 section 9 of Bohemian San Francisco this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Bohemian San Francisco the art of elegant dining by Clarence Edwards section 9 at the Hotel St. Francis on the morning of April 18th 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 downtown 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 soul Edward the seventh 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 soul Edward the seventh cut the fillets out of one soul and lay them flat on a buttered pan and season with salt and pepper make the following mixture and spread over each soul 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 20 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 what she 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 a mid 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 theater 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 restaurant 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 and 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 tumbler full of cream and a pinch of paprika mix well and let it cook for 10 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 cornstarch and milk for cream end of section 9 from Bohemian San Francisco the art of elegant dining read by Denny Sares in Modesto California for LibriVox fall 2006 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Kirsten Ferrari Los Angeles California September of 2006 Bohemian San Francisco the elegant art of dining by Clarence Edwards section 10 around Little Italy San Francisco holds no more interesting district than that lying around the base of Telegraph Hill and extending over towards 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 our 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 their parent countries as fully as if they were in their native lands here are stores markets fish and vegetable stalls bakeries pasta 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 parents 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 padron to the boot black 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 into 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 Etna with inborn knowledge of the grape and 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 to 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 the conditions in Mexico would you like to learn what 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 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 tone down and so change 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 the 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 bourgeois 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 weekdays 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 the anarchists who gather every 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 side of the hill is 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 Fjord d'Italia the Buongusto 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 sidewall to sidewall 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 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 shapes and all sizes from the great round flat cheese that we are accustomed to see in country grocery stores to the queer shaped kasha cavallo 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 14 of them in all from the long sticks of cressini to the great slid loaves weighing many pounds light bread heavy bread good bread soft bread hard bread delicate bread each having its special 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 any one of the American grocery stores of downtown 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 Montrouge and Asti Colony Tipo Chianti but wait a minute here are labels 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 Etna 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 wine from Parma and from Sicily and Palermo where the warm Italian sunshine has been the arch chemist to bring to perfection the fruit of the vine here are still wines and those that sparkle here the famed La Crima Cristi both Spomanti and Fresco said to be the finest wine made in all Italy and the Spomanti 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 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 pastas 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 pasta since but in San Francisco they do things differently there are a number of pasta factories all good and clean take that of pifiorini 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 pasta 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 tortellini macaroni spaghetti capolini percatelli tagliatelli and all the seventy and two other varieties the number of kinds of pasta is most astonishing and one wonders why there are so many kinds and what is done with them Fiorini will tell you 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 pastas 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 winemaking 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 cattola feet you will 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 a parent everywhere and the further 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 worthwhile go there and you will find the root of bohemian restaurants these people have studied gastronomy as a science and may 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 the world renowned artists and writers here is still the memory of brethart and mark twain here is where keith had his early studio katanasso 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 kindhearted 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 the store and she sees the big bucket of ripe olives the lady she come from the east and she never seen olives like that before how do you cook it say the lady fry it says my partner everything he say fry it in another vegetable stand we found an italian girl who soft lisping accent pronounced her a genoese and she definitely suggested a fine italian dessert a fine dessert 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 it leaves a most delicious memory and of section 10 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to learn how to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Bohemian San Francisco the elegant art of dining section 11 where fish come in and fish and their variety 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 Fisherman'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 Fisherman's Wharf lies over at North Beach at the end of Meg's Wharf where the customs officers have their station and to reach it one takes either the Powell and North Beach cars or the Kearney 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 see out of the bank of white came gliding the heavy power boats of the Sicilian and Corsican Fisherman while from offshore were the lateeen rigged boats of those who had been fishing up the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers their yards of slant 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 woman 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 seemed 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 ten 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 soul 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 while 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 seafood was in profusion and sold at prices on a parody 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 boardinghouse keepers unmistakable anywhere bohemians in hard luck who remembered that they could get good fish here at a minimum of price and came now while on the downturn of the wheel as a human interest study it was better than a study of fish fisherman'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 to beyond the heads and up the two great rivers from far out around the farolones 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 that 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 sailboat to be the power that 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 where we found basurros serving breakfast to dozens of market gardeners who had finished their uploading and there while partaking of the fresh fish we had brought from fisherman'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 colombo market they drove their great wagons and discharged their days 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 clear way for traffic threading their way in and out between the wheels and the heels of horses where men and women all looking for bargains in food amid a den 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 tire policemen leading against friendly walls recuperating after the strenuous work of keeping order and chaos it is when one goes to these places in the morning and sees the cheapness of these foods that we 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 tabla do to dinner of six or seven courses for 25 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 in save money while the average american can hardly keep more than two jumps ahead of the sheriff fish and 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 seafood and even there one is astonished at an overlooked opportunity darby and emel have catered to san francisco in oysters for many years and after the fire they opened the shellfish grotto in o'farrell street between powell and mason streets and this is one of the very few distinctive fish restaurants in 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 sealing 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 although possibly darby and emel may call it an impertinent 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 fishnet 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 cook 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 gin ducha at union and stockton streets one is certain to get fish cooked well and that is perfectly fresh the variety is not so good as at the shellfish 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 24 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 shellfish grotto you will find it is done and done well at that here you can get a good dinner for one dollar or if you prefer they have a fish dinner deluxe 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 visuvius 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 it 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 are concerned even fancy dishes such as oysters kurt patrick 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 there 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 add to its pecan sea instead of ordering these by the dozen he ordered them by the hundred it being no difficult task to eat a 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 bon 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 tablespoon full of butter two teaspoon fulls grated edam or parmesan cheese four tablespoon fulls ketchup one half teaspoon full Worcestershire sauce two teaspoon fulls 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 ketchup 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 being 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 bombouche 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 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 the earthquake changed conditions shrimp creole take three pints of unshelled shrimps and shell them one half pint of cream two tablespoons full of butter two tablespoon full of flour two tablespoon full of ketchup 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 ketchup 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 end of section 11 read by denis sears in modesto california for libervox summer 2006 this is a libervox recording all libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libervox.org recording by kathleen dang bohemian san francisco the elegant art of dining by clearance edwards section 12 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 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 ever it's a transplanting have not been successful the pacific crayfish however serves every purpose and while many contend that its meat is not so delicate and flavor as that of its eastern cousin the californian will extraordinarily insist that it is better but of course something must always be allowed for the patriotism of the california lobster served cold with mayonnaise or boiled 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 dominica 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 dominica of san francisco in its splendid service and its cuisine arrangements neither could they approach the romance that always surrounded the o'ferrell street restaurant it was here that most magnificent dinners were arranged it was here that extraordinary dishes were concocted by chefs of worldwide fame it was here that lobster a la newburg reached its highest perfection and this is the recipe that was followed when it was prepared in the dominica lobster a la newburg one pound of lobster meat one teaspoon full 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 and then place it in a stew pan 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 teaspoon full 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 shellfish one has to come to san francisco to partake of the king of shellfish 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 of 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 is not the gigantic claw 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 are many places which paid a special attention to the cooking of the crab among them being the cobweb palace previously mentioned and gobies gobie 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 gobies crab stew is too much for conventionality and his little private rooms were always full gobies 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 gobies of before the fire but his prestige did not descend to her almost all 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 a set of gobies it is as follows gobies crab stew take the meat of one large crab scraping out all the fat from the shell one good-sized onion one tomato one sweet pepper one teaspoon full butter one teaspoon full flour half a glass of sherry a pinch of rosemary one globe of garlic paprika salt and minnet 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 all together and gradually adding the salt and minnet pepper and stir in two tablespoons full cream heat this in a stew pan and when simmering add the sherry and crab meat and let all cook together with the slow fire for eight minutes serve in a chafing dish with toasted crackers or thin slices of toasted bread a dash of worcester shire sauce just before it is taken up adds to the flavor lobster in miniature crawfish or ecravice 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 importations 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 whole frow 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 by the famous friend Cattelli who both 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 no one ever regrets the time spent in its accomplishment this is the recipe for eight people and it is well worth trying if you're giving it dinner of importance bisque of crawfish take 30 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 mincer 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 minnet pepper and two ounces of butter put these ingredients into a stew pan and fry them 10 minutes then throw in the crawfish and pour on them half a bottle of french white wine allow this to boil and then at a court of strong consum 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 25 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 coil and four ounces of fresh butter thoroughly bruising the hole together so as to make a fine paste put this in a stew pan 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 to become firmly set through the coldness of the water take it out and put to a small basin and set it in the refrigerator until wanted reverting to the original recipe take the remainder of the crawfish and add there to three anchovies washed for the purpose and also the crust of french rolls fried to a light brown color in butter pound all these thoroughly together and then put them into a stew pan 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 finished by incorporating there with 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 in patients and prepare it. End of section 12. This is a LibreVox recording. All LibreVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer visit LibreVox.org. Recorded by Kirsten Ferreri. Bohemian San Francisco The Elegant Art of Dining by Clarence Edwards. Section 13. Clams and abalones. We cannot dispose of the shellfish 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 choiceless 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 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 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 crawfish bisque. There is but one right way to make clam chowder and that is either to make it yourself or closely to super intend 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 tablespoon for Worcestershire sauce, one tomato, salt and pepper. In a large stew pan place the salt pork cut into small dice and let this fry slightly over a slow fire until the bottom of the stew pan 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 onion 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 them with 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 stew pan and then pour on the top sufficient water to just show. Cover tightly and 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 eat 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 Sterrett 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 breadcrumbs 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 tablespoon fulls of this mixture into hot fat. Turn and cook for sufficient time to cook through. Then drain on brown paper and serve. Abalones 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 Hoffbrough 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 shellfish much in vogue among the Italian restaurants is mussels which are found to perfection along the coast. These are usually served bordelets and make quite a pleasant change when one is surfited with other shellfish but the best recipe is mussels marinere. 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 tablespoon full of butter. Let these boil very quick for 12 minutes keeping the pan tightly covered. Take off half shells and place the mussels in a chafing dish and pour them over 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 a greater variety of fish in Monterey Bay than anywhere else in the world. Monterey Bay is one of San Francisco 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 gourmetes 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 dad. Some gourmetes 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 are all good with many others following close in choice. Find striped bass from the ocean or black bass from the fresh water takes high place in preference. Then there is soul both in the fillet and wrecks as prepared at Jules under the Maudedknock building. Tom cod, rock cod, fresh mackerel and fresh cod, white bait and bone 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 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 villains still pursued her all you old timers will know who we mean. When he was here in the years long gone by it was his custom to go to the old California markets 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 spying 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 mounier, 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 Bon Gusto you will find a most excellent Cipino with Palenti 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 Jax striped bass cooked in wine it's what we think the best of the fish to be found in the market or at the restaurants cooked that way. Jules's is famous for his rec soul. 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 shellfish 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. End of section 13 Librebox.org This reading by Lucy Burgoyne Bohemian San Francisco Its restaurants and their most famous recipes The Elegant Art of Dining by Clarence Edwards Section 14 Some food variants and about dining Some food variants Variants of food preparation sometimes typify nationalities better even than variants of language or clothing Take the lowly cornmeal for instance We find the Italian Palenti Spanish Tamale Philadelphia Scrapple and Southern Darky Crackling Cornbread Armbit variants at the preparation of cornmeal Indelectable Foods It is a long step from plain cornmeal mush to Scrapple which we consider the highest and best form of preparing this sort of dish that all the intermediate steps come from a desire to please the taste with a change from simple cornmeal Crackling Cornbread 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 home killing time By mixing the cracklings with their cornmeal and making a poem which they cooked before an open fire on a hoe blade The first of this being called Crackling Hope 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 cornmeal 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 margarine Thyme Rosemary A little sage Salt and pepper Separate the meat from the bones and chop fine Strain off the liquor and boil with cornmeal Adding the chopped meat Put in the cornmeal 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 cornmeal 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 meat fine and moisten it with the liquor in which it was boiled Boil six large chilli 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 cornmeal and work into it a lump of butter the size of an egg Add in 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 centre of the dough put a teaspoon full of the chopped meat with minced olive On a large husk put several tablespoons 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 20 minutes Either veal or pork may be used instead of chicken Pelentine properly prepared is a dish that requires much labour And scarcely repays with the time an 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 Boyangusto restaurant in Broadway they cook pelentine to perfection And when it is served with chipino it leaves nothing to be desired This is the recipe Pelentine 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 30 minutes and then strain For the mush boil cornmeal 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 cornmeal Frying to a light brown Place the fried cornmeal 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 cornmeal Place this in another for a few minutes then serve About dining Tarble Dote 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 But 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 Tarble Dote dinner in some of the less expensive restaurants Take for instance the Buon Gasto in Broadway This restaurant boasts a good chef and the food is the finest the market affords He received a six course dinner for 50 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 beer as it was served us all derbs four pines five kinds of salad two kinds of soup seven kinds of fish four pines of paste royal spring chicken green salad with french dressing ice cream or rum omelette mixed fruits demi-tase with this is served a pint a good table one as one goes up with the scale of prices in the restaurants the charge a dollar one dollar 25 one dollar 50 two dollars two dollars 50 and three dollars 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 serve at the bill dear tally and compare it with the 50 cent dinner just mentioned salami and anchovies salad chicken broth with the Italian paste filet of English soul sauce tartare spaghetti or ravioli a scallop of veal paper sauce french peas with butter roast chicken with chiffon salad ice cream or fried cream assorted fruits and cakes demi-tase wine with this dinner is extra now going a step up in the scale we come to the dollar 50 dinner as follows anchovies salami note that it is the same as above the combination salad tortellini devolagna soup striped bass alla libanese ravioli alla dinners and spaghetti with mushrooms chicken saute Italian style with green peas squab with lettuce saboni fruit cheese copy wine is extra let us now look at the menu of the three dollar 50 dinner without wine pate di fobra truffles on toast salad olives alas for staff Italian ham prosciutto soup semino italiana with broday di capone pompano alla papalotti tortellini with fungi a pangetto frutto misto spring chicken saute carcola olifono capretto al porno con insalata omelette celestine fruit cheese and black crock 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 our dinners to suit all tastes and pop books 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 50 cent dinner as he will be at the higher price 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 dope 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 dope dinner composed entirely of seafood you can get it at the shellfish grotto for one dollar a good rule to follow when dining at any of the restaurants is when in doubt order a table dope dinner you will always get a good meal for the least outlay 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 order dinner and here it is where your own knowledge and special desires come in here too comes and marked increase in the cost you now have the widest range of possibilities both as to thians and as to price it is not at all difficult to have a dinner without wine that costs 25 dollars a plate and when you come down to the more normal dinners unless you can find yourself to one or two dishes you will find that you far exceed in price the table dope dinners of equal gastronic 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 provider table doc 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 affair 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 taste at a french restaurant but if you want to 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 sale break 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 minds how few people are there for an instance who know that one should never drink any hard liquor like whiskey 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 gastronic 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 wish 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 too 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've 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 their dry martini cocktails with russian caviar on a toast of rye bread an automobile was in waiting and at 7 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 we served a bottle of ponte canette 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 dubs or bratton and a small glass of sultana all the haste we made was on the streets and when we finished our course at the fior italia we wheeled away over toward north beach to the guian du ja where had been prepared especially for us tagliere with chicken livers and mushrooms and because of its success we had a bottle of lacrima christine's fermenti the enjoyment of which delayed us again in the automobile to coppers where chicken portola was served with green peas accompany this was a glass of croof and this was followed by a glass of savonee called dessert back again to the heart of the city and we stopped at raggis in montgomery street near commercial where we had a glass of brandy in which was a genotti a peculiar italian preserved fruit which is said to be a cross between a citron and an orange then around the corner to guilhardou and rondelles the market cafe where from the plain pine table and on sanded floor we had our coffee royale as a fitting climax for this evening we directed the chauffeur to drive to the clip house where over a bottle of croof we talked it all over as we watched the dancing and listened to the singing of the cabaret performance this dinner including everything from the automobile to the tips cost about fifteen dollars for each one in the party end of section 14 this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit libravox.org recorded by kirsten ferrari bohemian san francisco the elegant heart of dining by clarence edwards section 15 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 turned 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 the 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 been raised to a science that schools and even colleges in cooking are to be found in many parts of england france and germany franca telly the great chef who is at the head of queen victoria's kitchen boasts proudly of his diploma from the peresian 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 accepting 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 20 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 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 delicately measured as if it were a medicine the use of garlic so much decried as plebian 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 they're 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 two 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 the 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 lunches 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 stalls then 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 sightseeing 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 theater 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 nor 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 and 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 pastries that you never saw or heard of before you see boxes of dried herbs and begin to realize why you never have 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 it 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 coxcombs snails marvelous blood sausages with nuts in them rare cheeses prepared meats and 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 yet 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 the 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 steak and chops and fried potatoes nothing but a porter house 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 on 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 taglarini 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 makes 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 hallmark 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 all the house this called for an investigation of the larder in which all joined with the following result two cans of reed birds from china each containing 12 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 spumante item six hearty appetites to be appeased the gentleman who saw our light saw another and rushed off to a barbershop 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 omelette of the five eggs the onion and the green pepper with crumbs of bread and this is the recipe omelette of parochir 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 tablespoon full of olive oil in an omelette pan and in this fry the peppers and onion to a light brown when ready turn this into 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 their from 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 12 square crackers and on each place two reed birds and serve two on each of six hot plates with both the omelette and the reed birds serve vindoro end of section 15