Would you care for some sugar-cured herring? Stewed potatoes? The place to go in in 1880 would be the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York.
You could get some redhead ducks and charlotte bengalienne at Delmonico’s if you were there in 1885 for the Annual Dinner of the New York Free Trade Club.
At the Ladies Festival Banquet, catered by William Tufts, quail on toast was the order of the day. You’d have to be a member of the Baptist Social Union of Boston.
Sweetbread pate, anyone?
Downtown Association, 1890
This most wonderful trove of 9,567 restaurant menus will transport you to another place and time. The kitchen’s always open at the New York Public Library, just click here.
For some reason, “cardinal punch” is a constant. But not all of the feasts offer “DeBrie.”
Jean Zimmerman 