist of broiled breast of young turkey, +served with broiled Virginia ham with a side dish of corn fritters. When +you sit down to this after a brisk ride out through Golden Gate Park, +you have the great sauce, appetite, and with a pot of steaming coffee +whose aroma rises like the incense to the Sea Gods, you will feel that +while you have thought you had good breakfasts before this, you know +that now you are having the best of them all. Of course there are many +other good things to order if you like, but we have discovered nothing +that makes so complete a breakfast as this. + + + +Some Italian Restaurants + +"Is everybody happy? Oh, it is only nine o'clock and we've got all +night." It was a clear, fresh young voice, full of the joy of living and +came from a young woman whose carefree air seemed to say of her +existence as of the night "We've got all life before us." The voice, the +healthful face and vigorous form, the very live and joyous expression +were all significant of the time and place. It was Sunday night and the +place was Steve Sanguinetti's, with roisterers in full swing and every +table filled and dozens of patrons waiting along the walls ready to take +each seat as it was emptied. Here were young men and women just returned +from their various picnics across the Bay to their one great event of +the week--a Sunday dinner at Sanguinetti's. + +Over in one corner of the stifling room, on a raised platform, sat two +oily and fat negroes, making the place hideous with their ribald songs +and the twanging of a guitar and banjo. When, a familiar air was sounded +the entire gathering joined in chorus, and when such tunes as "There'll +Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" came, the place was pandemonium. +Yet through it all perfect order was kept by the fat proprietor, his +muscular "bouncer" and two policemen stationed at the doors. Noise was +rather invited than frowned upon, and the only line drawn regarding +conduct was the throwing of bread. Probably Steve did not want it +wasted. + +It was all free and easy and nobody took offense at anything said or +done. In fact if one were squeamish about such things Sanguinetti's was +no place for him or her. One found one's self talking and laughing with +the people about as if they were old friends. It made no difference how +you were dressed, nor how dignified you tried to be, it was all one with +the crowd around the tables. If you wished to stay there in comfort you +had to be one of them, and dignity had to be left outside or it would +make you so uncomfortable that you would carry it out, to an +accompaniment of laughter and jeers of the rest of the diners. + +So far as eating was concerned that was not one of the considerations +when discussing Sanguinetti's. It was a table d'hote dinner served with +a bottle of "Dago red," for fifty cents. You gave the waiter a tip of +fifteen cents or "two bits" as you felt liberal, and he was satisfied. +If you were especially pleased you gave the darkeys ten cents, not +because you enjoyed the music, but just "because." + +The one merit of Sanguinetti's before the fire was the fact that all the +regular customers were unaffected and natural. They came from the +factories, canneries, shops, and drays, and after a week of +heart-breaking work this was their one relaxation and they enjoyed it to +the full. Many people from the residential part of the city, and many +visitors at the hotels, went there as a part of slumming trips, but the +real sentiment was expressed by the young girl when she sang out "Is +everybody happy?" + +Sanguinetti still has his restaurant, and there is still to be found the +perspiring darkeys, playing and singing their impossible music, and a +crowd still congregates there, but it is not the old crowd for this, +like all things else in San Francisco, has changed, and instead of the +old-time assemblage of young men and women whose lack of convention came +from their natural environment, there is now a crowd of young and old +people who patronize it because they have heard it is "so Bohemian." + +Thrifty hotel guides take tourists there and tell them it is "the only +real Bohemian restaurant in San Francisco," and when the outlanders see +the antics of the people and listen to the ribald jests and bad music of +the darkeys, they go back to their hotels and tell with bated breath of +one of the most wonderful things they have ever seen, and it is one of +the wonderful things of their limited experience. + +Among the pre-fire restaurants of note were several Italian places which +appealed to the Bohemian spirit through their good cooking and absence +of conventionality, together with the inexpensiveness of the dinners. +Among these were the Buon Gusto, the Fior d'Italia, La Estrella, Campi's +and the Gianduja. Of these Campi's, in Clay street below Sansome, was +the most noted, and the primitive style of serving combined with his +excellent cooking brought him fame. All of these places, or at least +restaurants with these names, are still in existence. + +Jule's, the Fly Trap, the St. Germain and the Cosmos laid claim to +distinction through their inexpensiveness, up to the time of the fire. +All of these names are still to be seen over restaurants and they are +still in that class, Jule's, possibly, being better than it was before +the fire. A good dinner of seven or eight courses, well cooked and well +served, could be had in these places for fifty cents. Lombardi's was of +the same type but his price was but twenty-five cents for a course +dinner in many respects the equal of the others. + +Pop Floyd, recently killed by his bartender in an altercation, had a +place down in California street much patronized by business men. He had +very good service and the best of cooking, and for many years hundreds +of business men gathered there at luncheon in lieu of a club. The place +is still in existence and good service and good food is to be had there, +but it has lost its Bohemian atmosphere. + +In Pine street above Montgomery was the Viticultural, a restaurant that +had great vogue owing to the excellence of its cooking. Its specialty +was marrow on toast and broiled mushrooms, and game. + +To speak of Bohemian San Francisco and say nothing of the old Hoffman +saloon, on Second and Market streets, would be like the play of Hamlet +with Hamlet left out. "Pop" Sullivan, or "Billy" Sullivan, according to +the degree of familiarity of the acquaintance, boasted of the fact that +from the day this place opened until he sold the doors were closed but +once, the keys having been thrown away on opening day. During all the +years of its existence the only day it was closed was the day of the +funeral of Sullivan's mother. Here was the most magnificent bar in San +Francisco, and in connection was a restaurant that catered to people who +not only knew good things but ordered them. The back part of the place +with entrance on Second street was divided off into little rooms with +tables large enough for four. These rooms were most lavish in their +decoration, the most interesting feature being that they were all made +of different beautiful woods, highly polished. Woods were here from all +parts of the world, each being distinctive. In these rooms guests were +served with the best the market afforded, by discreet darkeys. This +place was the best patronized of all the Bohemian resorts of the city up +to the time of the fire. One of the special dainties served were the +Hoffman House biscuits, light and flaky, such as could be found nowhere +else. + +Out by Marshall Square, by the City Hall, was Good Fellow's Grotto, +started by Techau, who afterward built and ran the Techau Tavern. This +place was in a basement and had much vogue among politicians and those +connected with the city government. It specialized on beefsteaks. + +Under the St. Ann building, at Eddy and Powell streets, was the Louvre, +started and managed by Carl Zinkand, who afterward opened the place in +Market above Fourth street, called Zinkand's. This was distinctly German +in appointments and cooking and was the best of its kind in the city. +Under the Phelan building at O'Farrell and Market was the Old Louvre in +which place one could get German cooking, but it was not a place that +appealed to those who knew good service. + +Bab's had a meteoric career and was worthy of much longer life, but +Babcock had too high an idealization of what San Francisco wanted. He +emulated the Parisian restaurants in oddities, one of his rooms being +patterned after the famous Cabaret de la Mort, and one dined off a +coffin and was lighted by green colored tapers affixed to skulls. Aside +from its oddities it was one of the best places for a good meal for Bab +had the art of catering down to a nicety. There were rooms decorated to +represent various countries and in each room you could get a dinner of +the country represented. + +Thompson's was another place that was too elaborate for its patronage +and after a varied existence from the old Oyster Loaf to a cafeteria +Thompson was compelled to leave for other fields and San Francisco lost +a splendid restaurateur. He opened the place under the Flood building, +after the fire, in most magnificent style, taking in two partners. The +enormous expense and necessary debt contracted to open the place was too +much and Thompson had to give up his interest. This place is now running +as the Portola-Louvre. + +Much could be written of these old-time restaurants, and as we write +story after story amusing, interesting, and instructive come to mind, +each indicative of the period when true Bohemianism was to be found in +the City that Was. + +An incident that occurred in the old Fior d'Italia well illustrates this +spirit of camaraderie, as it shows the good-fellowship that then +obtained. We went to that restaurant for dinner one evening, and the +proprietor, knowing our interest in human nature studies, showed us to a +little table in the back part of the room, where we could have a good +view of all the tables. Our table was large enough to seat four +comfortably, and presently, as the room became crowded, the proprietor, +with many excuses, asked if he could seat two gentlemen with us. They +were upper class Italians, exceedingly polite, and apologized profusely +for intruding upon us. In a few minutes another gentleman entered and +our companions at once began frantic gesticulations and called him to +our table, where room was made and another cover laid. Again and again +this occurred until finally at a table suited for four, nine of us were +eating, laughing, and talking together, we being taken into the +comradeship without question. When it came time for us to depart the +entire seven rose and stood, bowing as we passed from the restaurant. + + + +Impress of Mexico + +Running through all the fabric of San Francisco's history is the thread +of Mexican and Spanish romance and tradition, carrying us back to the +very days when the trooper sent out by Portola first set eyes on the +great inland sea now known as San Francisco Bay. It would seem that the +cuisinaire most indelibly stamped on the taste of the old San Franciscan +would, therefore, be of either Spanish or Mexican origin. That this is +not a fact is because among the earliest corners to California after it +passed from Mexican hands to those of the United States, were French and +Italian cooks, and the bon vivants of both lands who wanted their own +style of cooking. While the Spanish did not impress their cooking on San +Francisco, it is the cuisine of the Latin races that has given to it its +greatest gastronomic prestige, and there still remains from those very +early days recipes of the famous dishes which had their beginnings +either in Spain or Mexico. + +There is much misconception regarding both Spanish and Mexican cooking, +for it is generally accepted as a fact that all Mexican and Spanish +dishes are so filled with red pepper as to be unpalatable to the normal +stomach of those trained to what is called "plain American cooking." +Certain dishes of Mexican and Spanish origin owe their fine flavor to +discriminating use of chili caliente or chili dulce, but many of the +best dishes are entirely innocent of either. The difference between +Spanish and Mexican cooking is largely a matter of sentiment. It is a +peculiarity of the Spaniard that he does not wish to be classed as a +Mexican, and on the other hand the Mexican is angry if he be called a +Spaniard. But the fact remains that their cooking is much alike, so much +so, in fact, as to be indistinguishable except by different names for +similar dishes, and frequently these are the same. + +The two famous and world-known dishes of this class of cooking are +tortillas and tamales. It is generally supposed that both of these are +the product of Mexico, but this is not the case. The tamale had its +origin in Spain and was carried to Mexico by the conquistadors, and +taken up as a national dish by the natives after many years. The +tortilla, on the other hand, is made now exactly as it was made by the +Mexican Indian when the Spanish found the country. The aborigine +prepared his corn on a stone metate and made it into cakes by patting it +with the hand, then cooked it on a hot stone before an open fire. It is +still made in that manner in the heart of Mexico, and we could tell a +story of how we saw this done one night in the midst of a dense tropical +forest, while muleteers and mozas of a great caravan sat around their +little campfires, whose fitful light served to intensify the weird +appearance of the shadows of the Indians as they passed to and fro among +their packs, but this is not the place for such stories. + +Of the old Mexican restaurants, those of us who can look back to the +days of a quarter of a century ago remember old Felipe and Maria, the +Mexican couple who kept the little place in the alley back of the old +county jail, off Broadway. Here one had to depend entirely upon +sentiment, or rather sentimentality, to be pleased. The cooking was +truly Mexican for it included the usual Mexican disregard for dirt. +Chattering monkeys and parrots were hanging around the kitchen, peering +into pots and fingering viands, and they served to attract attention +from myriads of cockroaches that swarmed about the walls. One could go +to this place just on the theory that one is willing to try anything +once, but aside from its picturesque old couple, and its Dantesque +appearance, it offered nothing to induce a return unless it was to +entertain a friend. + +Everyone who lived in San Francisco before the fire remembers Ricardo, +he of the one eye, who served so well at Luna's, on Vallejo and Dupont +streets. Ricardo had but one eye but he could see the wants of his +patrons much better than many of the later day waiters who have two. +Luna's brought fame to San Francisco and in more than one novel of San +Francisco life it was featured. Entering the place one came into the +home life of the Luna family, and reached the dining room through the +parlor, where Mrs. Luna, busy with her drawn work, and all the little +Lunas and the neighbors and their children foregathered in the window +spaces behind the torn Nottingham curtains which partially concealed the +interior from passers on the street. The elder sons and daughters +attended to the wants of those who fancied any of the curios displayed +in the long showcase that extended from the door to the rear of the +room. + +Passing through this family group one came to the curtained dining room +proper, although there were a number of tables in the family parlor to +be used in case of a rush of patrons. Luna's dinners were a feature of +the old San Francisco. They were strictly Mexican, from the unpalatable +soup (Mexicans do not understand how to make good soup) to the "dulce" +served at the close of the meal. First came the appetizers in form of +thin slices of salami and of a peculiar Mexican sausage, so extremely +hot with chili pepino as to immediately call for a drink of claret to +assuage the burning. Then came the soup which we experienced ones always +passed over. The salad of modern tables was replaced by an enchilada, +and then came either chili con carne or chili con polle according to the +day of the week, Sundays having as the extra attraction the chili con +pollo, or chicken with pepper. In place of bread they served tortillas, +which were rolled and used as a spoon or fork if one were so inclined. +Following this was what is known among unenlightened as "stuffed +pepper," but which is called by the Spanish, from which country it gets +its name, "chili reinas." To signify the close of the meal came +frijoles fritas or fried beans, and these were followed by the dessert +consisting of some preserved fruit or of a sweet tamale. Fifty cents +paid the bill and a tip of fifteen cents to Ricardo made him as happy +and as profuse with his thanks as the present day waiter on receipt of +half a dollar. + +Accepting Luna's as the best type of the Mexican restaurant of the days +before the fire, our inquiry developed the fact that the dish on which +he specialized was chili reinas, and this is the recipe he used in their +preparation: + +Chili Reinas + +Roast large bell peppers until the skin turns black. Wash in cold water +and rub off the blackened skin. Cut around the stem and remove the seed +and coarse veins. Take some dry Monterey cheese, grated fine, and with +this fill the peppers, closing the end with a wooden toothpick. + +Prepare a batter made as follows: Beat the yolks and whites of six eggs +separately, then mix, and stir in a little flour to make a thin batter. +Have a pan of boiling lard ready and after dipping the stuffed pepper +into the batter dip it into the lard. Remove quickly and dip again in +the batter and then again in the lard where it is to remain until fried +a light, golden brown, keeping the peppers entirely covered with the +boiling lard. + +Take the seeds of the peppers, one small white onion and two tomatoes, +and grind all together into a pulp, add a little salt and let cook ten +minutes. When the chilies are fried turn the remainder of the batter +into the tomatoes and boil twenty minutes, then turn this sauce over the +peppers. + +This is a most delicious dish and can be varied by using finely ground +meat to stuff the peppers instead of The cheese. + +Mexican restaurants of the present day in San Francisco are a delusion, +and unsatisfactory. + + + +On the Barbary Coast + +Much has been said and more printed regarding San Francisco's Barbary +Coast--much of truth and much mythical. Probably no other individual +district has been so instrumental in giving to people of other parts of +the country an erroneous idea of San Francisco. It is generally accepted +as a fact that in Barbary Coast Vice flaunted itself in reckless abandon +before the eyes of the world, showing those things usually concealed +behind walls and under cover of the darkness. According to the purists +here youth of both sexes was debauched, losing both money and souls. To +speak of seeing Barbary Coast brought furtive looks and lowered voices, +as if contamination even from the thought were possible. No slumming +party was completed without a visit to the "Coast," after Chinatown's +manufactured horrors had been shuddered at. + +One cannot well speak of the Barbary Coast without bringing into +consideration the Social Evil, for here was concentrated dozens of the +poor unfortunates of the underworld, compelled to eke out miserable +existence through playing on the foibles and vanities of men, or seek +oblivion in a suicide's grave. We do not propose to discuss this phase +of Barbary Coast as that is not a part of Bohemianism. + +We have visited the Coast many times, at all hours of the night, and +beyond the unconcealed license of open caresses we have seen nothing +shocking to our moral sense that equaled what we have seen in Broadway, +New York, or in some of the most fashionable hotels and restaurants of +San Francisco on New Year's Eve. Dancing, singing and music--all that +is embodied in the "wine, women and song" of the poets, was to be found +there, but it was open, and had none of the veiled suggestion to be +found in places considered among the best. + +In Barbary Coast we have seen more beautiful dancing than on any stage, +or in the famous Moulin Rouge, or Jardin Mabile of Paris. In fact, many +of the modern dances that have become the vogue all over the country, +even being carried to Europe, had their origin in Pacific street dance +halls. Texas Tommy, the Grizzly Bear, and many others were first danced +here, and some of the finest Texas Tommy dancers on eastern stages went +from the dance halls of San Francisco's Barbary Coast. + +Vice was there--yes. It was open--yes. But there was the attraction of +light and life and laughter that drew crowds nightly. + +Barbary Coast was a part of San Francisco's Bohemianism because of its +unconventionality, for, you know, there is conventionality even in Vice. +Here was the rendezvous of sailor men from all parts of the world, for +here they found companionship and joviality. + +Up to the time of the closing of Barbary Coast molestation of women on +the streets of San Francisco was almost unheard of. Since its closing it +is becoming more and more hazardous for women to walk alone at night in +the only large city in the world that always had the reputation of +guarding its womankind. + + + +The City That Was Passes + +Times change and we change with them is well evidenced by the restaurant +life of the present day San Francisco. Now, as before the fire, we have +the greatest restaurant city of the world--a city where home life is +subordinated to the convenience of apartment dwelling and restaurant +meals-but the old-time Bohemian finds neither the same atmosphere nor +the same restaurants. + +True, many of the old names have been retained or revived, but there is +not felt the old spirit of camaraderie. Old personalities have passed +away and old customs have degenerated. Those who await The Call feel +that with the passing of the old city there passed much that made life +worth living, and as they prepare to cross to the Great Beyond, they +live in their memories of the Past. + +With reverence we think of the men and women of the early San Francisco +- those who made the city the Home of Bohemia--and it is with this +feeling that we now come to discuss the Bohemian restaurants of the New +San Francisco. + + + +Sang the Swan Song + +In the latter part of April, 1906, when the fire-swept streets presented +their most forbidding aspect, and when the only moving figures to be +seen after nightfall were armed soldiers guarding the little remaining +of value from depredations of skulking vagabonds, a number of the old +Bohemian spirits gathered at the corner of Montgomery and Commercial +streets, and gazed through the shattered windows into the old dining +room where they had held many a royal feast. On the blackened walls +might still be seen scarred pictures, fringed by a row of black cats +along the ceiling. They turned their steps out toward the Presidio, +hunted among the Italian refugees and there found Coppa--he of the +wonderful black cats, and it took little persuasion to induce him to go +back to his ruined restaurant and prepare a dinner, such as had made his +place famous among artists, writers, and other Bohemians, in the days +when San Francisco was care-free and held her arms wide open in welcome +to all the world. + +It was such a dinner as has been accorded to few. Few there are who have +the heart to make merry amid crumbling ruins of all they held dear in +the material world. The favored ones who assembled there will always +hold that dinner in most affectionate memory, and to this day not one +thinks of it without the choking that comes from over-full emotion. It +was more than a tribute to the days of old--it marked the passing of +the old San Francisco and the inauguration of the new. + +It was Bohemia's Swan Song, sung by those to whom San Francisco held +more than pleasure--more than sentimentality. It held for them +close-knit ties that nothing less than a worldshaking cataclysm could +sever--and the cataclysm had arrived. + +The old Coppa restaurant in Montgomery street became a memory and on its +ashes came the new one, located in Pine street between Montgomery and +Kearny streets, and for a number of years this remained the idol of +Bohemia until changed conditions drove the tide of patronage far up +toward Powell, Ellis, Eddy and O'Farrell streets. At that time there +grew up a mushroom crop of so-called restaurants in Columbus avenue +close to Barbary Coast such as Caesar's, the Follies Cabaret, Jupiter +and El Paradiso, where space was reserved in the middle of the floor for +dancing. Coppa emulated the new idea by fitting out a gorgeous basement +room at the corner of Kearny and Jackson, which he called the Neptune +Palace. It represented a great grotto under the ocean, and here throngs +gathered nightly to dance and eat until the police commissioners closed +all of these resorts, as well as Barbary Coast. + +Coppa became financially injured by this venture and was forced to take +a partner in his old restaurant, and finally gave up his share and went +beyond the city limits and opened the Pompeiian Garden, on the San Mateo +road, and there with his heroic little wife tried to rebuild his +shrunken fortunes, leaving the historic restaurant with its string of +black cats and its memorable pictures on the walls to less skilled +hands. He struggled against hard times and at the time of this writing +he, with his wife, their son and his wife, are giving the old-time +dinners and trying to make the venture a success. + +In the old days it was considered a feat of gormandizing to go through +one of Coppa's dinners and eat everything set before you for one dollar. +Notwithstanding the delicious dishes he prepared and the wonderful +recipes, the quantity served was so great that one would have to be +possessed of enormous capacity, indeed, to be able to say at the end of +the meal that he had eaten all that was given him. + +In his Pompeiian Garden Coppa still maintains his old reputation for +most tasty viands and liberal portions, and if one desire to find the +true Bohemian restaurant of San Francisco today, one that approaches the +old spirit of the days before the fire, he need but go out to Coppa's +and while he will not have his eyes regaled by the quaint drawings with +which the old-time artists decorated the walls, nor the hurrying +footsteps along the ceiling to the famous center table where sat some of +the world's most notable Bohemians on their visits to San Francisco, nor +the frieze of black cats around the cornice, nor the Bohemian verse, +written under inspiration of "Dago red," he will find the same old +cooking, done by Coppa himself. + +We asked Coppa what he considered his best dish and he gave us the +Irishman's reply by asking another question: + +"What do you think of it?" + +There are so many to choose from that our answer was difficult but we +finally stopped at "Chicken Portola." It was then that the old smile +came back to Coppa's face. + +"Ah! Chicken Portola. That is my own idea. It is the most delicious way +chicken was ever cooked." + +This is the recipe as Coppa gave it to us, his little wife standing at +his side and giving, now and then, a suggestion as Coppa's memory +halted: + + +Chicken Portola a la Coppa + +Take a fresh cocoanut and cut off the top, removing nearly all of the +meat. Put together three tablespoonfuls of chopped cocoanut meat and two +ears of fresh, green corn, taken from the cob. Slice two onions into +four tablespoonfuls of olive oil, together with a tablespoonful of diced +bacon fried in olive oil, add one chopped green pepper, half a dozen +tomatoes stewed with salt and pepper, one clove of garlic, and cook all +together until it thickens. Strain this into the corn and cocoanut and +add one spring chicken cut in four pieces. Put the mixture into the +shell of the cocoanut, using the cut-off top as a cover, and close +tightly with a covering of paste around the jointure to keep in the +flavors. Put the cocoanut into a pan with water in it and set in the +oven, well heated, for one hour, basting frequently to prevent the +cocoanut's burning. + +A bare recital of the terms of the recipe cannot bring to the +uninitiated even a suspicion of the delightful aroma that comes from the +cocoanut when its top is lifted, nor can it give the slightest idea of +the delicacy of the savor arising from the combination of the cocoanut +with young chicken. It is not a difficult dish to prepare, and if you +cannot get it at any of the restaurants, and we are sure you cannot, try +it at home some time and surprise your friends with a dish to be found +in only one restaurant in the world. If you desire it at Coppa's on your +visit to San Francisco you will have to telephone out to him in advance +(unless he has succeeded in getting back to the city, which he +contemplates) so that he can prepare it for you, and, take our word for +it, you will never regret doing so. + +Coppa has many wonderful dishes to serve, and he delights so much in +your appreciation that he is always fearful something is wrong if you +fail to do full justice to his meal. He showed this one evening when he +had filled a little party of us to repletion by his lavish provision for +our entertainment, and nature rebelled against anything more. To us came +Coppa in tears. + +"What is the matter with the chicken, Doctor? Is it not cooked just +right?" + +It was with difficulty that we made him understand that there was a +limit to capacity, and that he had fed us with such bountiful hand we +could eat no more. Even now when we go to Coppa's we have a little +feeling of fear lest we offend him by not eating enough to convince him +that we are pleased. + +Coppa's walls were always adorned with strange conceits of the artists +and writers who frequented his place, and after a picture, or a bit of +verse had remained until it was too familiar some one erased it and +replaced it with something he thought was better. We preserved one +written by an unknown Bohemian. We give it just as it was: + +Through the fog of centuries, dim and dense, +I sometimes seem to see +The shadowy line of a backyard fence +And a feline shape of me. +I hear the growl, and yowl and howl +Of each nocturnal fight, +And the throaty stir, half cry, half purr +Of passionate delight, +As seeking an amorous rendezvous +My ancient brothers go stealing +Through the purple gloom of night. + +I've seen your eyes, with a greenish glint; +You move with a feline grace; +And when you are pleased I catch the hint +Of a purr in your throat and face. +Then I wonder if you are dreaming, too, +Of temples along the Nile, +Where you yowled and howled, and loved and prowled, +With many a sensuous wile, +And borrowed the grace you own today +From that other life in the far-away; +And if such dreams beguile. + +I know that you sit by your cozy fire, +When shadows crowd the room, +And my soul responds to an old desire +To roam through the velvety gloom, +So stealthily stealing, softly shod, +My spirit is hurrying thence +To the lure of an ancient mystic god, +Whose magnet is intense, +Where I know your soul, too, roams in fur, +For I hear it call with a throaty purr, +From the shadowy backyard fence. + + + +Bohemia of the Present + +San Francisco's care-free spirit was fully exemplified before the ashes +of the great fire of 1906 were cold. On every hand one could find little +eating places established in the streets, some made of abandoned boxes, +others of debris from the burned buildings, and some in vacant basements +and little store rooms, while a few enterprising individuals improvised +wheeled dining rooms and went from one part of the city to another +serving meals. + +The vein of humor of irrepressible effervescence of spirit born of +Bohemianism gave to these eating places high sounding names, and many +were covered with witty signs which laughed in the face of Fate. + +Fillmore became the great business street of the city now in ashes, and +here were established the first restaurants of any pretensions, the +Louvre being first to open an establishment that had the old-time +appearance. This was on the corner of Fillmore and Ellis, and had large +patronage, it being crowded nightly with men and women who seemed to +forget that San Francisco had been destroyed. Thompson opened a large +restaurant in O'Farrell street, just above Fillmore, and for two years +or more did a thriving business, his place being noted for its good +cooking and its splendid service. One of his waiters, Phil Tyson, was +one of the earlier ones to go back into the burned district to begin +business and he opened a restaurant called the Del Monte in Powell +street near Market, but it was too early for success and closed after a +short career. + +Thompson enlisted others to join with him in opening a magnificent place +under the new Flood building at the corner of Powell and Market street, +but through faulty understanding of financial power Thompson was +compelled to give up his interest and the place afterward closed. It has +since been reopened under the name of the Portola-Louvre, where now +crowds assemble nightly to listen to music and witness cabaret +performances. Here, as well as in a number of other places, one can well +appreciate the colloquial definition of "cabaret." That which takes the +rest out of restaurant and puts the din in dinner. If one likes noise +and distraction while eating such places are good to patronize. + +Across the street from the Portola-Louvre at 15 Powell street is the +modernized Techau Tavern now known as "Techau's". Here there is always +good music and food well cooked and well served, and always a lively +crowd during the luncheon, dinner and after-theatre hours. The room is +not large but its dimensions are greatly magnified owing to the covering +of mirrors which line the walls. This garish display of mirrors, and +elaborate decoration of ceiling and pillars, gives it the appearance of +the abode of Saturnalia, but decorum is the rule among the patrons. + +Around at 168 O'Farrell street, just opposite the Orpheum theatre, is +Tait-Zinkand restaurant, or as it is more popularly known, "Tait's". +John Tait is the presiding spirit here, he having made reputation as +club manager, and then as manager of the Cliff House. One of the +partners here was Carl Zinkand, who ran the old Zinkand's before the +fire. + +While these three restaurants are of similar type neither has the +pre-fire atmosphere. They are lively, always, with music and gay +throngs, and serve good food. + +One of the early restaurants established after the fire was Blanco's, at +857 O'Farrell street, and later Blanco opened the Poodle Dog in Mason +street just above Eddy. Both of these restaurants are of the old French +type and are high class in every respect. The Poodle Dog has a hotel +attachment where one may get rooms or full apartments. + +If you know how to order, and do not care to count the cost when you +order, probably the best dinner at these restaurants can be had at +either Blanco's or the Poodle Dog. The cuisine is of the best and the +chefs rank at the top of their art. Prices are higher than at the other +restaurants mentioned, but one certainly gets the best there is prepared +in the best way. + +But the same food, prepared equally well, is to be found in a number of +less pretentious places. At the two mentioned one pays for the +surroundings as well as for the food, and sometimes this is worth paying +for. + +The restaurants of the present day that approach nearest the old +Bohemian restaurants of pre fire days, of the French class, are Jack's +in Sacramento street between Montgomery and Kearny; Felix, in Montgomery +street between Clay and Washington, and the Poodle Dog-Bergez-Franks, in +Bush street between Kearny and Grant avenue. In either of these +restaurants you will be served with the best the market affords, cooked +"the right way." In Clay street opposite the California Market is the +New Frank's, one of the best of the Italian restaurants, and much +patronized by Italian merchants. Next to it is Coppa's, but it is no +longer run by Coppa. In this same district is the Mint, in Commercial +street between Montgomery and Kearny streets. It has changed from what +it was in the old days, but is still an excellent place to dine. + +Negro's, at 625 Merchant street, near the Hall of Justice, has quite a +following of those whose business attaches them to the courts, and while +many claim this to be one of the best of its class, we believe the claim +to be based less on good cooking than on the fact that the habitues are +intimate, making it a pleasant resort for them. The cooking is good and +the variety what the market affords. + +In Washington street, just off Columbus avenue, is Bonini's Barn, making +great pretense through an unique idea. So far as the restaurant is +concerned the food is a little below the average of Italian restaurants. +One goes there once through curiosity and finds himself in a room that +has all the appearance of the interior of a barn, with chickens and +pigeons strutting around, harness hanging on pegs, and hay in mangers, +and all the farming utensils around to give it the verisimilitude of +country. Tables and chairs are crude in the extreme and old-time +lanterns are used for lighting. It is an idea that is worth while, but, +unfortunately, the proprietors depend too much on the decorative feature +and too little on the food and how they serve it. + +The Fly Trap, and Charlie's Fashion, the first in Sutter street near +Kearny and the other in Market near Sutter, serve well-cooked foods, +especially soup, salads, and fish. Of course these are not the entire +menus but of all the well-prepared dishes these are their best. Felix, +mentioned before, also makes a specialty of his family soup, which is +excellent. + +Spanish dinners of good quality are to be had at the Madrilena, at 177 +Eddy street, and at the Castilian, at 344 Sutter street. Both serve good +Spanish dinners at reasonable prices. They serve table d'hote dinners, +but you can also get Spanish dishes on special order. + +Under the Monadnock building, in Market street near Third, is Jule's, +well liked and well patronized because of its good cooking and good +service. Jule is one of the noted restaurateurs of the city, having +attained high celebrity before the fire. His prices are moderate and his +cooking and viands of the best, and will satisfy the most critical of +the gourmets. + +At the corner of Market and Eddy streets is the Odeon, down in a +basement, with decorations of most garish order. There is a good chef +and the place has quite a vogue among lovers of good things to eat. +Probably at no place in San Francisco can one find game cooked better +than at Jack's, 615 Sacramento street. His ducks are always cooked so as +to elicit high praise. He has an old-style French table d'hote dinner +which he serves for $1.25, including wine. Or you may order anything in +the market and you will find it cooked "the best way." One of the +specialties of Jack's is fish, for which the restaurant is noted. It is +always strictly fresh and booked to suit the most fastidious taste. + + + +As it is in Germany + +When you see August (do not fail to pronounce it Owgoost) in repose you +involuntarily say, that is if you understand German, "Mir ist alles an," +which is the German equivalent of "I should worry." When August is in +action you immediately get a thirst that nothing but a stein of cold +beer will quench. August is the pride of the Heidelberg Inn at 35 Ellis +street. All you can see from the street as you pass around the corner +from Market, is a sign and some stairs leading down into a basement, but +do not draw back just because it is a basement restaurant, for if you do +you will miss one of the very few real Bohemian restaurants of San +Francisco. Possibly our point of view will not coincide with that of +others, but while there are dozens of other Bohemian restaurants there +is but one Heidelberg Inn. Here is absolute freedom from irksome +conventionality of other people, and none of the near Bohemianism of so +many places claiming the title. + +At the Heidelberg Inn one need never fear obtrusiveness on the part of +other visitors, for here everybody attends strictly to his or her own +party, enjoying a camaraderie that has all the genuine, whole-souled +companionship found only where German families are accustomed to +congregate to seek relaxation from the toil and worry of the day. + +An evening spent in Heidelberg Inn is one replete with character study +that cannot be excelled anywhere in San Francisco--and this means that +everybody there is worth while as a study, from the little, bald-headed +waiter, Heme, and the big, imposing waiter, August, to the "Herr Doctor" +who comes to forget the serious surgical case that has been worrying him +at the hospital. Here you do not find obtrusive waiters brushing +imaginary crumbs from your chair with obsequious hand, nor over zealous +stewards solicitous of your food's quality. It is all perfect because it +is made perfect by good management. Here are German families, from +Grossfader and Grossmutter, down to the newest grandchild, sitting and +enjoying their beer and listening to such music as can be heard nowhere +else in San Francisco, as they eat their sandwiches of limburger, or +more dainty dishes according to their tastes. + +One can almost imagine himself in one of the famous rathskellers of Old +Heidelberg--not at the Schloss, of course, for here you cannot look +down on the Weiser as it flows beneath the windows of the great wine +stube on the hill. But you have the real atmosphere, and this is +enhanced by the mottoes in decoration and the flagons, stems and plaques +that adorn the pillars as well as typical German environment. + +It is when the martial strains of "De Wacht am Rhein" are heard from the +orchestra, which of itself is an institution, that the true camaraderie +of the place is appreciated, for then guests, waiters, barkeepers, and +even the eagle-eyed gray-haired manager, join in the swelling chorus, +and you can well understand why German soldiers are inspired to march to +victory when they hear these stirring chords. + +But there is other music--sometimes neither inspiring nor beautiful +when heard in a German rathskeller--the music of rag time. If there is +anything funnier than a German orchestra trying to play rag-time music +we have never heard it. It is unconscious humor on part of the +orchestra, consequently is all the more excruciating. + +But if you really love good music--music that has melody and rhythm and +soothing cadences, go to the Heidelberg Inn and listen to the concert +which is a feature of the place every evening. And while you are +listening to the music you can enjoy such food as is to be found nowhere +else in San Francisco, for it is distinctly Heidelbergian. We asked for +the recipe that they considered the very best in the restaurant, and +Hirsch, with a shrug of his shoulders, said: "Oh, we have so many fine +dishes." We finally got him to select the one prized above all others +and this is what Chef Scheiler gave us: + +German Sauer Braten + +Take four pounds of clear beef, from either the shoulder or rump, and +pickle it for two days in one-half gallon of claret and one-half gallon +of good wine vinegar (not cider). To the pickle add two large onions cut +in quarters, two fresh carrots and about one ounce of mixed whole +allspice, black peppers, cloves and bay leaves. + +When ready for cooking take the meat out of the brine and put in a +roasting pan. Put in the oven and brown to a golden color. Then take it +out of the roasting pan and put it into a casserole, after sprinkling it +with two ounces of flour. Put into the oven again and cook for half an +hour, basting frequently with the original brine. + +When done take the meat out of the sauce. Strain the sauce through a +fine collander and add a few raisins, a piece of honey cake, or ginger +snaps and the meat of one fresh tomato. Season with salt and pepper and +a little sugar to taste. Slice and serve with the sauce over it. + +For those who like German dishes and German cooking it is not necessary +to confine yourself to the Heidelberg Inn, for both the Hof Brau, in +Market just above Fourth street, and the German House Rathskeller, at +Turk and Polk streets are good places where you can get what you want. +The Hof Brau, however, is less distinctively German as the greater +number of its patrons are Americans. The specialty of the Hof Brau is +abalone's, and they have as a feature this shell fish cooked in several +ways. They also have as the chef in charge of the abalone dishes, +Herbert, formerly chef for one of the yacht clubs of the coast, who +claims to have the only proper recipe for making abalone's tender. Under +ordinary circumstances the abalone is tough and unpalatable, but after +the deft manipulation of Herbert they are tender and make a fine dish, +either fried, as chowder or a la Newberg. In addition to abalone's the +Hof Brau makes a specialty of little Oregon crawfish. While there is a +distinctive German atmosphere at the Rathskeller of the German House, +the place is too far out to gather such numbers as congregate at either +the Heidelberg or the Hof Brau, but one can get the best of German +cooking here and splendid service, and for a quiet little "Dutch supper" +we know of no place that will accommodate you better than the +Rathskeller. + +On special occasions, when some German society or club is giving a dance +or holding a meeting at the German House, the Rathskeller is the most +typical German place in San Francisco, and if you go at such a time you +will get all the "atmosphere" you will desire, as well as the best the +market affords in the way of good viands. + + + +In the Heart of Italy + +What a relief it is sometimes to have a good waiter say: "You do not +know what you want? Will you let me bring you the best there is in the +house?" Sometimes, you know, you really do not know what you want, and +usually when that is the case you are not very hungry. That is always a +good time to try new things. It is also possible that you do not know +what you want because you do not know how to order. In either instance +our advice is, if the waiter gets confidential and offers his assistance +you will certainly miss something if you do not accept his good offices. + +This was the case with us, one day when we were over at 1549 Stockton +street, near Washington Square, at the Gianduja. The proper +pronunciation of this is as if it were spelled Zhan-du-ya. This is one +of the good Italian restaurants of the Latin quarter. At the Gianduja +you get the two prime essentials to a good meal--good cooking and +excellent service. It matters not whether you take their thirty-five +cent luncheon or order a most elaborate meal, you will find that the +service is just what it ought to be. We asked Brenti what he considered +his most famous dish, and like all other proprietors, he shrugged his +shoulders and said, with hands emphasizing his words: + +"We have so many fine dishes." + +"Of course we know that, but what do you consider the very best?" + +"There is no one the 'very best'. I could give you two." + +"Let it be two, then," was our immediate rejoinder, and here is what he +gave us as the best recipes of the Gianduja. + +First, let us give you an idea of the difficulty under which we secured +these recipes by printing them just as he wrote them down for us, and +then we shall elaborate a little and show the result of skillful +questioning. This is the way he wrote the recipe for Risotto Milanaise: + +Risotto ala Milanaise + +"Onions chop fine--marrow and little butter--rice--saffron--chicken +broth--wen cook add fresh butter and Parmesan cheese seasoned." + +What was embodied in the words "wen cook" was the essential of the +recipe and here is the way we got it: + +Chop one large onion fine. Cut a beef marrow into small dice and stir it +with the chopped onion. Put a small piece of butter in a frying pan and +into this put the onion and marrow and fry to a delicate brown. Now add +one scant cup of rice, stirring constantly, and into this put a pinch of +saffron that has been bruised. When the rice takes on a brown color add, +slowly, chicken broth as needed, until the rice is thoroughly cooked. +Then add a lump of fresh butter about the size of a walnut, and sprinkle +liberally with grated Parmesan cheese, seasoning to taste with pepper +and salt. This is to be served with chicken or veal. + +The second recipe was for Fritto Misto, and he wrote it as follows: + +Fritto Misto + +"Lamb chops and brains breaded--sweetbreads--escallop of veal--fresh +mushrooms--Italian squash when in season--asparagus or cauliflower-- +fried in fresh butter--dipped in beaten eggs--lime jus." + +"Fritto Misto" means fried mixture, and the recipe as we finally +elucidated it is as follows: + +Take a lamb chop, a piece of calf brain, one sweetbread, a slice of +veal, a fresh mushroom, sliced Italian squash, a piece of asparagus or +of cauliflower and dip these into a batter made of an egg well beaten +with a little flour. Sprinkle these with a little lime juice and fry to +a delicate brown in butter, adding salt and pepper to taste. + +At the Gianduja, as at all other Italian restaurants not much affected +by Americans, you will find an atmosphere of unconventionality that is +delightful to the Bohemian. There is no irksome espionage on the part of +other patrons, all of whom are there for the purpose of attending +strictly to their own business, and the affairs of other diners are of +no consequence to them. There is freedom of expression and +unconsciousness, most pleasing after having experienced those other +restaurants where it seems to be the business of all the rest of the +guests to know just what you are eating and drinking. There is little of +the obnoxious posing that one finds in restaurants of the downtown +districts, for while Italians, in common with all other Latins, are +natural born poseurs, they are not offensive in it, but rather impress +you with the same feeling as the antics of a child. + +One of the little, out-of-the way restaurants of the Italian quarter is +the Leon d'Oro, at 1525 Grant avenue, and it is one of the surprises of +that district. Lazzarini, he with the big voice, presides over the tiny +kitchen in the rear of the room devoted to public service and family +affairs. Soft-voiced Rita, with her demure air and her resemblance to +Evangeline, with her crossed apron, strings and delicate features, takes +your order, and soon comes the booming sound from the neighborhood of +the range, that announces to all patrons, as well as to some who may be +in the vicinity on the street, that your order is ready, and then +everybody knows what you are eating. As you sit, either in curtained +alcove or at the common table in the main room, little Andrea will visit +you with his cat. Both are institutions of the place and one is, prone +to wonder how a cat can have so much patience with a little boy. Andrea +speaks Italian so fluently and so rapidly that it gives you the +impression of a quick rushing stream of pure water, tumbling over the +stones of a steep declivity. He is not yet old enough to understand that +it is not everybody who knows how to speak Italian, but that makes not +the slightest difference with him, for he talks without ever expecting +an answer. + +Lazzarini understands the art and science of cooking, and some of the +dishes he prepares are so unusual that one goes again and again to +partake of them: Possibly his best dish is the following: + +Chicken a la Leon D'oro + +Cut a spring chicken into pieces. Place these in a pan containing hot +olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Turn the chicken until it is +thoroughly browned, and add finely chopped green peppers. Let it cook +awhile then add a finely chopped clove of garlic and a little sage. Put +in a small glass of Marsala wine, tomato sauce and French mushrooms and +let simmer for ten minutes. Before taking from the pan add half a +tablespoonful of butter and serve on a hot plate. + +Lazzarini also makes a specialty of snails, and they are well worth +trying while you are experimenting with the unusual things to eat. The +recipe for these is as follows: + +Snails a la Bordelaise + +Put ten pounds of snails in a covered barrel and keep for ten days. Then +put in a tub with a handful of salt and a quarter of a gallon of +vinegar. Stir for twenty minutes until a foam rises, then take out and +wash thoroughly until the water runs clear. Put in a large pot a pint of +virgin olive oil, four large onions and eight cloves of garlic, all +chopped fine, and a small bunch of parsley, chopped fine. Put the pot +over the fire and when the onions are browned stir in some white wine or +Marsala and then put in the snails. Cover and let simmer for thirty-five +minutes. While cooking add a pint of meat stock, a little butter and +some anise seed. When done put in a soup tureen and serve. To remove the +snails use small wooden toothpicks. + + + +A Breath of the Orient + +San Francisco's world-famed Chinatown, like the rest of the city, is +changed since the big fire, and the Chinatown of today is but a +reminiscence of the old Oriental city that was set in the midst of the +most thriving Occidental metropolis--The City That Was. There has never +been much of Chinatown that savored of Bohemianism, but it has always +been the vogue for visitors to make a trip through its mysterious +alleys, peering into the fearsome dark doorways, listening to the +ominous slamming doors of the "clubs," and shuddering in a delightful +horror at the recumbent opium smokers, pointed out to them by the +industrious guide. And when they were taken into one of the gambling +houses and shown the double doors, and the many contrivances used to +prevent police interference with the innocent games of fan tan and then +were shown the secret underground passage leading from one of the +gambling houses to the stage of the great Chinese theatre, two blocks +away, they went home ready to believe anything told them about "the ways +that are dark and tricks that are vain," for they were sure "the heathen +Chinee was peculiar." + +Chinese restaurant life never appealed to Bohemians, and when it became +necessary to entertain visitors with a trip to a Chinatown restaurant +the ordinary service was of tea and rice cakes, served from lacquered +trays, in gaudy rooms, and the admiring visitors could well imagine +themselves in "far off Cathay." + +Then came the fire and Chinatown, with the rest of the down-town portion +of San Francisco, passed away. In the rebuilding the owners of the +properties concluded to give the quarter a more Chinese aspect and +pagoda like structures are now to be found in all parts of the section. +The curiosity of the tourist is an available asset to Chinatown, and +with queer houses and queerer articles on sale there is always plenty of +uninitiated to keep the guides busy, but from a city of more than +twenty-five thousand Orientals in the midst of an enlightened city--an +Asiatic city that had its own laws and executed its criminals with the +most utter disregard for American laws, it has changed into one of the +most law-abiding parts of the great city. With the passing of the queue +came the adoption of the American style of dressing, and much of the +picturesqueness of the old Chinatown has disappeared. + +But with the changed conditions there has come a change in the +restaurant life of the quarter, and now a number of places have been +opened to cater to Americans, and on every hand one sees "chop suey" +signs, and "Chinese noodles." It goes without saying that one seldom +sees a Chinaman eating in the restaurants that are most attractive to +Americans. Some serve both white and yellow and others serve but the +Chinese, and a few favored white friends. + +Probably the best restaurant in Chinatown is that of the Hang Far Low +Company, at 723 Grant avenue. Here is served such a variety of strange +dishes that one has to be a brave Bohemian, indeed, to partake without +question. Ordinarily when Chinese restaurants are mentioned but two +dishes are thought of--chop suey and chow main. But neither is +considered among the fine dishes served to Chinese epicures. It is much +as if one of our best restaurants were to advertise hash as its +specialty. Both these dishes might be termed glorified hash. The +ingredients are so numerous and so varied with occasion that one is +tempted to imagine them made of the table leavings, and that is not at +all pleasant to contemplate. + +We asked one of the managers at the Hang Far Low what he would order if +he wished to get the best dish prepared in the restaurant, and he was +even more emphatic in his shrugs than the French or Italian managers. He +protested that there were so many good things it was impossible to name +just one as being the best. "You see, we have fish fins, they are very +good. Snails, China style. Very good, too. Then we have turtle brought +from China, different from the turtle they have here, and we cook it +China style. Eels come from China and they are cooked China style, too. +What is China style? That I cannot tell you for the cook knows and +nobody else. When we cook China style everything is more better. We have +here the very best tea." + +This may be taken as a sample of what to expect when visiting +Chinatown's restaurants, and while we confess to having some excellent +dishes served us in Chinatown, our preference lies in other paths of +endeavor. We suppose it is all in the point of view, and our point of +view is that there is nothing except superficiality in the ordinary +Chinese restaurants frequented by Americans, and those not so +frequented are impossible because of the average Chinaman's disregard +for dirt and the usual niceties of food preparation. + + + +Artistic Japan + +We wish it were in our power to describe a certain dinner as served us +in a Japanese restaurant in the days that followed the great fire. +Desiring to observe in fitting manner a birthday anniversary, we asked a +Japanese friend if he could secure admission for a little party at a +restaurant noted for serving none but the highest class Japanese. We did +not even know where the restaurant was but had heard of such a place, +and when we received word that we would be permitted to have a dinner +there we invited a newspaper friend who was in the city from New York, +together with two other friends and the Japanese, who was the editor of +the Soko Shimbun. He took us to a dwelling house in O'Farrell street, +having given previous notice of our coming. There was nothing on the +outside to indicate that it was anything but a residence, but when we +were ushered into the large front room, we found it beautifully +decorated with immense chrysanthemums, and glittering with silver and +cut glass on a magnificently arranged table. + +In deference to the fact that all but our Japanese friend were +unaccustomed to chopsticks, forks were placed on the table as well as +the little sticks that the Orientals use so deftly. At each place was a +beautiful lacquer tray, about twelve by eighteen inches, a pair of +chopsticks, a fork and a teaspoon. Before the meal was over several of +us became quite expert in using the chopsticks. + +When we were seated in came two little Japanese women, in full native +costume, bearing a service of tea. The cups and saucers were of a most +delicate blue and white ware, with teapot to match. Our first cup was +taken standing in deference to a Japanese custom where all drank to the +host. Then followed saki in little artistic bottles and saki cups that +hold not much more than a double tablespoonful. Saki is the Japanese +wine made of rice, and is taken in liberal quantities. At each serving +some one drank to some one else, then a return of the compliment was +necessary. Having always heard that Orientals turned menus topsy-turvy +we were not at all surprised when the little serving women brought to +each of us two silver plates and set them on our trays. These plates +contained what appeared to be cake, one seeming to be angel food with +icing, and the other fruit cake with the same covering. With these came +bowls of soup, served in lacquer ware, made of glutinous nests of +swallows, and also a salad made of shark fins. We ate the soup and salad +and found it good, and then made tentative investigation of the "cake." +To our great surprise we discovered the angel food to be fish and the +"icing" was shredded and pressed lobster. The "fruitcake" developed into +pressed dark meat of chicken, with an icing of pressed and glazed white +meat of the same fowl. + +Following this came the second service of tea, this time in cups of a +rare yellow color and beautiful design, with similar teapot. + +The next course was a mixture of immature vegetables, served in a sort +of saute. These were sprouting beans, lentils, peas and a number of +others with which we were unfamiliar. The whole was delicately flavored +with a peculiar sauce. + +After a short wait, during which the saki bottles circulated freely, one +of the women came in bearing aloft a large silver tray on which reposed +a mammoth crayfish, or California lobster. This appeared to be covered +with shredded cocoanut, and when it was placed before the host for +serving he was at loss, for no previous experience told him what to do. +It developed that the shredded mass on top was the meat of the lobster +which had been removed leaving the shell-fish in perfect form. It was +served cold, with a peculiar sauce. + +Now followed the piece de resistance. A tub of water was brought in and +in this was swimming a live fish, apparently of the carp family. After +being on view for a few minutes it was removed and soon the handmaidens +appeared with thinly sliced raw fish, served with soy sauce. Ordinarily +one can imagine nothing more repulsive than a dish of raw fish, but we +were tempted and did eat, and found it most delicious, delicate, and +with a flavor of raw oysters. + +Next came the third service of tea, this time in a deep red ware. Then +came a dessert of unusual flavor and appearance, followed by preserved +ginger and fruit. + +It must be remembered that during the meal, which lasted from seven +until past midnight, saki was served constantly yet no one felt its +influence in more than a sense of increased exhilaration. It is +customary to let the emptied bottles remain on the table until the close +of the meal, and there was a mighty showing. + +It was impossible to eat all that was set before us, but Japanese custom +forbids such a breach of etiquette as an indication that the food was +not perfection, consequently the serving maids appeared bearing six +carved teak boxes, and placed one at each plate. Into these we arranged +the food that was unconsumed, and when we went away we carried it with +us. To cap the climax the Japanese stripped the room of its bounteous +decoration of chrysanthemums and piled them into our arms and we went +home loaded with food and flowers. + +Proprietor and all his household accompanied us to the door with many +bows and gesticulations, wishing us best of luck, and we went back to +our homes in the desolated city with the feeling of having been +transported to Fairyland of the Orient. + +We discovered later that our Japanese friend was of the family of the +Emperor and was here on a diplomatic mission. + + + +Old and New Palace + +One cannot well write a book on Bohemian restaurants of San Francisco +without saying something about the great hotel whose history is so +intimately intertwined with that of the city since 1873, when William C. +Ralston determined that the city by the Golden Gate should have a hotel +commensurate with its importance. San Francisco and the Palace Hotel +were almost synonymous all over the world, and it was conceded by +travelers that nowhere else was there a hostelry to equal this great +hotel. + +To the bon vivant the grills of the Palace Hotel contained more to +enhance the joy of living than anywhere else, and here the chefs prided +themselves with providing the best in the land, prepared in such perfect +ways as to make a meal at the Palace the perfection of gastronomic art. + +There are three distinct eras to the history of the Palace Hotel, the +first being from 1876 to 1890, the second from 1890 to 1906, and the +third from 1906 to the present day. In the earlier days the grills, both +that for gentlemen and that for ladies, were noted for their magnificent +service and their wonderful cooking. A breakfast in the Ladies' Grill, +with an omelet of California oysters, toast and coffee, was a meal long +to be remembered. Possibly the most famous dish of the old Palace was +this one of omelet with California oysters, and it was prepared in the +following manner: + +Oyster Omelet + +(For two): Take six eggs, one hundred California oysters, one small +onion, one tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of flour, salt and +pepper to taste. Beat the eggs to a froth and stir in the onion chopped +fine. Put the eggs into an omelet pan over a slow fire. Mix the flour +and butter to a soft paste with a little cream, and stir in with the +oysters, adding salt and pepper to taste. When the eggs begin to stiffen +pour the oysters over and turn the omelet together. Serve on hot plate +with a dash of paprika. + +This is the recipe of Ernest Arbogast, the chef for many years of the +old Palace. The slightly coppery taste of the California oysters gives a +piquancy to the flavor of the omelet that can be obtained in no other +way, and those who once ate of Arbogast's California oyster omelet, +invariably called for it again and again. + +We asked Jules Dauviller, the present chef of the Palace, for the recipe +of what he considered the best dish now prepared at the Palace and he +said he would give us two, as it was difficult to decide which was the +best and most distinctive. These are the recipes as he wrote them for +us: + +Planked Fillet Mignon + +Trim some select fillet mignon of beef, about four ounces of each, +nicely. Saute these in a frying pan with clarified butter on a hot fire. +Dress on a small round plank, about four and a half inches in diameter, +decorated with a border of mashed potatoes. Over the fillet mignon pour +stuffed pimentoes, covered with a sauce made of fresh mushrooms, sauteed +sec over which has been poured a little chateaubriand sauce. Serve +chateaubriand sauce in a bowl. + +The second is: + +Cold Fillet of Sand-Dabs, Palace + +Select six nice fresh sand-dabs. Raise the fillets from the bone skin +and pare nicely, and season with salt and paprika. Arrange them in an +earthenware dish. Cut in Julienne one stalk of celery, one green pepper, +one cucumber, two or three tomatoes, depending on their size. + +With the bone of the sand-dab, well cleaned, make a stock with one +bottle of Riesling, juice of one lemon and seasoning. Add chervil and +tarragon. Season to taste and cook the Julienne ingredients with some of +the stock. When the rest of the stock is boiling poach it in the fillets +of sand-dab, then remove from the fire and let get cold. Put the +garnishing around the fillets and put on ice to get in jelly. When ready +to serve decorate around the dish with any kind of salad you like, and +with beets, capers, olives and marinated mushrooms. This must be served +very cold and you may serve mayonnaise sauce on the side. + +We asked Dauviller what he considered his most delicate salad and he +gave us this recipe: + +Palace Grill Salad + +Select three hearts of celery and cut them Julienne. Cut some pineapple +and pimentoes into dice. Mix all well together in a bowl and add +mayonnaise sauce and a little whipped cream. Sprinkle some finely +chopped green peppers on top and serve very cold. + + + +At the Hotel St. Francis + +On the morning of April 18, 1906, one of us stood in the doorway of the +Hotel St. Francis, and watched approaching fires that came from three +directions. It was but a few hours later when all that part of the city +was a mass of seething flames, and in the ruins that lay in the wake of +devastation was this magnificent hostelry. + +Before business in the down-town district was reorganized, and while the +work of removing the tangled masses of debris was still in progress the +Merchants Association of San Francisco called its members together in +its annual banquet, and this banquet was held in the basement of the +Hotel St. Francis, the crumbling walls, and charred and blackened +timbers hidden under a mass of bunting and foliage and flowers. Here was +emphasized the spirit of Bohemian San Francisco, and it was one of the +most merry and enjoyable of feasts ever held in the city. + +It was made possible by the fact that the management of the Hotel St. +Francis was undaunted in the face of almost overwhelming disaster. The +same spirit has carried the hotel through stress of storm and it stands +now, almost as a monument to the energy of James Woods, its manager. +There has always been a soft spot in our hearts for the Hotel St. +Francis, and it is here that we have always felt a most pleasurable +emotion when seeking a place where good things are served. Whether it be +in the magnificent white and gold dining room, or the old tapestry room +that has been remodeled into a dining room, or in the electric grill +below stairs, it has always been the same. + +We asked Chef Victor Hertzler what he considered his best recipe and his +answer was characteristic of him. + +"I shall give you Sole Edward VII. If this is not satisfactory I can +give you a meat, or a salad or a soup recipe." We considered it +satisfactory, and here it is: + +Sole Edward VII + +Cut the fillets out of one sole and lay them flat on a buttered pan, and +season with salt and pepper. Make the following mixture and spread over +each fillet of sole: Take one-half pound of sweet butter, three ounces +of chopped salted almonds, one-fourth pound of chopped fresh mushrooms, +a little chopped parsley, the juice of a lemon, salt, pepper and a +little grated nutmeg. + +Add to the pan one-half glassful of white wine and put in the oven for +twenty minutes. + +When done serve in the pan by placing it on a platter, with a napkin +under it. + +Hertzler has another recipe which he prizes greatly and which he calls +"Celery Victor," and this is the recipe which he gave us: + +Celery Victor + +Take six stalks of celery well washed. Make a stock of one soup hen or +chicken bones, and five pounds of veal bones in the usual manner, with +carrots, onions, parsley, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Place the celery +in a vessel and strain the broth over it. Boil until soft and let cool +off in its own broth. + +When cold press the broth out of the celery with the hand, gently, and +place on a plate. Season with salt, fresh ground black pepper, chervil, +and one-quarter white wine vinegar with tarragon to three-quarters of +best olive oil. + + + +Amid Bright Lights + +Streets centering around Powell from Market up to Geary, may well be +termed the "Great White Way" of San Francisco, if New York will permit +the plagiarism. Here are congregated the most noted of the lively +restaurants of the present day San Francisco. Here the streets are +ablaze with light at night, and thronged with people, for here is the +restaurant and theatre district proper of the city. + +Among the restaurants deserving of special mention in this district are +the two Solaris. When Solari opened his restaurant at 354 Geary street, +where he continues to attract good livers by the excellence of his +cooking, he at once achieved fame which has never waned. It so happened +that there were two brothers, and as sometimes occurs brothers disagreed +with the result that Fred Solari withdrew and opened a restaurant at +Geary and Mason, just a short distance from the original place. + +Evidently the recipe for what is considered best in both of the Solari +restaurants came from common ownership, for each of these places gave in +response to a request for its best recipe, the following: + +Chicken Country Style + +Cut a chicken in eight pieces and drop them into some cold milk, +seasoning with salt. After soaking for a few minutes dry the chicken in +flour and lay in a frying pan in good butter. Place in the oven and let +them cook slowly, turning them occasionally until they are nice and +brown on all sides, when remove them. In the gravy put a tumblerful of +cream and a pinch of paprika, mix well and let it cook for ten minutes, +until it gets thick, then strain and pour over the chicken and serve. + +The following "don'ts" are added to the recipe: Don't use frozen +poultry. Don't substitute corn starch and milk for cream. + + + +Around Little Italy + +San Francisco holds no more interesting district than that lying around +the base of Telegraph Hill, and extending over toward North Beach, even +as far as Fisherman's Wharf. Here is the part of San Francisco that +first felt the restoration impulse, and this was the first part of San +Francisco rebuilt after the great fire, and in its rebuilding it +recovered all of its former characteristics, which is more than can be +said of any other part of the rebuilt city. + +Here, extending north from Jackson street to the Bay, are congregated +Italians, French, Portuguese and Mexicans, each in a distinct colony, +and each maintaining the life, manners and customs, and in some +instances the costumes, of the parent countries, as fully as if they +were in their native lands. Here are stores, markets, fish and vegetable +stalls, bakeries, paste factories, sausage factories, cheese factories, +wine presses, tortilla bakeries, hotels, pensions, and restaurants; each +distinctive and full of foreign life and animation, and each breathing +an atmosphere characteristic of the country from which the parent stock +came. + +Walk along the streets on the side of Telegraph Hill and one can well +imagine himself transported to a sunny hillside in Italy, for here he +hears no other language than that which came from the shores of the +Mediterranean. Here are Italians of all ages, sexes and conditions of +servitude, from the padrone to the bootblack who works for a pittance +until he obtains enough to start himself in business. If one investigate +closely it will be found that many of the people of this part of San +Francisco have been here for years and still understand no other +language than that of their native home. Why should they learn anything +else, they say. Everybody around them, and with whom they come in +contact speaks Italian. Here are the Corsicans, with their peculiar +ideas of the vendetta and the cheapness of life in general, and the +Sicilians and Genoese and Milanese. Here are some from the slopes of +Vesuvius or Aetna, with inborn knowledge of the grape and of wine +making. All have brought with them recipes and traditions, some dating +back for hundreds of years, or even thousands, to the days before the +Christian Era was born. It is just the same to them as it was across the +ocean, for they hear the same dialect and have the same customs. Do they +desire any special delicacy from their home district, they need but go +to the nearest Italian grocery store and get it, for these stores are +supplied direct from Genoa or Naples. This is the reason that many of +the older men and women still speak the soft dialect of their native +communities, and if you are so unfortunate as not to be able to +understand them, then it is you who are the loser. + +Do you wish to know something about conditions in Mexico? Would you like +to learn what the Mexicans themselves really think about affairs down in +that disturbed republic? Go along Broadway west of Grant avenue, and +then around the corner on Stockton, and you will see strange signs, and +perhaps you will not know that "Fonda" means restaurant, or that +"Tienda," means a store. But these are the signs you will see, and when +you go inside you will hear nothing but the gentle Spanish of the +Mexican, so toned down and so changed that some of the Castilians +profess to be unable to understand it. + +Here you will find all the articles of household use that are to be +found in the heart of Mexico, and that have been used for hundreds of +years despite the progress of civilization in other countries. You will +find all the strange foods and all the inconsequentials that go to make +the sum of Mexican happiness, and if you can get sufficiently close in +acquaintance you will find that not only will they talk freely to you, +but they will tell you things about Mexico that not even the heads of +the departments in Washington are aware of. + +Perhaps you would like to know something about the bourgeoise French, +those who have come from the peasant district of the mother country. Go +a little further up Broadway and you will begin to see the signs +changing from Spanish to French, and if you can understand them you will +know that here you will be given a dinner for twenty-five cents on week +days and for thirty-five cents on Sundays. The difference is brought +about by the difference between the price of cheap beef or mutton and +the dearer chicken. + +Up in the second story on a large building you may see a sign that tells +you meals will be served and rooms provided. One of these is the +rendezvous of Anarchists, who gather each evening and discuss the +affairs of the world, and how to regulate them. But they are harmless +Anarchists in San Francisco, for here they have no wrongs to redress, so +they sit and drink their forbidden absinthe, and dream their dreams of +fire and sword, while they talk in whispers of what they are going to do +to the crowned heads of Europe. It is their dream and we have no quarrel +with it or them. + +But for real interest one must get back to the slope of Telegraph Hill; +to the streets running up from Columbus avenue, until they are so steep +that only goats and babies can play on them with safety. At least we +suppose the babies are as active as the goats for the sides of the hill +are alive with them. + +Let us walk first along Grant avenue and do a little window shopping. +Just before you turn off Broadway into Grant avenue, after passing the +Fior d'Italia, the Buon Gusto, the Dante and Il Trovatore restaurants, +we come to a most interesting window where is displayed such a variety +of sausages as to make one wonder at the inventive genius who thought of +them all. As you wonder you peep timidly in the door and then walk in +from sheer amazement. You now find yourself surrounded with sausages, +from floor to ceiling, and from side wall to side wall on both ceiling +and floor, and such sausage it is! + +From strings so thin as to appear about the size of a lady's little +finger, to individual sausages as large as the thigh of a giant, they +hang in festoons, crawl over beams, lie along shelves, decorate +counters, peep from boxes on the floor, and invite you to taste them in +the slices that lay on the butcher's block. One can well imagine being +in a cave of flesh, yet if you look closely you will discover that +sausage is but a part of the strange edible things to be had here. + +Here are cheeses in wonderful variety. Cheeses from Italy that are made +from goats' milk, asses' milk, cows' milk and mares' milk, and also +cheeses from Spain, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, and all the other +countries where they make cheese, even including the United States. +These cheeses are of all sizes and all shapes, from the great, round, +flat cheese that we are accustomed to see in country grocery stores, to +the queer-shaped caciocavallo, which looks like an Indian club and is +eaten with fruit. + +There are dried vegetables and dried fruits such as were never dreamed +of in your limited experience, and even the grocer himself, the smiling +and cosmopolitan Verga, confesses that he does not know the names of all +of them. + +As you go out into the street you blink at the transformation, for you +have been thousands of miles away. You think that surely there can be +nothing more. Wait a bit. Turn the corner and walk along Grant avenue +toward the Hill. See, here is a window full of bread. Look closely at it +and you will notice that it is not like the bread you are accustomed to. +Count the different kinds. Fourteen of them in all, from the long sticks +of grissini to the great slid loaves weighing many pounds. Light bread, +heavy bread, good bread, soft bread, hard bread, delicate bread, each +having its especial use, and all satisfying to different appetites. + +Now go a little further to the corner, cross the street and enter the +store of the Costa Brothers. It is a big grocery store and while you +will not find the sausage and mystifying mass of food products in such +lavish display and profuseness, as in the previous place, if you look +around you will find this even more interesting, for it is on a +different plane. Here you find the delicacies and the niceties of +Italian living. At first glance it looks as if you were in any one of +the American grocery stores of down-town, but a closer examination +reveals the fact that these canned goods and these boxes and jars, hold +peculiar foods that you are unaccustomed to. Perhaps you will find a +clerk who can speak good English, but if you cannot either of the Costa +brothers will be glad to show you the courtesy of answering your +questions. + +Turn around and look at the shelves filled with bottles of wine. Now you +feel that you are on safe ground, for you know about wines and can talk +about Cresta Blanca, and Mont Rouge, and Asti Colony Tipo Chianti. But +wait a minute. Here are labels that you do not understand and wines that +you never even heard of. Here are wines whose taste is so delicious that +you wonder why it is the whole world is not talking about it and +drinking it. + +Here are wines from the slopes of Aetna, sparkling and sweet. Here are +wines from grapes grown on the warm slopes of Vesuvius, and brought to +early perfection by the underground fires. Here are wines from the +colder slopes of mountains; wines from Parma and from Sicily and Palermo +where the warm Italian sunshine has been the arch-chemist to bring +perfection to the fruit of the vine. Here are still wines and those that +sparkle. Here the famed Lacrima Christi, both spumanti and fresco, said +to be the finest wine made in all Italy, and the spumanti have the +unusual quality for an Italian wine of being dry. But to tell you of all +the interesting articles to be found in these Italian, and French and +Mexican stores, would be impossible, for some of them have not been +translated into English, and even the storekeepers would be at a loss +for words to explain them. + +This is all a part of the Bohemianism of San Francisco, and that is why +we are telling you about it in a book that is supposed to be devoted to +the Bohemian restaurants. The fact is that San Francisco's Bohemian +restaurants would be far less interesting were it not for the fact that +they can secure the delicacies imported by these foreign storekeepers to +supply the wants of their people. + +But do not think you have exhausted the wonders of Little Italy when you +have left the stores, for there is still more to see. If you were ever +in Palermo and went into the little side streets, you saw the strings of +macaroni, spaghetti and other pastes drying in the sun while children +and dogs played through and around it, giving you such a distaste for it +that you have not eaten any Italian paste since. + +But in San Francisco they do things differently. There are a number of +paste factories, all good and all clean. Take that of P. Fiorini, for +instance, at a point a short distance above Costa Brothers. You cannot +miss it for it has a picture of Fiorini himself as a sign, and on it he +tells you that if you eat his paste you will get to be as fat as he is. +Go inside and you will find that Fiorini can talk just enough English to +make himself understood, while his good wife, his sole assistant, can +neither speak nor understand any but her native Italian. But that does +not bother her in the least, for she can make signs, and you can +understand them even better than you understand the English of her +husband. + +Here you will see the making of raviolis by the hundred at a time. +Tagliarini, tortilini, macaroni, spaghetti, capellini, percatelli, +tagliatelli, and all the seventy and two other varieties. The number of +kinds of paste is most astonishing, and one wonders why there are so +many kinds and what is done with them. Fiorini will tell you that each +kind has its distinctive use. Some are for soups, some for sauces, and +all for special edibility. There are hundreds of recipes for cooking the +various pastes and each one is said to be a little better than the +others, if you can imagine such a thing. + +Turn another corner after leaving Fiorini's and look down into a +basement. You do not have to go to the country to see wine making. Here +is one of the primitive wine presses of Italy, and if you want to know +why some irreverent people call the red wine of the Italians "Chateau la +Feet," you have but to watch the process of its making in these +Telegraph Hill wine houses. The grapes are poured into a big tub and a +burly man takes off his shoes and socks and emulates the oxen of +Biblical times when it treaded out the grain. Of course he washes his +feet before he gets into the wine tub. But, at that, it is not a +pleasant thing to contemplate. Now you look around with wider and more +comprehensive eyes, and now you begin to understand something about +these strange foreign quarters in San Francisco. As you look around you +note another thing. Italian fecundity is apparent everywhere, and the +farther up the steep slope of the Hill you go the more children you see. +They are everywhere, and of all sizes and ages, in such reckless +profusion that you no longer wonder if the world is to be depopulated +through the coming of the fad of Eugenics. The Italian mother has but +two thoughts--her God and her children, and it is to care for her +children that she has brought from her native land the knowledge of +cookery, and of those things that help to put life and strength in their +bodies. + +An Italian girl said to us one day: + +"Mama knows nothing but cooking and going to church. She cooks from +daylight until dark, and stops cooking only when she is at church." + +It was evident that her domestic and religious duties dominated her +life, and she knew but two things--to please her God and to care for +her family, and without question if occasion demanded the pleasure of +her family took precedence. + +San Francisco's Latin quarter is appealing, enticing and hypnotizing. Go +there and you will learn why San Francisco is a bohemian city. You will +find out that so many things you have thought important are really not +at all worth while. Go there and you will find the root of Bohemian +restaurants. These people have studied gastronomy as a science, and they +have imparted their knowledge to San Francisco, with the result that the +Bohemian spirit enters into our very lives, and our minds are broadened, +and our views of life and our ideas have a wider scope. It is because of +this condition, born on the slopes of Telegraph Hill, that we are drawn +out of depressing influences, out of the spirit of self-consciousness, +and find a world of pleasure, innocent and educational, the inspiration +for which has been handed down through generations of Latina since the +days of early Roman empire, which inspiration is still a power for good +because it takes people out of themselves and places them where they can +look with understanding and speak the language of perception. Little +Italy's charm has long been recognized by artists and writers, and many +of them began their careers which led to fame and fortune in little +cheap rooms on Telegraph Hill. Here have lived many whose names are now +known to fame, and to name them would be almost like a directory of +world renowned artists and writers. Here is still the memory of Bret +Harte and Mark Twain. Here is where Keith had his early studio. +Cadenasso, Martinez, and many others know these slopes and love them. + +To all these and many more the Latin Quarter of San Francisco possessed +a charm they could find nowhere else, and if one desire to bring a +saddened look to the faces of many now living elsewhere it is but +necessary to talk of the good old days when Bohemia was on Telegraph +Hill in San Francisco. Here they had their domicile, and here they +foregathered in the little restaurants, whose claims to merit lay +chiefly in the fact that they were rarely visited by other than the +Italians of the quarter and these Bohemians who lived there. + +Here was the inspiration of many a good book and many a famous picture +whose inception came from thoughts that crystallized amid these +surroundings, and here many a needy Bohemian struggled through the lean +days with the help of these kind-hearted Latina. Here they, even as we, +were taught something of the art of cooking. + +Of course, if one desire to learn various methods of preparing food, it +is necessary to keep both eyes open and to ask many questions, seeking +the information that sometimes comes from unlooked for sources. Even at +that it is not always a good idea to take everything for granted or to +accept every suggestion, for you may meet with the Italian vegetable +dealer who is so eager to please his customers that he pretends a +knowledge he does not possess. We discovered him one day when he had on +display a vegetable that was strange to us. + +"How do you cook it?" was our question. + +"Fry it." + +Then his partner shouted his laughter and derision. + +"Oh, he's one fine cook. All the time he say 'fry it.' One day a lady +she come into da store an' she see da big bucket of ripe olives. Da lady +she from the East and she never see olives like dat before. 'How you +cook it?' say da lady. 'Fry it,' say my partner. Everything he say fry +it." + +In another vegetable stand we found an Italian girl, whose soft lisping +accent pronounced her a Genoese, and she, diffidently suggested "a fine +Italian dessert." + +A Fine Desert + +"You take macaroons and strawberries. Put a layer of macaroons in a dish +and then a layer of strawberries, cover these with sugar, and then +another layer of macaroons and strawberries and sugar until you have all +you want. Over these pour some rum and set fire to it. After it is +burned out you have a fine dessert." + +We bought the macaroons and strawberries on the way home and did not +even wait for dinner time to try it. We pronounce it good. + +It was made the right way and we advise you to try it, for it is simple +and leaves a most delicious memory. + + + +Where Fish Come In + +It was very early one morning. So early that one of us strenuously +pretended sleep while the other gave urgent reminder that this was the +day we were to go to Fishermen's Wharf. Daylight came early and it was +just four o'clock when we began preparations. A cup of hot coffee while +dressing served to get us wide-awake, and we were off to see the fish +come in. + +Fishermen's Wharf lies over at North Beach, at the end of Meiggs's +Wharf, where the Customs Officers have their station, and to reach it +one takes either the Powell and North Beach cars, or the Kearny and +North Beach cars, and at the end of either walks two blocks. When you +get that far anybody you see can tell you where to go. + +Fog mist was stealing along the Marin shore, and hiding Golden Gate when +we arrived, and the rays of the sun took some time to make a clear path +out to sea. Out of the bank of white came gliding the heavy power boats +of the Sicilian and Corsican fishermen, while from off shore were the +ghostly lateen rigged boats of those who had been fishing up the +Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, their yards aslant to catch the faint +morning breeze. As they slipped through the leaden water to their +mooring at the wharf we could see the decks and holds piled with fish +and crabs. + +Roosting on piles, and lining the water's edge on everything that served +to give foothold, were countless seagulls, all waiting for the breakfast +they knew was coming from the discarded fish, and fit companions were +the women with shawls over their heads irreverently called mud hens, and +old men in dilapidated clothing, who sat along the stringers of the +wharf, some with baskets, some with buckets and others with little paper +bags, in which to put the fish which they could get so cheaply it meant +a meal for them when otherwise they would have to go without. The +earlier boats were moored and on the decks fires were burning in +charcoal braziers, on which the fishermen cooked their breakfasts of +fish and coffee, with the heavy black loaves of bread for which they +seem to have special fancy. As the odor of the cooking fish came up from +the water the waiting gulls and men and women moved a little closer. + +Breakfast over the fishermen turned to the expectant crowd and began +taking notice of the pitiful offerings of coin. Tin buckets, newspapers, +bags, rags and even scooped hands were held down, each containing such +coin as the owner possessed, and in return came bountiful supply of +fish. A fine, fat crab for which your market man would charge you forty +cents was sold for ten. Beautiful, fresh sand-dabs, but an hour or two +out of the water, were five cents a pound, while sea bass, fresh cod, +mackerel, and similar fish went at the same price. Small fish, or white +bait, went by quantity, ten cents securing about half a gallon. Smelt, +herring, flounder, sole, all went at equally low prices, and as each +buyer secured his allotment he went hurrying off through the mist, as +silently as the floating gulls. When these were all supplied the rest of +the fish and crabs were taken up to the wharf and put on the counters of +the free market, where they were sold at prices most tempting. + +Shrimps, alive and active, crayfish, clams, squid and similar sea food +was in profusion and sold at prices on a parity with that of the fish. +As the day wore on the early buyers were replaced by those who knew of +the free fish market and came to get good supplies for their money. Here +were boarding-house keepers, unmistakable anywhere, Bohemians in hard +luck who remembered that they could get good food here at a minimum of +price, and came now while on the down turn of the wheel. As a human +interest study it was better than a study of fish. Fishermen's Wharf is +where the independent fishermen bring their catches to San Francisco, +but it is not where the city's great supply comes in. To see that we had +to go along the docks until we came to the Broadway wharf where +Paladini, the head of the fish trust, unloads his tugs of their tons and +tons of fish. It is not nearly so interesting to look at, but it gives a +good idea of what comes out of the sea every day to supply the needs of +San Francisco and the surrounding country. These tugs bring in the +catches of dozens of smaller boats manned by fishermen who are toiling +out beyond the heads, and up the two great rivers. From far out around +the Farallones, from up around the Potato Patch with its mournful fog +bell constantly tolling, from down the coast as far as Monterey Bay +where fish are in such abundance that it is said they have to give a +signal when they want to turn around, from up the rivers, come fish to +the man who has grown from the owner of a small sail boat to be the +power who controls prices of all the fish that go to the markets of the +city. + +By the time we finished with Paladini's fish we felt ready for breakfast +and took a car down to Davis and Pacific street where we found Bazzuro's +serving breakfast to dozens of market gardeners who had finished their +unloading, and there, while partaking of the fresh fish we had brought +from Fishermen's Wharf, we saw another phase of San Francisco's early +morning life. Here were gardeners who came in the darkness of early +morning to supply hucksters, small traders and a few thrifty people who +knew of the cheapness, and in Columbo market they drove their great +wagons and discharged their day's gathering of vegetables of all kinds. + +But a few steps away is the great fruit market of the early morning and +here tons of the finest fruits are distributed to the hundreds of wagons +that crowd the street to such an extent that it takes all the ingenuity +of experienced policemen to keep clearway for traffic. Threading their +way in and out between the wheels and the heels of horses, were men and +women, all looking for bargains in food. Amid a din almost deafening +business was transacted with such celerity that in three hours the +streets were cleared, fruits and vegetables sold and on their way to +distant stands, and the tired policemen leaning against friendly walls, +recuperating after the strenuous work of keeping order in chaos. + +It is when one goes to these places in the morning and sees the +cheapness of these foods that he can understand in a small way why it is +that so many Italian restaurants can give such good meals for so little +money. One wonders at a table d'hote dinner of six or seven courses for +twenty-five cents, or even for half a dollar, and one accustomed to +buying meats, fish, vegetables and fruits at the exorbitant prices +charged at most of the markets and fruit and vegetable stands now sees +why the thrifty foreigner can make and save money while the average +American can hardly keep more than two jumps ahead of the sheriff. + + + +Fish in Their Variety + +Probably the most frequent question asked us by those who come to San +Francisco is: "Where can we get the best fish?" With San Francisco's +wonderful natural advantages as a fish market one is sometimes surprised +that more attention is not given to preparing fish as a specialty. But +one restaurant in the city deals exclusively with sea food, and even +there one is astonished at an overlooked opportunity. + +Darbee & Immel have catered to San Francisco in oysters for many years +and after the fire they opened the Shell Fish Grotto, in O'Farrell +street, between Powell and Mason streets, and this is one of the very +few distinctive fish restaurants of the country. It is when one +considers the possibilities that a shock comes from the environing +decorations. White and gold pillars, with twining ivy reaching to the +old gold and rose mural and ceiling embellishments seem out of place in +a restaurant that is devoted entirely to catering to lovers of fish. +Nothing in the place indicates its character except the big lobster in +front of the building. Not even so much as a picture to bring a +sentiment of the ocean to the mind. + +We are going to take a liberty, and possibly Darbee & Immel may call it +an impertinence, and give them a bit of advice. It costs them nothing +consequently they can act on it or not and it will make no difference. +This is our suggestion: + +Change the interior of the place entirely by having around the walls a +series of large glass aquaria, with as many different kinds of fish +swimming about as it is possible to get; something on the order of the +interior of the aquarium in Battery Park in New York. Paint the ceiling +to represent the surface of the water as seen from below. Have seaweed +and kelp in place of ivy, and a fish net or two caught up in the corners +of the room, with here and there a starfish or a crab--not too many, for +profuseness in this sort of decoration is an abomination. Then you will +have a restaurant that will be talked about wherever people sit at meat. +But to get back to our talk about fish, and where to get it prepared and +cooked the best. We must say that the finest fish we have eaten in San +Francisco was not in the high-priced restaurants at all, but in a +little, dingy back room, down at Fishermen's Wharf, where there was sand +on the floor and all the sounds of the kitchen were audible in the +dining room. The place was patronized almost solely by the Italian +fishermen who not only know how to catch a fish but how it ought to be +cooked. One may always rest assured that when he gets a fish in one of +the Italian restaurants it is perfectly fresh, for there are two things +that an Italian demands in eating, and they are fresh fish and fresh +vegetables. + +At the Gianduja at Union and Stockton streets, one is certain to get +fish cooked well and that it is perfectly fresh. The variety is not so +good as at the Shell Fish Grotto, but otherwise it is just as good in +every respect. At the Grotto there is a wonderful variety but the +quantity is at the minimum because there, too, they will have no fish +that has been twenty-four hours out of the water. + +One wonders how a full course dinner entirely of fish can be prepared, +but if you will go to the Shell Fish Grotto you will find that it is +done, and done well at that. Here you can get a good dinner for one +dollar, or if you prefer it they have a Fish Dinner de Luxe for which +they charge two dollars. Both are good, the latter having additional +wines and delicacies. + +Down in Washington street, just off Columbus avenue, is the Vesuvius, an +Italian restaurant of low price, but excellent cooking. A specialty +there is fish which is always brought fresh from the nearby Clay street +market as ordered, consequently is perfect. When you give your order a +messenger is dispatched to the market and usually he brings the fish +alive and the chef prepares it in one of his many ways, for he is said +to have more secrets about the cooking of fish than one would think it +possible for one brain to contain. The trouble about this restaurant is +that the rest of the menu does not come up to the fish standard, but if +you desire a simple luncheon of fish there is no better place to get it. + +There are three things in which an Easterner will be disappointed in San +Francisco, and these are oysters. Pacific Coast oysters fail in size, +flavor and cooking, when compared with the luscious bivalve of the +Atlantic, so far as the ordinary forms of preparation is concerned. Even +fancy dishes, such as Oysters Kirkpatrick, would be better if made of +the eastern oyster, not what they call the eastern oyster here, for that +is a misnomer, but the oysters that grow in the Atlantic Ocean. + +Of the Pacific oysters the best is the Toke Point, that comes from +Oregon. They are similar in size to the Blue Point, but lack the flavor. +When, in a San Francisco restaurant, you are asked what sort of oyster +you will have, and you see the familiar names on the menu card, remember +that these are transplanted oysters, and have lost much of their flavor +in the transplanting, or else they are oysters that have been shipped +across the continent and have thereby lost their freshness. + +The California oyster proper, is very small, and it has a peculiar +coppery taste, which bon vivants declare adds to its piquancy. Instead +of ordering these by the dozen you order them by the hundred, it being +no difficult task to eat an hundred at a meal, especially when prepared +in a pepper roast. + +Everyone knows the staple ways of preparing oysters, and every chef +looks upon the oyster as the source of new flavors in many dishes, but +to our mind the best way we have found in San Francisco was at a little +restaurant down in Washington street before the fire. It was the Buon +Gusto. where they served fish and oysters better than anything else +because the owners were the chefs, and they were from the island of +Catalan, off the coast of Italy. Their specialty was called "Oysters a +la Catalan," and their recipe, which is given, can be prepared +excellently in a chafing dish: + +Oysters a la Catalan + +Take one tablespoonful of butter, two teaspoonfuls grated Edam or +Parmesan cheese, four tablespoonfuls catsup, one-half teaspoonful +Worcestershire sauce, two tablespoonfuls cream, meat of one good-sized +crab cut fine and two dozen oysters. Put the cheese and butter into a +double boiler and when melted smooth add the catsup and Worcestershire +sauce. Mix well and add the cream and then the crab meat. When creamy +and boiling hot drop in the oysters. As soon as the oysters are crinkled +serve on hot buttered toast on hot plates. + +In the days before the fire when you went to a restaurant and ordered +fish or oysters the waiter invariably put before you either a plate of +crab salad or a dish of shrimps, with which you were supposed to amuse +yourself while the meal was being prepared. Shrimps and crabs were then +so plentiful that their price was never considered. Under our new +conditions these always appear on the bill when ordered, and if they be +not ordered they do not appear for they now are made to increase the +income. + +To the uninitiated visitor the shrimps so served were always something +of a mystery, and after a few futile efforts to get at the meat they +generally gave it up as too much work for the little good derived. The +Old Timer, however, cracked the shrimp's neck, pinched its tail, and out +popped a delicious bonne bouche which added to the joy of the meal and +increased the appetite. But there are many other ways of serving +shrimps, and they are also much used to give flavor to certain fish +sauces. One of the most delicious ways of preparing shrimp is what is +known as "Shrimp Creole, a la Antoine," so named after the famous New +Orleans Antoine by a chef in San Francisco who had regard for the New +Orleans caterer. We doubt if it can be had anywhere in San Francisco now +unless you are well enough known to have it prepared according to the +recipe. This recipe, by the way, is a good one to use in a chafing dish +supper. This is the way it was prepared at the old Pup restaurant, one +of the noted restaurants before the fire and earthquake changed +conditions: + +Shrimp Creole + +Take three pints of unshelled shrimps and shell them, one-half pint of +cream, two tablespoonfuls of butter, two tablespoonfuls of flour, two +tablespoonfuls of catsup, one wine glass of sherry, paprika, chili +powder and parsley. Brown the flour in the butter and add the milk until +it is thickened. Color with the catsup and season with paprika and chili +powder. Stir in the sherry and make a pink cream which is to be mixed +through the shrimps and not cooked. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and +serve with squares of toast or crackers. + + + +Lobsters and Lobsters + +When is a lobster not a lobster? When it is a crayfish. This question +and answer might well go into the primer of information for those who +come to San Francisco from the East, for what is called a lobster in San +Francisco is not a lobster at all but a crayfish. The true lobster is +not found in the Pacific along the California coast, and so far efforts +at transplanting have not been successful. The Pacific crayfish, +however, serves every purpose, and while many contend that its meat is +not so delicate in flavor as that of its eastern cousin, the Californian +will as strenuously insist that it is better, but, of course, something +must always be allowed for the patriotism of the Californian. + +Lobster, served cold with mayonnaise, or broiled live lobster are most +frequently called for, and while they are both excellent, we find so +many other ways of preparing this crustacean that we rarely take the +common variety of lobster dishes into consideration. Probably nowhere in +San Francisco could one get lobster better served than in the Old +Delmonico restaurant of the days before the fire. A book could be +written about this restaurant and then all would not be told for all its +secrets can never be known. + +In New York City they have what they are pleased to call "Lobster +Palaces," but there is not a restaurant in that great metropolis that +could approach the Delmonico of San Francisco in its splendid service +and its cuisine arrangements; neither could they approach the romance +that always surrounded the O'Farrell street restaurant. It was here that +most magnificent dinners were arranged; it was here that extraordinary +dishes were concocted by chefs of world-wide fame; it was here that +Lobster a la Newberg reached its highest perfection, and this is the +recipe that was followed when it was prepared in the Delmonico: + +Lobster a la Newberg + +One pound of lobster meat, one teaspoonful of butter, one-half pint of +cream, yolks of four eggs, one wine glass of sherry, lobster fat. Three +hours before cooking pour the sherry over the lobster meat and let it +stand until ready to cook. Heat the butter and stir in with the lobster +and wine, then place this in a stewpan, or chafing dish, and cook for +eight minutes. Have the yolks of eggs well beaten and add to them the +cream and lobster fat, stir well and then stir in a teaspoonful of +flour. Put this in a double boiler and let cook until thick, stirring +constantly. When this is cooked pour it over the lobster and let all +cook together for three minutes. Serve in a chafing dish with thin +slices of dry toast. + + + +King of Shell Fish + +One has to come to San Francisco to partake of the king of shell fish-- +the mammoth Pacific crab. I say "come to San Francisco" advisedly, for +while the crab is found all along the coast it is prepared nowhere so +deliciously as in San Francisco. Of course our friends in Portland will +take exception to this, but the fact remains that nowhere except in San +Francisco have so many restaurants become famous because of the way they +prepare the crab. The Pacific crab is peculiar, and while it has not the +gigantic claws such as are to be seen on those in the Parisian and +London markets, its meat is much more delicate in flavor, and the dishes +of crab prepared by artists of the gastronomic profession in San +Francisco are more savory than those found elsewhere. + +In the pre-fire days there were many places which paid especial +attention to the cooking of the crab, among them being the Cobweb +Palace, previously mentioned, and Gobey's. Gobey ran one of those places +which was not in good repute, consequently when ladies went there they +were usually veiled and slipped in through an alley, but the enticement +of Gobey's crab stew was too much for conventionality and his little +private rooms were always full. + +Gobey's passed with the fire, and the little restaurant bearing his +name, and in charge of his widow, in Union Square avenue, has not +attained the fame of the old place. It is possible that she knows the +secret of preparing crab as it was prepared in the Gobey's of before the +fire, but his prestige did not descend to her. + +Almost all of the Italian restaurants will give you crab in many forms, +and all of them are good; many restaurants use crab meat for flavoring +other, dishes, but of all the recipes for cooking crab we have found +none that we consider so good as that of Gobey's. It is as follows: + +Gobey's Crab Stew + +Take the meat of one large crab, scraping out all of the fat from the +shell. One good-sized onion, one tomato, one sweet pepper, one +teaspoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of flour, half a glass of sherry, +a pinch of rosemary, one clove of garlic, paprika, salt and minionette +pepper. Soak the crab meat in the sherry two hours before cooking. Chop +fine the onion, sweet pepper and tomato with the rosemary. Mash the +clove of garlic, rubbing thoroughly in a mortar and on this put the +butter and flour, mixing well together, and gradually adding the salt +and minionette pepper, and stir in two tablespoonfuls of cream. Heat +this in a stewpan and when simmering add the sherry and crab meat and +let all cook together with a slow fire for eight minutes. Serve in a +chafing dish with toasted crackers or thin slices of toasted bread. A +dash of Worcestershire sauce just before it is taken up adds to the +flavor. + + + +Lobster in Miniature + +Crawfish, or ecravisse, has never been very popular in San Francisco, +probably because there are so many other delicate crustaceans that are +more easily handled, yet the crawfish grows to perfection in Pacific +waters, and importation's of them from Portland, Oregon, are becoming +quite an industry. So far it has been used mostly for garnishment of +other dishes, and it is only recently that the Hof Brau has been making +a specialty of them. All of the better class restaurants, however, will +serve them if you order them. + +The full flavor of the crawfish is best obtained in a bisque, and the +best recipe for this is by the famous chef Francatelli, who boasts +having been the head of the cuisine of Queen Victoria. His recipe is +long, and its preparation requires much patience, but the result is such +a gastronomic marvel that one never regrets the time spent in its +accomplishment. This is the recipe for eight people, and it is well +worth trying if you are giving a dinner of importance: + +Bisque of Crawfish + +Take thirty crawfish, from which remove the gut containing the gall in +the following manner: Take firm hold of the crawfish with the left hand +so as to avoid being pinched by its claws; with the thumb and forefinger +of the right hand pinch the extreme end of the central fin of the tail, +and, with a sudden jerk, the gut will be withdrawn. + +Mince or cut into small dice a carrot, an onion, one head of celery and +a few parsley roots, and to these add a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, a +little minionette pepper and two ounces of butter. Put these ingredients +into a stewpan and fry them ten minutes, then throw in the crawfish and +pour on them half a bottle of French white wine. Allow this to boil and +then add a quart of strong consomme and let all continue boiling for +half an hour. Pick out the crawfish and strain the broth through a +napkin by pressure into a basin in order to extract all the essence from +the vegetables. + +Pick the shells off twenty-five of the crawfish tails, trim them neatly +and set them aside until wanted. Reserve some of the spawn, also half of +the body shells with which to make the crawfish butter to finish the +soup. This butter is made as follows: Place the shells on a baking sheet +in the oven to dry; let the shells cool and then pound them in a mortar +with a little lobster coral and four ounces of fresh butter, thoroughly +bruising the whole together so as to make a fine paste. Put this in a +stewpan and set it over a slow fire to simmer for about five minutes, +then rub it through a sieve with considerable pressure into a basin +containing ice water. As soon as the colored crawfish butter is become +firmly set, through the coldness of the water, take it out and put it +into a small basin and set in the refrigerator until wanted. + +Reverting to the original recipe: Take the remainder of the crawfish and +add thereto three anchovies, washed for the purpose, and also the crusts +of French rolls, fried to a light brown color in butter. Pound all these +thoroughly together and then put them into a stewpan with the broth that +has been reserved in a basin, and having warmed the bisque thus prepared +rub it through a sieve into a fine puree. Put this puree into a soup pot +and finish by incorporating therewith the crawfish butter and season +with a little cayenne pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Pour the +bisque quite hot into the tureen in which have been placed the crawfish +tails, and send to the table. + +This is not so difficult as it appears when you are reading it and if +you wish to have something extra fine take the necessary time and +patience and prepare it. + + + +Clams and Abalone's + +We cannot dispose of the shell fish of San Francisco without a word or +two about clams, for certainly there is no place where they are in +greater variety and better flavor. In fact the clam is the only bivalve +of this part of the coast that has a distinctive and good flavor. +Several varieties are to be found in the markets, the best and rarest +being the little rock clams that come from around Drake's Bay, just +above the entrance to Golden Gate. These are most delicious in flavor +and should never be eaten otherwise than raw. The sand, or hard shell, +or as they are sometimes called little necks, are next in choiceness, +and then come the Pismo beach clams, noted for their flavor and enormous +size. The mud clam is good for chowder but not so good as either of the +other varieties mentioned. + +The Bohemian way to have your clams is to go to the shore of Bolinas Bay +or some other equally retired spot, and have a clam bake, or else take a +pot along with the other ingredients and have a good clam chowder. This, +however, may be prepared at any time and is always a good meal. + +Clam fritters when prepared according to the recipe given herein, is one +of the best methods of preparing the clam, and it has the peculiarity of +being so tasty that one feels that there is never enough cooked. + +Of all the ways of cooking clams chowder takes precedence as a rule, and +it is good when made properly. By that we do not mean the thin, watery +stuff that is served in most of the restaurants and called clam chowder +just because it happens to be made every Friday. That is fairly good as +a clam soup but it is no more chowder than a Mexican soup approaches a +crawfish bisque. There is but one right way to make clam chowder, and +that is either to make it yourself or closely superintend the making, +and this is the way to make it: + +Clam Chowder + +Take one quart of shelled sand clams, two large potatoes, two large +onions, one clove of garlic, one sweet pepper, one thick slice of salt +pork, one-half pound small oyster crackers, one-half glass sherry, one +tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce, one tomato, salt, and pepper. In a +large stewpan place the salt pork cut into small dice, and let this fry +slightly over a slow fire until the bottom of the stewpan is well +greased. Take this off the fire and put in a layer of potatoes sliced +thin, on top of the salt pork, then a layer of onions sliced thin, and a +layer of clams. Put on this salt and pepper and sprinkle with a little +flour and then a layer of crackers. Chop the sweet pepper and tomato +fine and mix with them the bruised and mashed garlic. On top of each +succession of layers put a little of the mixture. Continue making these +layers until all the ingredients are placed in the stewpan, and then +pour on the top sufficient water to just show. Cover tightly and let +cook gently for half an hour. Pour on the Worcestershire sauce and +sherry just before serving. Do not stir this while cooking, and in order +to prevent its burning it should be cooked over an asbestos cover. + +When done this should be thick enough to be eaten with a fork. + +Among the good Bohemians who lived in San Francisco as a child when it +was in the post-pioneer days, and who has enjoyed the good things of all +the famous restaurants is Mrs. Emma Sterett, who has given us the +following recipe for clam fritters which we consider the most delicious +of all we have ever eaten, and when you try them you will agree with us: + +Clam Fritters + +Take two dozen clams, washed thoroughly and drained. Put in chopping +bowl and chop, not too fine. Add to these one clove of garlic mashed, +one medium-sized onion chopped fine, add bread crumbs sufficient to +stiffen the mass, chopped parsley, celery and herbs to taste. Beat two +eggs separately and add to the clams. If too stiff to drop from a spoon +add the strained liquor of clams. Drop tablespoonfuls of this mixture +into hot fat, turn and cook for sufficient time to cook through, then +drain on brown paper and serve. + +Abalone's are a univalve that has been much in vogue among the Chinese +but has seldom found place on the tables of restaurants owing to the +difficulty in preparing them, as they are tough and insipid under +ordinary circumstances. When made tender either by the Chinese method of +pounding, or by steeping in vinegar, they serve the purpose of clams but +have not the fine flavor. The Hof Brau restaurant is now making a +specialty of abalone's, but it takes sentiment to say that one really +finds anything extra good in them. + +Another shell fish much in vogue among the Italian restaurants is +mussels, which are found to perfection along the coast. These are +usually served Bordelaise, and make quite a pleasant change when one is +surfeited with other shell fish, but the best recipe is: + +Mussels Mariniere + +Thoroughly clean the mussels and then put them in a deep pan and pour +over them half a glass of white wine. Chop an onion, a clove of garlic +and some parsley fine and put in the pan, together with a tablespoonful +of butter. Let these boil very quick for twelve minutes, keeping the pan +tightly covered. Take off half shells and place the mussels in a chafing +dish and pour over them Bechamel sauce and then add sufficient milk +gravy to cover. Serve hot from chafing dish. + + + +Where Fish Abound + +According to David Starr Jordan, acknowledged world authority on fish, +there is greater variety of fish in Monterey Bay than anywhere else in +the world. Monterey Bay is one of San Francisco's sources of supply +consequently we have a greater variety of fish in our markets than are +to be found anywhere else. In the markets are fish from all parts of the +Pacific Ocean, from the Tropics to far north in the Arctics, while +denizens of the waters all the way, between add to the variety. + +The essential element of goodness in fish is freshness, and it is always +fresh in San Francisco markets, and also in the restaurants. Of all +varieties two rank first in the estimation of gourmets, but, of course, +that is purely a matter of individual taste. According to the +above-mentioned authority, "the finest fish that swims is the sand-dab." +Some gourmets, however, will take issue with him on this and say the +pompano is better. Others will prefer the mountain trout. Be that as it +may they all are good, with many others following close in choice. + +Fine striped bass from the ocean, or black bass from the fresh water +takes high place in preference. Then there is sole, both in the fillet +and Rex, as prepared at Jule's under the Monadnock building. Tom cod, +rock cod, fresh mackerel and fresh cod, white bait and boned smelt all +are excellent fish, but were we to attempt to tell of all the fish to be +found here we would have to reproduce a piscatorial directory. There are +two good methods of acquiring knowledge of the fish of San Francisco. Go +to the wharves and see them come and and go to the wholesale markets +down in Clay street, below Montgomery. You will then begin to realize +that we certainly do have a variety of good fish. + +Now for a little Bohemianism of a different sort: Recently there came to +San Francisco, with his wife, an actor whose name used to be almost a +household word among theater-goers, and when we say "the villain still +pursued her," all you old timers will know whom we mean. When he was +here in the years long gone by it was his custom to go to the old +California market, select what he desired to eat, then take it to the +restaurant and have it cooked, and the old atmosphere came back to him +on his recent arrival and he revived the old custom. + +"Meet us at the California market," was the telephone message that came +to us, and we were there, for we knew that something good was in store +for us. + +First we went through the market from end to end and all the side +aisles, "spying out the land." It is not possible to enumerate what we +saw. If you want to know go there and see for yourselves. Having seen we +were told to go and select what we wished to have for our dinner, and +then the selection began and there was a feast of buying fish, meats, +vegetables and delicacies of all sorts, even to French pastry. + +Our purchases were ordered sent to the restaurant in the corner of the +market where the chef had already been duly "seen," and then came each +particular idea as to how the food was to be cooked. We had sand-dabs +munier, chateaubriand with mushrooms, Italian squash, fried in oil with +a flavor of garlic, French pastry, and coffee, together with some good +California Tipo Chianti, all flavored with such a stream of reminiscence +that we forgot that such things as clocks existed. + +It was the first time our theatrical friends had tasted sand-dabs, for +this fish has come to San Francisco markets only in recent years, and +they declared that it was the "only" fish fit to be eaten. It is +possible that they were prejudiced by the sentiment of the surroundings +and consequently not exactly in position to be good judges. + +All Italian restaurants serve fish well. At the New Buon Gusto you will +find a most excellent cippino with polenti, and if you have not +experienced this we advise you to try it as soon as possible. At the +Gianduja you will find sand-dabs au gratin to be very fine. At Jack's, +striped bass cooked in wine is what we think the best of the fish to be +found in the market, or at the restaurants, cooked that way. Jule's is +famous for his Rex sole. At all of the French and Italian restaurants +small fry is cooked to perfection. If you wish fish in any way or of any +kind you will make no mistake in asking for it at any of the French or +Italian restaurants, or at the Shell Fish Grotto, and if you are in +doubt regarding what to order just take the proprietor into your +confidence, tell him you are a stranger in the city and ask him to serve +you fish the best way he prepares it. You will not be disappointed. + + + +Some Food Variants + +Variants of food preparation sometimes typify nationalities better even +than variants of language or clothing. Take the lowly corn meal, for +instance. We find that Italian polenti, Spanish tamale, Philadelphia +scrapple and Southern Darkey crackling corn bread are but variants of +the preparation of corn meal in delectable foods. It is a long step from +plain corn meal mush to scrapple, which we consider the highest and best +form of preparing this sort of dish, but all the intermediate steps come +from a desire to please the taste with a change from simple corn meal. +Crackling corn bread is the first step, and here we find that the +darkies of the South found good use for the remnants of the pork after +lard was tried out at hog-killing time, by mixing the cracklings with +their corn meal and making a pone which they cooked before an open fire +on a hoe blade, the first of this being called "cracklin' hoe cake." + +Good scrapple is one of the finest breakfast dishes that we know during +the winter, and when prepared after the recipe given here it precedes +all other forms of serving corn meal. To mix it properly one must know +the proper values of herbs and condiments, and this recipe is the result +of much discriminating study. Modesty prevents us giving it more than +the name of "scrapple." It is prepared in the following manner, +differing from that made in Philadelphia: + +Scrapple + +Take a young pig's head and boil it until the flesh drops from the +bones, in water to which has been added two good-sized onions, +quartered, five bruised cloves of garlic, one bay leaf, sweet marjoram, +thyme, rosemary, a little sage, salt, and pepper. Separate the meat from +the bones and chop fine. Strain off the liquor and boil with corn meal, +adding the chopped meat. Put in the corn meal gradually, until it makes +a stiff mush, then cook for half an hour with the meat. Put in shallow +pans and let cool. To serve slice about half an inch thick and fry in +olive oil or butter to a light brown. + +As originally prepared the tamale was made for conveyance, hence the +wrappings of corn husk. This is a Spanish dish, having been brought to +this country by the early Spanish explorers, and adopted by the Indian +tribes with whom they came in contact. In the genuine tamale the +interior is the sauce and meat that goes with the corn meal which is +alternately laid with the husks, and when made the ends are tied with +fine husk. For meat, chicken, pork, and veal are considered the best. +There is also a sweet tamale, made with raisins or preserves. + +The following recipe for tamales was given us by Luna: + +Tamales + +Boil one chicken until the meat comes from the bones. Chop the neat fine +and moisten it with the liquor in which it was boiled. Boil six large +chili peppers in a little water until cooked so they can be strained +through a fine strainer, and add to this the chopped chicken, with salt +to taste and a little chopped parsley. Take corn meal and work into it a +lump of butter the size of an egg, adding boiling water and working +constantly until it makes a paste the consistency of biscuit dough. Have +ready a pile of the soft inner husks of green corn and on each husk +spread a lump of dough, the size of a walnut, into a flat cake covering +the husk. In the center of the dough put a teaspoonful of the chopped +meat with minced olive. On a large husk put several tablespoonfuls of +chopped meat with olives. Roll this together and lay on them other husks +until the tamale is of the size desired. Tie the ends together with +strips of fine husk and put in boiling water for twenty minutes. Either +veal or pork may be used instead of chicken. + +Polenti, properly prepared, is a dish that requires much labor, and +scarcely repays for the time and exertion spent in its making. It +differs from scrapple in that the ingredients are mixed in a sauce and +poured over the mush instead of being mixed in the meal. In the New Buon +Gusto restaurant, in Broadway, they cook polenti to perfection, and when +it is served with cippino it leaves nothing to be desired. This is the +recipe: + +Polenti + +For the gravy: Make a little broth with veal bone, a small piece of +beef, a pig's foot, neck, feet and gizzard of chicken. In a separate +kettle cook in hot oil one sliced onion, one clove of garlic, a little +parsley, one bell pepper, one tomato, a small piece of celery, and a +carrot. Cook until soft and then add this to the broth with a few dried +mushrooms. Cook slowly for thirty minutes and then strain. + +For the mush: Boil corn meal until it is thoroughly done and then cool +it until it can be cut in slices for frying. Mix butter and olive oil +and heat in a frying pan and into this put the slices of corn meal, +frying to a light brown. Place the fried corn meal in a platter in +layers, sprinkling each with grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. +Take parsley and one clove of garlic chopped fine and a can of French +mushrooms cut in quarters, and fry in butter, then add enough gravy to +pour over the fried corn meal. Place this in an oven for a few minutes +then serve. + + + +About Dining + +Table d'hote is the feature of San Francisco's restaurant life. It is +the ideal method for those who wish a good dinner and who have not the +inclination, or the knowledge, to order a special dinner. It is also the +least expensive way of getting a good dinner. It also saves an +exhibition of ignorance regarding the dishes, for if you are in doubt +all you have to do is to leave it to the waiter, and he will bring the +best there is on the day's menu and will serve it properly. + +It is really something to elicit wonder when one considers the +possibilities of a table d'hote dinner in some of the less expensive +restaurants. Take, for instance, the Buon Gusto, in Broadway. This +restaurant boasts a good chef, and the food is the finest the market +affords. Here is served a six course dinner for fifty cents, and the +menu card is typical of this class of restaurants. What is provided is +shown by the following taken from the bill of fare as it was served us: + +Hor d'ouvres--four kinds; five kinds of salad; two kinds of soup; seven +kinds of fish; four kinds of paste; broiled spring chicken; green salad +with French dressing; ice cream or rum omelet; mixed fruits; demi tasse. + +With this is served a pint of good table wine. + +As one goes up with the scale of prices in the restaurants that charge +$1, $1.25, $1.50, $2, $2.50, and $3 for their dinners it will be found +that the difference lies chiefly in the variety from which to choose and +from the surroundings and service. + +Take, for example, the following typical menu for a dollar dinner, +served at the Fior d'Italia, and compare it with the fifty-cent dinner +just mentioned: + +Salami and anchovies; salad; chicken broth with Italian paste; fillet of +English sole, sauce tartare; spaghetti or ravioli; escallop of veal, +caper sauce; French peas with butter; roast chicken with chiffon salad; +ice cream or fried cream; assorted fruits and cakes; demi tasse. Wine +with this dinner is extra. + +Now going a step up in the scale we come to the $1.50 dinner as follows: + +Anchovies, salami (note that it is the same as above); combination +salad; tortellini di Bologna soup; striped bass a la Livornaise; ravioli +a la Genoese and spaghetti with mushrooms; chicken saute, Italian style, +with green peas; squab with lettuce; zabaione; fruit; cheese; coffee. +Wine is extra. + +Let us now look at the menu of the $3.50 dinner, without wine: + +Pate 'de foie gras--truffles on toast; salad; olives; Alice Fallstaff; +Italian ham "Prosciutto;" soup--semino Italiani with Brodo de Cappone; +pompano a la papillote; tortellini with fungi a funghetto; fritto misto; +spring chicken saute; Carcioffi all'Inferno; Capretto al Forno con +Insallata; omelet Celestine; fruit; cheese, and black coffee. + +This dinner must be ordered three days in advance. + +These menus will give a good idea of the different classes of dinners +that can be obtained. Between are dinners to suit all tastes and +pocketbooks. If you wish to go beyond these there is no limit except the +amount of money you have. If but the food value be taken into +consideration then one will be as well pleased with the fifty-cent +dinner as he will be at the higher priced meals, but if light and music +and brilliant surroundings are desired, then one must pay for them as +well as for the meal he eats. + +All of the restaurants mentioned serve good table d'hote dinners, giving +an astonishing variety of foods for the money, and it is all cooked and +served in a manner that leaves nothing to be desired. As before +mentioned if you wish a table d'hote dinner composed entirely of sea +food you can get it at the Shell Fish Grotto for one dollar. + +A good rule to follow when dining at any of the restaurants is: When in +doubt order a table d'hote dinner. You will always get a good meal, for +the least out lay of money and least expenditure of thought. Often one +desires something a little different, and this is easy, too, and you +can conserve your brain energy and get the most for the least money by +seeing the proprietor or manager of the restaurant and telling him that +you wish to give a little dinner. Tell him how many will be in the party +and give him the amount you wish to spend. It will be surprising, +sometimes, to see how much more you can get for a slight increase in the +price. Of course your wines and cocktails will be extra and these must +be reckoned in the cost. + +From this we come to the ordered dinner, and here is where your own +knowledge and special desires come in. Here, too, comes a marked +increase in the cost. You now have the widest range of possibilities +both as to viands and as to price. It is not at all difficult to have a +dinner, without wine, that costs twenty-five dollars a plate, and when +you come down to the more normal dinners, unless you confine yourself to +one or two dishes you will find that you far exceed in price the table +d'hote dinners of equal gastronomic value. + +While this is true it is well to be able to order your dinner for it +frequently occurs that one does not care to go through the heavy course +dinner provided table d'hote. Sometimes one wants a simple dish, or +perhaps two, and it is well to know something about them and how to +order them. We have made it a rule whenever we have seen something new +on the bill of fare to order it, on the theory that we are willing to +try anything once, and in this way we have greatly enlarged our +knowledge of good things. + +It is also well to remember national characteristics and understand that +certain dishes are at their best at certain restaurants. For instance, +you will be served with an excellent paste at a French restaurant, but +if you want it at its best you will get it at an Italian restaurant. On +the other hand if you desire a delicate entree you will get the best at +a French restaurant. For instance, one would not ask for sauer braten +anywhere except at a German restaurant. It will readily be seen that the +Elegant Art of Dining in San Francisco means much more than the sitting +at table and partaking of what is put before you. Dining is an art, and +its pleasure is greatly enhanced by a knowledge of foods, cooking, +serving, national characteristics, and combinations of both foods and +wines. How few people are there, for instance, who know that one should +never drink any hard liquor, like whisky, brandy, or gin, with oysters. +Many a fit of acute stomach trouble has been attributed to some food +that was either bad or badly prepared when the cause of the trouble was +the fact that a cocktail had been taken just prior to eating oysters. + +Some of the possibilities of dining in San Francisco may be understood +when we tell you of a progressive dinner. We had entertained one of the +Exposition Commissioners from a sister State and he was so well pleased +with what he had learned in a gastronomic way that he said to us: + +"The Governor of my State is coming and I should like to give him a +dinner that will open his eyes to San Francisco's possibilities. Would +it be asking too much of you to have you help me do it?" + +"We shall be glad to. What do you want us to do?" + +"Take charge of the whole business, do as you please and go as far as +you like." + +"That is a wide order, General. What is the limit of price, and how many +will be in the party?" + +"Just six. That will include the Governor and his wife, you two and +myself and wife. Let it be something unusual and do not let the cost +interfere. What I want is something unusual." + +It has been told us that when the Governor got back home he tried to +tell some of his friends about that dinner, but they told him he had +acquired the California habit of talking wide. This is the way we +carried out the dinner, everything being arranged in advance: At 6:30 we +called at the rooms of the Governor in the Palace Hotel and had served +there dry Martini cocktails with Russian caviar on toasted rye bread. + +An automobile was in waiting, and at seven o'clock we were set down at +Felix's, in Montgomery street, where a table was ready for us and on it +were served salami of various kinds, artichokes in oil and ripe olives. +Then came a service of soup, for which this restaurant is famous, +followed by a combination salad, with which was served a bottle of +Pontet Canet. + +The automobile carried us then over to Broadway and at the Fior d'Italia +our table was waiting and here we were served with sand-dabs au gratin, +and a small glass of sauterne. + +All the haste we made was on the streets, and when we finished our +course at the Fior d'Italia we whirled away over toward North Beach to +the Gianduja, where had been prepared especially for us tagliarini with +chicken livers and mushrooms, and because of its success we had a bottle +of Lacrima Christi Spumanti, the enjoyment of which delayed us. + +Again in the automobile to Coppa's where Chicken Portola was served, +with green peas. Accompanying this was a glass of Krug, and this was +followed by a glass of zabaione for dessert. + +Back again to the heart of the city and we stopped at Raggi's, in +Montgomery street near Commercial where we had a glass of brandy in +which was a chinotti (a peculiar Italian preserved fruit which is said +to be a cross between a citron and an orange). + +Then around the corner to Gouailhardou & Rondel's, the Market Cafe, +where from a plain pine table, and on sanded floor, we had our coffee +royal. As a fitting climax for this evening we directed the chauffeur to +drive to the Cliff House, where, over a bottle of Krug, we talked it all +over as we watched the dancing and listened to the singing of the +cabaret performers. + +This dinner, including everything from the automobile to the tips cost +but fifteen dollars for each one in the party. + + + +Something About Cooking + +Cooking is sometimes a pleasure, sometimes a duty, sometimes a burden +and sometimes a martyrdom, all according to the point of view. The +extremes are rarities, and sometimes duty and burden are synonymous. In +ordinary understanding we have American cooking and Foreign cooking, and +to one accustomed to plain American cooking, all variants, and all +additions of spices, herbs, or unusual condiments is classed under the +head of Foreign. In the average American family cooking is a duty +usually considered as one of the necessary evils of existence, and food +is prepared as it is usually eaten--hastily--something to fill the +stomach. + +The excuse most frequently heard in San Francisco for the restaurant +habit, and for living in cooped-up apartments, is that the wife wants to +get away from the burden of the kitchen and drudgery of housework. And +like many other effects this eventually becomes a cause, for both +husband and wife become accustomed to better cooking than they could get +at home and there is a continuance of the custom, for both get a +distaste for plainly cooked food, and the wife does not know how to cook +any other way. + +Yet when all is considered the difference between plain American cooking +and what is termed Foreign cooking, is but the proper use of condiments +and seasoning, combined with proper variety of the food supply from the +markets. Herein lies the secret of a good table-proper combination of +ingredients and proper variation and selection of the provisions +together with proper preparation and cooking of the food. + +We have met with many well educated and well raised men and women whose +gastronomic knowledge was so limited as to be appalling. All they knew +of meats was confined to ordinary poultry, i. e., chickens and turkeys, +and to beef, veal, pork, and mutton. Of these there were but three modes +of cooking--frying, stewing and baking, sometimes boiling. Their chops +were always fried as they knew nothing of the delicate flavor imparted +by broiling. In fact their knowledge was confined to the least healthful +and least nutritious modes of preparation and cooking. Not only is this +true of the average American family, but their lack of knowledge of the +fundamentals of cooking and food values brings about a waste largely +responsible for what is called the "high cost of living." It is a trite, +but nevertheless true saying that a French family could live well on +what an American family wastes. Waste in preparation is but the mildest +form of waste. Waste consequent upon lack of knowledge of food values is +the waste that is doubly expensive for it not only wastes food but it +also wastes the system whose energy is exhausted in trying to assimilate +improper alimentation. + +It is a well recognized medical fact that much of the illness of +Americans arises from two causes, improper food and improper eating +methods. In Europe this fact was recognized and generally known so long +ago that the study of food values and preparation for proper +assimilation is one of the essential parts of every woman's education, +and to such a degree has this become raised to a science that schools +and even colleges in cooking are to be found in many parts of England, +France and Germany. Francatelli, the great chef who was at the head of +Queen Victoria's kitchen, boasts proudly of his diploma from the +Parisian College of Cooking. + +The United States is now beginning to wake up to the fact that the +preparation of food is something more than a necessary evil, and from +the old cooking classes of our common schools has developed the classes +in Domestic Science, that which was formerly considered drudgery now +being elevated to an art and dignified as a science. In Europe this +stage was reached many generations ago, and there it is now an art which +has elevated the primitive process of feeding to the elegant art of +dining. In San Francisco probably more than in any other city in the +United States, not even excepting New Orleans, this art has flourished +for many years with the result that the average San Franciscan is +disappointed at the food served in other cities of his country, and +always longs for his favorite restaurant even as the children of Israel +longed for the flesh pots of Egypt. + +One needs to spend a day in the Italian quarter of San Francisco to come +to a full realization of the difference between the requirements of even +the poorest Italian family and the average American family of the better +class. We need but say that we have been studying this question for +nearly twenty years yet even now we meet with surprises in the way of +new delicacies and modes of using herbs and spices in food preparation. + +If we were to attempt even to enumerate the various herbs, spices, +flavorings, delicacies, and pastes to be found in a well regulated +Italian shop it would take many pages of this book, yet every one of +these articles has its own individual and peculiar use, and the +knowledge of these articles and how to use them is what makes the +difference between American and Foreign cooking. Each herb has a +peculiar quality as a stomachic and it must be as delicately measured as +if it were a medicine. The use of garlic, so much decried as plebeian, +is the secret of some of the finest dishes prepared by the highest +chefs. It must not be forgotten that in the use of all flavors and +condiments there may be an intemperance, there lying the root of much of +the bad cooking. + +Garlic, for instance, is a flavor and not a food, yet many of the lower +class foreigners eat it on bread, making a meal of dark bread, garlic +and red wine. It is offensive to sensitive nostrils and vitiates the +taste when thus used, but when properly added to certain foods it gives +an intangible flavor which never fails to elicit praise. What is true of +garlic is also true of the many herbs that are used. It is easy to pass +from a rare flavor that makes a most savory dish to a taste of medicine +that spoils a dinner. With the well-known prodigal and wasteful habits +of America the American who learns the use of herbs usually makes the +initial mistake of putting in the flavoring herbs with too lavish a +hand, and it is only after years of experience that a knowledge of +proper combinations is obtained. + +Visitors have often expressed wonder at the variety of foods and +delicate flavors in San Francisco restaurants, and possibly this brief +explanation may give some comprehension of why San Franciscans always +want to get back to where they "can get something to eat." + + + +Told in a Whisper + +"Surely the old Bohemians of San Francisco did not spend all their time +in restaurants. How did they live when at home?" This is what was said +to us one day when we were talking about the old days and the old +people. Indeed they did not live all their time in restaurants. Some of +the most enjoyable meals we have eaten have been in the rooms and +apartments of our Bohemian friends, and these meals were prepared +generally by each one present doing his or her part in making it a +success. One would make the salad, another the main dish, and others do +various forms of scullery work, and in the end we would have a meal that +would often put to blush the efforts of many of the renowned chefs. + +Many people who come to San Francisco will wish to conserve their +finances as much as possible, and they will wish to enjoy life in their +apartments. There are also many people who live in San Francisco who +need a little advice on how to get the best out of life, and we are +going to whisper a few words to all such as these we have mentioned. + +You can be a Bohemian and have the very best sort of living in your own +room for less than half the money it will take to live at the hotels and +restaurants, and we are sure many of you would like to know something +about how to do it. It is not necessary to confine yourself to the few +things in your limited experience. If you are going to be in San +Francisco for more than a week, you will find that a little apartment, +furnished ready for housekeeping, will give you opportunity to be +independent and free. You will get your own breakfasts, when and how you +want them. Your luncheons and dinners can be gotten in your rooms or at +the restaurants just as you are inclined. + +You will find delight and education in visiting the markets, and the +foreign stores where all the strange and unusual foods of all nations +are to be found. You will discover better articles at less prices at the +little Italian, French, Mexican or Chinese stores and stalls than can be +had in the most aristocratic stores in the city. Above all you will find +a joy of invention and will be surprised at the delectable dishes you +can prepare at a minimum of cost. + +When you visit San Francisco you are desirous of so arranging your +finances that you may see the most for the least outlay of money. After +a strenuous day of sight-seeing you will scarcely feel like getting up a +good meal, consequently then you will follow the ideas suggested in this +book and visit the various restaurants, thus obtaining a variety both in +foods and in information of an educational nature. But sometimes you +will not be tired, or you will wish to get up a little late supper after +theatre, and it is then that you will be glad of the opportunity +afforded by having your own kitchen arrangements so that you can carry +out your tastes, and cook some of the strange and new foods that you +have discovered in your rambles through the foreign quarters. + +Take the simple matter of sausage, for instance. Ordinarily we know of +but three kinds--pork sausage, frankfurter and bologna--neither very +appetizing or appealing, except sometimes the pork sausage for +breakfast. Over in the little Italian and French shops you will find +some of the most wonderful sausages that mind can conceive of. Some of +these are so elaborate in their preparation that they cost even in that +inexpensive part of the city, seventy cents a pound, and the variety is +almost as infinite as that of the pastes. In the Mexican stores you will +find a sausage that gives a delightful flavor to anything it is cooked +with, and it is when you see these sausages that your eyes begin to be +opened. + +You now take cognizance of many things that heretofore escaped your +observation. You see new canned goods; a wonderful variety of cheeses; +strange dried vegetables and delicacies unheard of; preserved vegetables +and fish and meats in oil; queer fish pickled and dried. You begin to +learn of the many uses of olive oil in cooking and in food preparation. +You see the queer shapes of bread, and note the numerous kinds of cakes +and pastry that you never saw or heard of before. You see boxes of dried +herbs, and begin to realize why you have never been able to reproduce +certain flavors you have tasted in restaurants. You see strange-looking, +flat hams, and are told that they are Italian hams, and if you buy some +you will find that they cut the ham the wrong way, and instead of +slicing it across the grain they cut in very thin slices down the length +of the bone. Their flavor is more delicious than that of any ham you +have tasted since you used to get the old-time, genuine country smoked +hams. But if you investigate a little deeper you will learn that these +hams were not put up in Italy at all, but that it is a special brand +that is prepared in Virginia for the Italians. + +In the French stores you will find preserved cockscombs, snails, +marvelous blood sausages with nuts in them, rare cheeses, prepared meats +in jellies, and hundreds of delicacies unknown to you. You can spend +days in these stores, finding something new all the time. We have been +going there for years and still run across new things. + +Remember that to the people of the Latin Quarter these things are all +usual consequently they think you know as much about them as they do, +and will volunteer no information regarding them. Possibly they will +smile at your ignorance when you ask them questions, but do not hesitate +to ask, for they are courteous and that is the only way you can find out +things, and learn what all these new edibles are and what they are good +for. There is no greater possibility of interest than is to be found in +the stores of San Francisco's Latin Quarter, and we mean by this the +stores that cater to the people of the Quarter. In stores and +restaurants frequented by Americans they cater to American tastes and +lose much of the foreign flavor. + +It is also well to bear in mind that it is not in the largest stores +that you find the greatest variety when it comes to odd and new goods. A +little shop, barely large enough to turn around in between counter and +wall, may have enough of interest to entertain you for half an hour, and +here the prices will be remarkably low, for these people have so little +of the outside trade that they have not learned to add to their prices +when they see an American face coming. + +What is true of the stores is also true of the vegetable stands, the +meat shops, the fish stalls, and bakeries. Here you will find better and +fresher food supplies than in any of the similar places in other parts +of the city, and the price is generally one-third less. The high cost of +living has not reached this thrifty people with their inborn knowledge +of the values of foods. They live twice as well as the average American +family at half the cost. They combine knowledge of food values with the +art of preparation and have a resultant meal that is tasty, full +flavored, and nourishing at a minimum of expense. + +Perhaps you want a meal. Your thoughts at once run to steaks and chops, +and fried potatoes. Nothing but a porterhouse or tenderloin steak or a +kidney chop will do. It is the most expensive meat and you think that of +course it is the best and most nourishing. If the knowledge of food +values were with you, you would get the less expensive and more +nourishing cuts. A flank steak, perhaps, prepared en casserole, and you +would have a fine dish for half the money. As it is in meats so it is in +all foods. For ten cents two people can have a dinner of tagliarini that +is at once nourishing and satisfying in flavor. Of course all this +requires knowledge, but that is easily acquired, and it adds to the zest +of life to know that you can do that which lifts eating from the plane +of feeding to that of dining; that you can change existence into living. +All because you dare to break away from conventionalities which make so +many people affect ignorance of how to live because they imagine it is +an evidence of refinement. If they but knew it, their affectation and +their ignorance is the hall mark of low caste. + +Now about this whisper: We have a friend who has a little apartment +where he has kept bachelor's hall for many years. Here some of our most +pleasant evenings have been spent, and we never fear to go on account of +the possibility that he may be embarrassed or inconvenienced through +lack of something to eat or drink, for he is never at a loss to prepare +something dainty and appetizing for us, and it really seems, sometimes, +that he makes a meal out of nothing. Often Charlie telephones us that he +has discovered a new dish and hurries us over to pass judgment on it. +And, by the way, many of the good dishes of Bohemia are the result of +accident rather than design. + + + +Out of Nothing + +It is surprising what a good meal you can get up sometimes when "there's +not a thing in the house to eat." Let us give you an example. One +evening two of our young friends came over to tell us their sweet +secret, and with them was another young lady. While we were talking it +over and making plans for the wedding another friend dropped in because +he said our "light looked inviting." + +An hour or so of talk and then one of us signaled to the other and +received the shocking signal back, "There's not a thing to eat in the +house." This called for an investigation of the larder in which all +joined with the following result: Item--two cans of reed birds from +China, each containing twelve of the little birds as large as your +thumb. Item--one egg. Other items--one onion, two slices of dry bread, +one green pepper, rather small, one dozen crackers. Item--one case of +imported Italian Vin d'Oro Spumanti. Item--six hearty appetites to be +appeased. + +The gentleman who saw our light saw another, and rushed off to a barber +shop, and got four more eggs. Barbers use eggs, and they must be fresh +ones, in shampooing, and our friend remembered it. + +The two young ladies and the young man prepared the table, and the other +lady and the two gentlemen set about getting a meal. One of us made an +omelet of the five eggs, the onion and the green pepper, with crumbs of +bread, and this is the recipe: + +Omelet a la Peruquier + +Take five eggs and beat until very light. Roll two slices of dried bread +to crumbs and mix with the beaten eggs. Chop fine one onion and one +green pepper, season with salt and pepper. Pour a tablespoonful of olive +oil in an omelet pan and in this fry the peppers and onion to a light +brown. When ready turn into this the beaten eggs, and cook until done. +Follow the rule of never disturbing a cooking egg or a sleeping child. +Serve on a hot dish. + +Take two cans of Chinese reed birds, open them and take therefrom the +two dozen birds contained therein. In a hot frying pan place the birds +in the grease that comes around them and heat them through. Toast twelve +square crackers and on each place two reed birds, and serve two on each +of six hot plates. With both the omelet and the reed birds serve Vin +d'Oro. + + + +Paste Makes Waste + +In an Italian grocery store we noticed a great variety of pastes in +boxes arranged along the counter and began counting them. The proprietor +noticed us and, with a characteristic shrug of his shoulders, said: +"That is but a few of them. We have not room to show them all." In +response to our inquiry regarding the number of kinds of paste made by +Italians he said there were more than seventy-five. Ordinarily we think +of one--spaghetti--or possibly two, including macaroni. If our +knowledge goes a little farther we think also of tagliarini, which is +the Italian equivalent of noodles, as it is made with eggs. + +In New York we were much impressed with the stress they laid on the +serving of spaghetti, and one restaurant went so far as to advertise +dinners given "under the spaghetti vine." It appears that this is the +only paste they know anything about. + +After one eats tagliarini or ravioli one feels like paraphrasing the +darkey and saying, "go way spaghetti, yo done los' yo tase." + +Then comes tortelini which, like ravioli, combines paste with meat and +spinach. These may be considered the most prominent of the pastes, the +others being variants in the making and cutting, each serving a special +purpose in cooking, some being for soups, others for sauces and others +for dressing for meats. It is more than probable that the great variety +comes from individual tastes in cutting or rolling. + +All Italian restaurants serve the paste as a releve rather than as an +entree, which it usually follows, preceding the roast in the dinner. As +a separate and distinct dish it can well be made to serve as a full +meal, especially when tagliarini is prepared after the following recipe: + +Tagliarini Des Beaux Arts + +Cook one pound of tagliarini in boiling water twenty-five minutes, then +draw off the water. To the tagliarini add a handful of mushrooms which +have been sliced and fried in butter. Then add three chicken livers +which have been chopped small and fried, one sliced truffle, one red +pepper chopped fine and a little Parmesan cheese. Make a brown sauce of +one-third beef broth thickened with melted butter and flour and +two-thirds tomato sauce, and pour this over the tagliarini. Sprinkle +with the Parmesan cheese and serve very hot from a chafing dish. (By +Oliver, chef of the Restaurant des Beaux Arts, Paris.) + +In San Francisco one finds both the imported and the domestic paste, and +frequently one hears the assertion that the imported is the better. This +idea is born of the thought that all things from Europe are better than +the same made in America. In fact the paste that comes from Italy is +neither so good in taste, nor is it so clean in the making. We have +visited a number of paste factories in San Francisco and have found them +all scrupulously clean, with the best of materials in the composition of +the pastes. + +One often wonders how the pastes came to be so many and how they +received their names. Names of some of them are accidents, as is +illustrated by macaroni. According to an Italian friend who vouches for +the fact, it received its name from an expression of pleasure. "Macari" +means "fine, excellent," and the superlative is "macaroni." A famous +Italian gourmet constantly desired new dishes to please his taste, and +one day his chef carried to him something that was unusual. The gourmet +tasted it, cried out "macari!" Tasted again, threw out his arms in +delight and cried "macaroni!" + +"What is the name of this wonderful dish?" + +"You have named it. It is macaroni." + + + +Tips and Tipping + +Tipping is variously designated. Some say it is a nuisance and should be +abolished. Some call it an outrage and ask for legislative interference. +Some say it is an extortion and refuse to pay it. Some say it is a +necessary evil and suffer it. The wise ones look at it a little +differently. Possibly it is best explained or excused, whichever way you +wish to call it, by one of Gouverneur Morris's characters in a recent +story, who says: + +"Whenever I go anywhere I find persons in humble situations who smile at +me and wish me well. I smile back and wish them well. It is because at +some time or other I have tipped them. To me the system has never been +an annoyance but a delightful opportunity for the exercise of tact and +judgment." + +We look upon tipping as a part of expense to be calculated upon, +necessary to insure good service, not only now but in the future, and it +should always be computed in the expense of a trip or a dinner. Tipping, +to our minds, is the oil that makes the wheels of life run smoothly. + +The amount of the tip is always a matter of individual judgment, +dependent upon the service rendered, and the way it is rendered. The +good traveler wants to tip properly, neither too little nor too much, +thereby getting the best service, for in the last analysis the pleasure +of a trip depends upon the service received. American prodigality and +asininity is responsible for much of the abuse of tipping. Too many +Americans when they travel desire to appear important and the only way +they can accomplish this is by buying the subserviency of menials who +laugh at them behind their backs. + +A tip should always depend upon the service rendered. We make it a rule +to withhold the tip from a careless or inconsiderate waiter, and always +add to the tip a word of commendation when there has been extra good +service. The amount of the tip depends, first on the service, second on +the amount of the bill, and third, on the character of the place where +you are served. When we order a specially prepared dinner, with our +suggestions as to its composition and service, we tip the head waiter, +the chef, the waiter and the bus boy. We have given dinners where the +tips amounted to fully half as much as the dinner itself, and we felt +that this part of the expense brought us the greatest pleasure. + +It is impossible to make a hard and fast rule regarding how much to give +a waiter. Each person must use his or her own judgment. If you are in a +foreign country you might do as we did on our first trip to Paris. We +wanted to do what was right but not what most Americans think is right +We were at a hotel where only French were usually guests, and in order +to do the right thing we took the proprietor into our confidence and +explained to him our dilemma. We asked him whom to tip and how much to +give, and he got us out of our difficulty and we found that the tips +amounted to about as much for one whole week as we had been held up for +in one day at the Waldorf-Astoria. + + + +The Mythical Land + +Notwithstanding the fact that Webster gives no recognition in his +dictionary to the Land of Bohemia or the occupants thereof, the land +exists, perhaps not in a material way, but certainly mentally. Some have +not the perception to see it; some know not the language that admits +entrance; some pass it by every day without understanding it. Yet it as +truly exists as any of the lands told of in our childhood fables and +fairy stories. + +The old definition of Bohemian was "a vagabond, a wayfarer." Possibly +that definition may, to a certain extent, be true of the present-day +Bohemian, for he is a mental vagabond and a mental wayfarer. + +In our judgment the word comes from the French "Bon Homme," for surely +the Bohemian is a "good man." + +Whatever may be the derivation the fact remains that not to all is given +the perception to understand, nor the eyes to see, and therein lies one +of the dangers of writing such a book as this. If you read this and then +hurry off to a specified restaurant with the expectation of finding the +Bohemian atmosphere in evidence you are apt to be disappointed, for +frequently it is necessary to create your own Bohemian atmosphere. + +Then, too, all nights are not the same at restaurants. For instance if +you desire the best service afforded in any restaurant do not select +Saturday or Sunday night, but if you will lay aside your desire for +personal comfort in service, and wish to study character, then take +Saturday or Sunday night for your visit. It is very possible that you +will think the restaurant has changed hands between Friday and Saturday. +On Saturday and Sunday evening the mass of San Francisco's great +cosmopolitan population holds holiday and the great feature of the +holiday is a restaurant dinner, where there is music, and glitter, and +joyous, human companionship. At such times waiters become careless and +sometimes familiar. Cooks are rushed to such an extent that they do not +give the care to their preparation that they take pride in on other +nights, consoling themselves frequently with the thought that the +Saturday and Sunday night patrons do not know or appreciate the highest +form of gastronomic art. + +Remember, also, that the world is a looking glass. Smile into it and it +smiles back; frown and you get black looks. In Bohemia we sometimes find +it well to overlook soiled table napery, sanded floor or untidy +appearance. Of course this is not in the higher class of restaurants, +but there are times and places when you must remember you are making a +study of human interest and not getting a meal, and you must leave your +fastidiousness and squeamishness at home. + +It takes some time to get well within the inner circle of Bohemianism, +but after you have arrived you have the password and all doors are open +to you. If our friends think of a new story they save it up until our +next coming and tell us something that always has a bearing on Bohemia. +For instance, how few of us know the origin of the menu card. It seems +to be a natural thing, yet, like all things, it had a beginning, and +this is the way it began (according to a good friend who told it to us): + +Frederick the Great was a lover of good eating and his chef took pride +in providing new and rare dishes for his delectation. But it frequently +occurred that the great ruler permitted his appetite to overcome his +judgment, and he would eat so heartily of the food first set before him +that when later and more delicious dishes came to the table he was +unable to do them justice. To obviate this he ordered his chef to +prepare each day a list of what was to be served, and to show their +rotation during the meal, and in compliance with this order the first +menu card was written. To Frederick the Great is also attributed the +naming of the German bread now called pumpernickel. According to one of +our Italian friends the story runs this way: Frederick wished some bread +and his chef sent him in a loaf that was of unusual color and flavor. It +did not please the king and he was not slow to express his disapproval. +He owned a horse named Nicholas but commonly called "Nicho!" and when +the chef appeared before him to receive his censure for sending in +distasteful bread, Frederick threw the loaf at his head, exclaiming, +"Bon pour Nichol." From this it received its name which has become +corrupted to "pumpernickel." + +After the doors are open to you, you will find not only many new +stories, but you will learn of customs unusual and discover their origin +dating back to the days whose history remains only in Folk Lore. You +will be let into family secrets of the alien quarters, and will learn of +hopes, aspirations, and desires, that will startle you with their +strangeness. You will find artists, sculptors, and writers of verse in +embryo, and if you remain long enough in the atmosphere you may see, as +we have, some of these embryonic thinkers achieve fame that becomes +nation wide. + +It is said of the Islands of the South Seas that when one eats of +certain fruit it creates such a longing that the mind is never content +until another visit is made. San Francisco's Bohemia lays no claim to +persuasive fruit, but it is true that when one breathes in the +atmosphere of this mythical world it leaves an unrest that is only +appeased by a return to where the whispering winds tell of Enchanted +Land where "you get the best there is to eat, served in a manner that +enhances its flavor and establishes it forever in your memory." + + + +Appendix + + + +How to Serve Wines + +A few hints regarding the proper serving of wines may not be amiss, and +we give you here the consensus op opinion of the most noted gourmets who +have made a study of the best results from combinations. + +Never drink any hard liquors, such as whisky, brandy, gin, or cocktails, +with oysters or clams, as it is liable to upset you for the rest of the +evening. + +With hor d'ourves serve vermouth, sherry, marsala or madeira wine. + +With soup and fish serve white wines, such as Rhein wine, sauterne or +white burgundy. + +With entrees serve clarets or other red wines, such as Swiss, Bordeaux, +Hungarian or Italian wines. + +Burgandy may also be served at any of the later courses. + +With roasts serve champagne or any of the sparkling wines. + +With coffee serve kirch, French brandy or fine champagne. + +After coffee serve a liqueur. Never serve more than one glass of any +liqueur. + + +The following wines may be considered the best types: + +Amontillado, Montilo and Olorosa sherries. + +Austrian burgundy is one of the finest wines, possessing rich flavor and +fine perfume. + + +Other burgundies are: + +Chablis: A white burgundy, dry and of agreeable aroma. + +Chambertin: A sound, delicate wine with a flavor resembling raspberry. + +Clos de Vogeot: Similar to chambertin, and often called the king of +burgandy. + +Romanee: A very rare and costly wine of rich, ruby color, with a +delicate bouquet. + + +Clarets are valued for their flavor and for their tonic properties. Some +of the best are: + +Chateau Grille: A desert wine of good flavor and fine aroma. + +Chateau Lafitte: Has beautiful color and delicate flavor. + +Chateau la Rose: Greater alcoholic strength and of fine flavor. + +Chateau Margaux: Rich, with delicate flavor and excellent bouquet. + +Pontet Canet: A heavier wine with good bouquet and fine flavor. + +St. Julien: A lighter claret with good bouquet. + +German wines are of lighter character, and are generally termed Rhein +wines. The best varieties are: + +Hochheimer: A light, pleasing and wholesome wine. + +Brauneberger: A good variety with pleasing flavor and aroma. + +Dreimanner: Similar to Brauneberger. + +Deidesheimer: Similar to Brauneberger. + +Graffenberg: Light and pleasant. Good aroma. + +Johannisberger Schloss: One of the best of the German wines. + +Rudesheimer Schloss: In class with Johannisberger. + + +Italian wines are mostly red, the most noted in California being +Chianti, and its California prototype. Tipo Chianti, made by the Asti +Colony. + +Lacrima Christi Spumanti: The finest Italian champagne. Dry and of +magnificent bouquet. + +Vin d'Oro Spumanti: A high-class champagne. Sweet and of fine bouquet +and flavor. + +Lacrima Christi: A still wine of excellent flavor and bouquet. + +Malaga: A wine of high repute. Sweet and powerful. A peculiar flavor is +given to it through the addition of a small quantity of burned wine. + +Marsala: Is a golden wine of most agreeable color and aroma. + + +Sauterne: Is a white Bordeaux, a strong luscious wine, the best known +varieties being: + +Chateau Yquem: Remarkable for its rich and velvety softness. + +Barsac: Rich and good. + +Chateau Filhot: Of rich color and good flavor. + +Chateau Latour Blanche: A white sauterne of exquisite bouquet. + +Haut Sauterne: Soft and mild. Of good flavor. + +Vin de Graves: Good and Strong. Good aroma and flavor. + + +Vintage years have much to do with the quality of wines. The best +vintage years are as follows: + +Champagnes: 1892. +Rhein and Moselle: 1893. +Burgandy: 1892, 1899 and 1904. +Claret: 1898 and 1904. +Port: 1896 and 1904. +Sherry: 1882, 1890, 1898 and 1900. + + + +A Good Bohemian Dinner + + + +Sometimes people desire to give a dinner and are at loss as to the +proper time to serve wines. The following menu will give some ideas on +the subject: + +Menu + +Gibson Cocktail Canape Norwegian + +(Serve these before entering dining room) + +Artichoke Hearts in Oil Ripe Olives Celery + +Amontillado Sherry + +Oysters on Half Shell + +Bisque of Ecrevisse Chablis, or White Sauterne + +Sand-dabs Edward VII Sliced Cucumbers, Iced + +Escargot Francais Chateau Lafitte + +Cassolette of Terrapin, Maryland Romanee + +Tagliarini des Beaux Arts + +Punch Pistache Cigarettes + +Alligator Pears with Cumquats, French Dressing + +Chicken Portola Krug Private Cuvee Brut + +Creamed New Potatoes Celery Victor French Peas + +Zabaione + +Reina Cabot + +Coffee Royal Cigarettes + +Grand Marnier + + + +In our travels through Bohemia it has been our good fortune to gather +hundreds of recipes of new, strange and rare dishes, prepared by those +who look farther than the stoking of the physical system in the +preparation of foods. Some of these are from chefs in restaurants and +hotels, some from men and women of the foreign colonies and some from +good friends who lent their aid in our pleasurable occupation. That we +cannot print them all in a volume of this size is our regret, but +another book now in preparation will contain them, together with other +talks about San Francisco's foreign quarters. + +From our store we have selected the following as being well worth +trying: + +Onion Soup + +Cut four large onions in large pieces and put them in six ounces of +butter with pepper and salt. Slowly stew this in a little beef stock and +a little milk, stirring constantly, for one hour. Add more stock and +milk and let cook slowly for another hour. In a tureen place slices of +bread sprinkled with two tablespoonfuls of Parmesan cheese. Beat the +yolks of four eggs and mix them with a tablespoonful of the soup and +pour this over the bread and cheese. Cover this for five minutes and +then pour over it the rest of the soup. + +Creole Gumbo Soup + +Take two young chickens, cut in pieces, roll in flour and fry to light +brown. Take the fried chicken, a ham bone stripped of meat for flavor, a +tablespoonful of chopped thyme, of rosemary, two bay leaves, a sprig of +tarragon and boil in four quarts of water until the meat loosens from +the bones. Slice and fry brown two large onions and add two heaping +quarts of sliced okra and one cut up pod of red pepper. Stir all over +the fire until the okra is thoroughly wilted then remove the larger +bones and let cook three quarters of an hour before serving. Half an +hour before serving add a can of tomatoes or an equal quantity of fresh +ones, and a pint of shrimps, boiled and shredded. Have a dish of well +boiled and dry rice and serve with two or three tablespoonfuls in each +soup plate. + +Oyster Salad + +To a solid pint of oysters use a dressing made as follows: Beat well two +eggs and add to them half a gill each of cream and vinegar, half +teaspoonful mustard, celery seed, salt each, one-tenth teaspoonful +cayenne, and a tablespoonful of butter. Put all in a double boiler and +cook until it all is as thick as soft custard (about six minutes), +stirring constantly. Take from the fire. Heat the oysters in their own +liquor to a boiling point then drain and add the dressing, mixing +lightly. Set away in cold place until needed. + +Italian Salad + +Soak two salt herrings in milk over night and then remove the bones and +skin and cut up in small pieces. Cut in small pieces one and one-half +pounds each of cold roast veal and cold boiled tongue and add to these +and the herrings six boiled potatoes, half a dozen small cucumber +pickles and two small boiled beets, all cut up, and two raw apples, +three boiled carrots and one large boiled celery root, all minced. Mix +all the above in salad bowl and pour over it mayonnaise dressing. +Garnish the tops with hard boiled eggs, sliced, and capers, and ripe +olives from which the stones have been removed. Garnish the bowl with +parsley and in the center put hard boiled eggs stuffed with capers. + +Solari's Crab Louis + +Take meat of crab in large pieces and dress with the following: +One-third mayonnaise, two-thirds chili sauce, small quantity chopped +English chow-chow, a little Worcestershire sauce and minced tarragon, +shallots and sweet parsley. Season with salt and pepper and keep on ice. + +Soles with Wine + +Take fillets of sole and pound lightly with blade of knife then soak +them two hours in beaten eggs seasoned with salt and pepper. When ready +to cook roll them in bread crumbs and fry in olive oil. Take a little of +that oil and put in another pan with a tablespoonful of butter and +season with salt and pepper and again cook fish in this, adding half a +glass of dry white wine. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and let cook five +minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and put slices of lemon around +it. Serve on hot plates. + +Grilled Mushrooms + +Skin and remove stalks from large fresh mushrooms and lay on a dish with +a little fine olive oil, pepper, and salt, over them for one hour. Broil +on a gridiron over a clear sharp fire and serve them with the following +sauce: + +Mushroom Sauce + +Mince the stalks or any spare pieces of mushrooms fine, put in a stewpan +with a little broth, some chopped parsley, young onions, butter and the +juice of a lemon, or instead of the latter the yolk of an egg beaten up +in cream. Beat all together and pour around the mushrooms. + +Italian Turta + +Cut very fine the tender part of one dozen artichokes. Take one loaf of +stale bread crumbs, moisten and squeeze, and add three tablespoonfuls of +grated cheese, three cloves of garlic, bruised, one onion chopped fine, +several sprigs of parsley chopped fine, a little celery and half a cup +of olive oil. Mix all together thoroughly with plenty of pepper and salt +and make into a loaf. Bake slowly forty-five minutes. + +Oeuffs Au Soliel + +Poach eight fresh eggs then take them out and place in cold water until +cool; lay them for a quarter of an hour to marinade in a glass of white +wine with sweet herbs. Dry on a cloth and dip in a batter of flour mixed +with equal quantities of ale and water to the consistency of double +cream. Fry to light brown. + +Eggs with Wine + +Put three cupfuls of red wine Into a casserole and add three +tablespoonfuls of sugar, rind of half a lemon, raisins, and sweet +almonds, blanched and chopped. When the wine boils break the eggs into +it as in poaching eggs. Let them cook well and then put in serving dish. +Add one tablespoonful of flour to the wine and cook to a cream then pour +over the eggs. + +Italian Risotto + +Soak two level teacups of rice. Mash two cloves of garlic and mix with a +little minced parsley. Soak a dozen dried mushrooms in a little water +until soft, then chop fine and drain. Cover the bottom of a saucepan +with olive oil, place over the fire until quite hot, then put in the +garlic, parsley, and mushrooms, add half a can of tomatoes and cook half +an hour. Drain the rice and put in a saucepan, adding a little broth, +half a cup at a time, to keep from burning, and add, stirring +constantly, the other ingredients, cooking all together until the rice +is done. Salt to taste; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. + +Scallops of Sweetbread + +Parboil the sweetbreads and then glaze in reduced Allemande sauce. Dip +in bread crumbs and fry in butter until a light brown. When done dish in +close order and fill center with Toulouse Ragout, as follows: + +Toulouse Ragout + +Prepare half a dozen fine, large cockscombs, two dozen button mushrooms, +small pieces of sweetbreads and a proportionate quantity of truffles. +Place all in a stewpan and add a small ladleful of drawn butter sauce, +and the juice of a lemon. Cook a few minutes. + +Lamb Chops Marinade + +Soak kidney lamb chops in the following mixture for twelve hours and +then broil: Four tablespoonfuls olive oil, one tablespoonful tarragon +vinegar, one small sliced onion, one mashed clove of garlic, one broken +up bay leaf, twelve whole black peppers, six cloves, one saltspoon of +salt, two teaspoonfuls dried thyme, strips of parsley and lemon peel. + +Spanish Chicken Pie + +Cut up a chicken and boil until tender. Cut up and fry in chicken fat +two onions, two green peppers, stirring in one and one-half +tablespoonfuls of flour. Have ready five tomatoes, stewed, and put in +two dozen ripe olives with a small clove of garlic, mashed. Grate seven +large ears of corn, season with salt and put a layer in a greased baking +pan, then chicken, then the other ingredients, with a little of the +gravy. Stir all together and bake until brown. + +Chicken Jambalaya + +Cut a young chicken into small pieces and stew until tender, having the +meat covered with the broth when done. Remove the meat, drain and fry to +light brown with two slices of onion. Put in the chicken, onion, and one +hundred California oysters, back into the broth and season with salt, +pepper, juice of a lemon, bruised clove of garlic, chopped green pepper, +and a pinch of red pepper. Let all come to a boil. Wash and dry two cups +of rice and put into the soup and cook until thoroughly done and +moderately dry (twenty-five minutes). Serve hot or cold. + +Quajatale En Mole + +This is Mexican Turkey in Red Pepper, a favorite banquet dish. Cut a +young turkey into small pieces and boil with shallots and salt. Take +half a pound of red peppers, scalded and seeded, and grind fine with +black peppers, celery seed, cloves, allspice, and mustard (about half a +teaspoonful of each) and add to this some of the broth in which the +turkey was cooked. Put a pound of lard in a skillet and, when boiling, +put in the mixture with the turkey and let cook ten minutes, sending it +to the table hot. + +Delmonico Raisin Sauce + +Brown butter in a skillet and stir in a teaspoonful of flour, forming a +smooth paste. Add one cup of hot soup stock, stirring constantly. While +boiling put into this a handful of raisins, handful of blanched almonds, +pounded, half a lemon, sliced thin, a few cloves, a pinch of cinnamon, +and a little horseradish. Fine for roast beef. + +Poulet a la Napoli + +Cut and trim a chicken as for fricassee. Take the wings, drumsticks, +thighs and two pieces of the breast and steep them in cold water half an +hour. Drain and wipe dry and dust over with flour and set aside. + +Take the rest of the chicken with the giblets and chop small. With water +let this simmer for two hours, making a strong broth with a little veal +(two ounces or more). Slice an onion into rings which place in the +bottom of a stewpan with an ounce of butter. To this add the meat and +giblets and a pint of white broth. Let all simmer but not boil or let +color. Over this pour common broth until covered and bring slowly to +boiling point. Add a small bouquet of herbs and simmer for an hour, then +strain. Thicken a little and then simmer in this the stalks and peelings +of a quarter of a pound of mushrooms and the chicken that was previously +prepared and dusted with flour. When done strain them and drain the +chicken. Strain the sauce and thicken with flour until it is of the +consistency of a rather thin batter. + +Dip the pieces of chicken into the batter until well coated and set +aside until it is cold. Then dip the chicken into well-beaten eggs and +cover with bread crumbs. Let set and then repeat. In hot olive oil fry +the chicken until a golden brown. Serve on a napkin and garnish with +parsley and potatoes Duchesse. Cook the peeled mushrooms in the +remaining sauce before the last thickening, and serve in gravy boat to +pour over the chicken. + +Zabaione + +Beat together, hard, for six minutes, six eggs and four teaspoonfuls of +powdered sugar in a double boiler and place over a gentle fire, never +ceasing to whip until the contents become stiff enough to sustain a +coffee spoon upright in the middle. While whipping add three +wine-glassfuls of Marsala and one liqueur glass of Maraschino brandy. +Pour into tall glasses or cups and serve either hot or cold. + +Peaches a la Princesse + +Halve six fine peaches, not too ripe, and place in saucepan with concave +side up. Take one peach, peeled, and mince with a dozen macaroons, +adding the yolk of an egg and half an ounce of sugar. Mix all well +together and with this fill the half peaches. Moisten all with half a +cup of white wine and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a hot oven ten +minutes and pour over zabaione and serve. This will make a most +delicious dessert dish. + +Sultana Roll + +Add the beaten yolks of seven eggs to one pint of boiling milk, one cup +of sugar, one-half teaspoonful of vanilla, one-quarter teaspoonful of +almond extract. When thick add two and a half cups of thick cream. Cool +and freeze. Line the bottom of a mold with Sultana raisins which have +been soaked in sherry wine twenty-four hours. Put a layer of frozen +cream, then raisins, continuing until all is used. Pack in ice and salt +two hours and serve with caramel sauce. + +Caramel Sauce + +Butter the inside of a saucepan. Put in two ounces of unsweetened +chocolate and melt over hot water. Add two cups of light brown sugar and +mix well. Add one ounce of butter and half a cup of rich milk. Cook +until mixture forms a soft ball when tested in cold water. Flavor with +vanilla and pour, while hot, over each service of the roll. It +immediately hardens, forming a delicious caramel covering to the ice +cream. + +Welsh Rarebit + +Take one pound of mild American cheese and put in saucepan. Add five +wineglassful of old ale, place over the fire and stir until it is +thoroughly blended and melted. Pour this over slices of delicately +browned toast, serving hot. + +Coffee Royal + +Take of the best Mocha coffee one part, of the best Java coffee two +parts. Put six tablespoonfuls of the mixture into a bowl and add an egg, +well beaten. Stir the mixture five minutes. Add half a cup of cold +water, cover tightly and let stand several hours. Put into a coffeepot +the coffee mixture and add four large cups of boiling water, stirring +constantly. Let it boil briskly for five minutes only then set on the +back of the stove five minutes. Before serving add a small tablespoonful +of pure French brandy to each cup. Sweeten to taste. + +Reina Cabot + +Mix at table and serve on hot, toasted Bent's biscuit. Take a quarter of +a pound of ripe, dark Roquefort cheese and rub with a piece of butter +the size of a walnut until smooth, adding a teaspoonful of +Worcestershire sauce and a wineglassful of sherry, with a pinch of +paprika, rubbing until it is smooth. This is best mixed in shallow bowl +or soup plate. + +Virginia Egg Nog + +Beat separately the yolks and whites of ten eggs, the yolks to a soft +cream. To the beaten yolks add one pound of granulated sugar, beating +until fully blended and very light. Let one quart of fresh milk come to +a boil and pour over the yolk of egg and sugar, stirring constantly +until well blended. To this add one gill of French brandy or one-half +pint of good whisky. On top of this place the beaten white of egg and +grated nutmeg. Serve either hot or cold. + +Mint Julep + +Bruise several sprigs of mint in a mixing glass with pulverized sugar. +Fill the glass with ice and pour over it a jigger of whisky. Let stand +for ten minutes and then put in a dash of Jamaica rum. Dress with sprigs +of mint, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with straws. + + + +Index + + + +Bills of Fare +Beefsteak Spanish +Celery Victor +Chicken, Country Style + In the Shell + Jambalaya + Leon d'Oro + A la Napoli + Pie (Spanish) + Portola +Chili Rienas +Clam Fritters + Chowder +Coffee Royal +Crab Louis + Stew +Dessert (Italian) +Egg Nog (Virginia) +Eggs, Spanish + With Wine + Des Soliel +Fish: Soles with Wine + Sole Edward VII + Sand-dab Fillet, Cold +Fritto Misto +Lobster a la Newburg +Lamb Chops Marinade +Mussels Mariniere +Mushrooms, Grilled +Mint Julep +Menu (Model) +Oysters a la Catalan + A la Poulette + Omelette +Peaches a la Princesse +Planked Fillet Mignon +Polenti +Quajatole en Mole +Rice, Spanish + Milanaise + Italian +Riena Cabot +Salad, Italian + Palace Grill + Oyster +Sauer Braten +Sauce, Delmonico Raisin + Caramel + Mushroom +Scrapple +Shrimp Creole, Antoine +Snails Bordelalse +Soup: Bisque of Crawfish + Creole Gumbo + Onion +Sultana Roll +Sweetbreads Scalloped +Turta (Italian) +Toulouse Ragout +Tamales +Tagliarini des Beaux Arts +Terrapin a la Maryland +Wines, How to Serve +Welsh Rarebit +Zabaoine +Restaurants + Blanco's + Bonini's Barn + Buon Gusto + Castilian + Coppa's + Fashion, Charlie's + Felix + Fior d'Italia + Fly Trap + Frank's + Fred Solari's + Gianduja + Hang Far Low + Heidelberg Inn + Hof Brau + Hotel St. Francis + Jack's + Jule's + La Madrelina + Leon d'Oro + Luna's + Mint + Negro's + Odeon + Palace Hotel + Poodle Dog + Poodle Dog--Bergez-Frank's + Portola-Louvre + Rathskeller + Shell Fish Grotto + Solari's + Tait's + Techau's + Vesuvius +Old Time Restaurants + Bab's + Baldwin Hotel + Bazzuro's + Bergez + California House + Call + Captain Cropper + Campi's + Christian Good + Cliff House + Cobweb Palace + Delmonico + El Dorado House + Frank's + Gobey's + Good Fellows' Grotto + Hoffman House + Iron House + Johnson's Oyster House + Jack's + Louvre + Ma Tanta + Manning's + Marchand's Marshall's Chop House + Martin's + Maison Doree + Nevada + New York + Old Louvre + Perini's + Pierre + Poodle Dog + Pup + Peter Job + Palace of Art + Pop Floyd + Reception + Sanguinetti's + Tehama House + Three Trees + Tortoni + Thompson's + Viticultural + Zinkand's + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Bohemian San Francisco, by Clarence E. 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