Americans in Paris: The Roaring 20s

1920-1930 

The Roaring Twenties are remembered in France as les Années folles, “the crazy years,” when Paris was the hub of intellectual life and artistic innovation. Americans contributed their share of the craziness, considering the sheer number of expatriate authors, avant-garde artists, modern composers, jazz musicians, and wealthy socialites then living in Paris, as well as the throngs of tourists who descended on the city every summer. When the Americans returned home, they brought back enough memories to last a lifetime. Since their memories of Paris were entwined with its restaurants, they also carried back menus, souvenirs of their sojourn and of a cuisine that had all but vanished in the United States during Prohibition. A review of more than fifty menus reveals some of the bistros, brasseries, and temples of gastronomy where they dined. 

Sailing to France

1922

After the First World War, Americans travelled to France in ever increasing numbers. Five menus from the steamship Lafayette in 1922 illustrate the perceived romance of a transatlantic crossing.1 The trip began when the great ship was nudged out of her berth and pointed downstream toward the Atlantic. “Gentle vibrations tell you she is under way,” wrote one voyager of the era. “Small craft dip flags and toot as they go by; the Statue of Liberty, the shores of Staten Island, the flat back of Sandy Hook run past as though wound on rollers; the pilot goes over the side with a bag of farewell letters; a pursuing tug comes up and puts a tardy passenger aboard. Then, suddenly, like a sleep-walking dragon that wakes up, the liner shakes herself; her propellers lash the sea to suds; a wedge-shaped wake spreads out behind her, and the voyage is on in earnest.”2

The Emergence of New Orleans Cuisine

“America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and 

New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.” 

– Tennessee Williams 

In the late nineteenth century, the burgeoning wealth of the upper classes fueled a social revolution in eating well when away from home. Culinary tourism got a jump-start in New Orleans during the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in 1884-85. Visitors were introduced to Creole dishes that blended French, Spanish, West African, and Choctaw influences, among others. Seemingly overnight, the unique cuisine and signature cocktails of New Orleans became major tourist draws, marking a pivotal moment in the city’s gastronomic history. The first Creole cookbooks were published the year the fair ended; and eventually one of the finest French restaurants in New Orleans would create new French-Creole dishes to lure the well-heeled visitors back.1,2 Eighteen menus between 1905 and 1917 reveal the extent to which regionalism was expressed in public dining spaces at various levels of society in the years leading up to Prohibition. 

Inimitable Menus

1902-1909

A little over two decades ago, staffers for an incoming president searched for White House menus from the turn of the last century, attempting to imitate Theodore Roosevelt’s style, though not his substance. Ironically, the ideals of the new administration differed greatly from those of the Progressive Era ushered in by Roosevelt. Still, it was understandable why the politicos wanted to recreate the aura of a time when American confidence was running high. Their efforts proved futile—printed menus were not used at the White House back then. Nevertheless, Theodore Roosevelt was enthusiastically fêted by the citizenry whenever he was away from Washington. His popularity is evident in the size, complexity, and sheer exuberance of the menus from these occasions, as shown by four examples spanning his presidency.

The Gentleman Boss

The White House, 

1885 

President Chester A. Arthur was a tall and fashionably-dressed metropolitan who enjoyed the finer things in life. Once the highly-paid Collector of the Port of New York, Arthur artfully dispensed patronage jobs over the course of his political career, causing him to be called the “Gentleman Boss.” His brief tenure as Vice President ended with the assassination of James Garfield in 1881. Although the dignified spoilsman “looked like a President,” it can be said without exaggeration that nobody in the country, regardless of party affiliation, thought he could rise to the occasion. Arthur was even distraught at the idea of having been elevated to the highest office in the land. Making the best of his predicament, Arthur had the White House redecorated in accordance with his aristocratic tastes, and installed a French chef named Alfred Cupplinger from New York.  A recently-discovered menu provides rare evidence of one of the high-water marks of presidential cuisine. 

The America's Cup

New York City,
1895

The most entertaining thing for the average person attending an America’s Cup race is perhaps the food and drink. Once in a while, one of the sailboats comes into view on the horizon line, only to disappear again. Between these sporadic sightings, the day-trippers bob up and down on the open sea, wondering what’s for lunch. It was different in the nineteenth century when spectators were allowed so close as to possibly interfere with the action. The most controversial America’s Cup took place in 1895 when the sloop Defender, owned by three members of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), was pitted against Valkyrie III from the Royal Yacht Squadron. Much has been written about this contest that later descended into acrimony. A menu reveals what was served to eat on one of the observation ships, and sheds light on why onlookers are now kept at a distance.

Schedler’s High Bridge Hotel

New York City, 

1881 

Schedler’s High Bridge Hotel was located in Washington Heights, the highest and northernmost part of Manhattan. The hotel was so named due its proximity to the bridge that spanned the Harlem River as part of the Croton Aqueduct.1 After the walkway atop High Bridge was completed in 1864, the sparsely-populated area became an enjoyable place to take a stroll on a pleasant afternoon or evening. Two menus from Schedler’s in 1881 provide a rare glimpse of the social activity in this upper-class enclave dotted with luxurious mansions and single-family homes. 

The Menu was the Message

1904-1931 

The advent of the postcard provided the hospitality industry with innovative ways to advertise. One of the unique formats that emerged in the early 1900s was the attachment of postcards to menus. This concept was particularly suited to table d’hôtel menus that did not have prices. Once ubiquitous, table d’hôtel menus were still being used at hotels and resorts that operated on the so-called American Plan, meaning room and board were included in the daily rate. Such hostelries traditionally promoted the abundance of their board to attract guests, something the postcard-menu combination was ideally suited to do.

Dining in Prospect Park

Brooklyn, New York

1897 

Brooklyn’s pastoral Prospect Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the landscape architects who created Central Park and Riverside Park in Manhattan. Opened in 1867, Prospect Park was substantially complete in 1873 when a financial panic halted further development. Some of the originally-envisioned structures, such as a terraced restaurant, were never built. Instead, two of the existing buildings were utilized for food service. The park was restored in the 1890s during the City Beautiful movement, and it was during this period that the park commissioner decided to appoint a new concessionaire. His goal was to make the restaurants more “fashionable” while still maintaining low prices for the general public. The recent discovery of two menus from about 1897 reveal what this plan looked like when put into action.

Music on the Menu

1878-1978

“Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist,” observed English writer G. K. Chesterton. Nevertheless, music has become an inescapable part of eating outside the home. While menus almost never reveal what was played in the background of restaurants and hotel dining rooms, they reflect the world of music in a myriad of other ways.