In the wonderful book by Tony and Suzanne Bamonte, Spokane's Legendary Davenport Hotel, is a reproduced menu from the hotel for their 1892 New Year's Day dinner offering.
COLD: fresh crab, veal, turkey, mutton, corned beef, beef, pork, sugar cured ham, fresh lobsters, goose and boned turkey with aspect jelly
RELISHES: Los Angeles comb honey; California grapes, new celery, C.& B. chow chow, pitted olives, imported anchovies in oil, spiced chicken, hamburger aale, Caviara Russe, pickled eels in jelly, imported pate de poissons, Scotch kippered herrings.
SALADS: chicken, potato, shrimp.
VEGETABLES: asparagus on toast, Schnittohnen string beans, boiled-mashed-baked potatoes, potatoes in cream, beets, sugar corn, stewed parsnips, boiled rice, green peas, stewed tomatoes, mashed turnips, bowl of rice and milk, baked sweet potatoes, Lima beans, succotash, string beans.
PASTRY: pies of all kinds, jelly tarts, homemade fruit cake, chocolate-coconut-pound-sponge cake, cream tarts, lady fingers.
DESSERT: English plum pudding with hard sauce, vanilla ice cream, strawberry or raspberry preserves, lemon ice, preserved pine apples, brandy peaches or cherries, peaches and cream, sliced pine apples and cream.
SOUP: clam chowder, macaroni.
FISH: fried herring, tom cod, fried smelts, boiled sea bass with anchovy sauce, broiled fresh Spanish mackerel, broiled fresh shad.
BOILED: capon with oyster sauce, turkey with egg cause, ox tongue with cream sauce, leg of mutton with caper sauce, brisket of beef with horse radish, sugar cured ham, pickled pigs head with sauerkraut, corned beef and cabbage.
ROAST: stuffed turkey with cranberry cause, saddle of mutton, domestic goose and apple sauce, loin of pork, prime roast of beef with brown gravy, stuffed chicken, duck with currant jelly, lamb with mint sauce, suckling pig and apple sauce, saddle of venison, shoulder of veal with dressing.
ENTREES: pillau of chicken a la creole, lobster cutlets a la Hollandaise, maccaroni a la cream, frog legs any style, pork chops breaded with sauce Robert, beef a la mode, tenderloin of beef larded with mushrooms, pate de foie gras aux truffles, venison steak with currant jelly, croquette of chicken aux petits pois, half grouse, fried calves brains with cream sauce, half pheasant, paupiette of veal with puree of asparagus, broiled quail on toast with bacon, pineapple fritters au rhum, half spring chicken on toast, antelope chops with jelly sauce, eastern and Olympia oysters every style.
My first thought was how could one restaurant on one day offer such a wide variety in 1892? And my next thought was total aversion to some of the things listed (like fried calves brains with cream sauce?). But there was enough choice that I surely could have enjoyed a wonderful meal. How about you?
1 comment:
Louis Davenport was an amazing restaurant owner, burnt our in the fire of 1889 and set up a tent the next day. That is why his hotel he built in 1914 was so successful.
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