Americas First Restaurant

By Frank Ruffo

            When I first decided to get involved in this food blog, my intention was to devote my blog to the review of restaurants. I’ll still do a couple of reviews, but I decided that it would be interesting to look into the history of the “Restaurant”, including, what was the name of the first restaurant, where it was located, and when it came into existence.

            Before I tell you what is considered to be the first restaurant in the United States, I have to point out that taverns, cafes and inns were not considered restaurants according to Joe O’Connell, food writer for Steak Perfection.com. They may have served food, but they only served a set meal at a set time and price. There were not any options, everyone paid the same price and ate the same meal that was being served on that particular day. These were termed “table d’ hote” (hosts table) or “prix fixe” (fixed price) or in a more common term, “set meal”.

            The first place in America that allowed you to order off of a menu a’ la carte, and therefore the first true restaurant in America according to Steak Perfection.com and Wikipedia, was Delmonico’s in New York City in 1830. Two Swiss born brothers, John and Peter Delmonico, opened a small café and pastry shop in 1837 at 23 William Street. In 1830 at 25 William Street, they opened their new business, a restaurant modeled after the restaurants of Paris. Those restaurants in Paris offered their patrons a bill of fare (menu) from which they could choose different dishes or a combination of dishes that were all priced separately.

                                    Picture of Delmonico’s on 44th Street circa 1898.

            Delmonico’s became one of the nation’s top dining establishments and the birth place of the “Delmonico” steak, which was the restaurants house cut. After reading this, since I’m a steak and potatoes man, I looked into the “Delmonico” steak. There is a twelve page story titled “Delmonico steaks: a mystery solved” on the web site, if you want to read the whole thing. (http://www.steakperfection.com/delmonico/Steak.html) After reading all about different cuts of beef and where on the cow they come from, and the different terminology used today, the conclusion is that the original “Delmonico steak” served at the original Delmonico’s restaurant was a 2’’ thick, one and a quarter pound boneless top loin steak. I can taste it now, highly seasoned, basted in butter and grilled to perfection, my kind of meal.

                                               

            Getting back to the restaurant, the Delmonico family ran their business operations through 1919. The businesses of the family had weathered wars, great fires of New York which had destroyed entire buildings housing their businesses, and the deaths of the two brothers that started the business. Despite the reputation of Delmonico’s, it could not withstand the battle between two of the sibling owners. Bankruptcy was filed for in 1919 and the last restaurant sold. The new owner’s reign lasted until 1923 and was the last Delmonico’s restaurant with ties to the original. The complete history of Delmonico’s can be found at http://www.steakperfection.com/delmonico/History.html.

Works Cited

O’Donnell, Joe. “History of Delmonico’s Restaurant and business operations in New York.” Steak Perfection 2001. Web. 8 February 2011

O’Donnell, Joe. “Delmonico Steak: a mystery solved”. Steak Perfection 2001. Web. 8 February 2011

Delmonico’s. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia 2010. Web. 8 February 2011