A Few Favorite Restaurants
July 8, 2016
What a surprise to open this 1958 issue of Gourmet and find ads for all my parents’ favorite restaurants! My father’s office was right above The Dubonnet, and my parents ate there a few times a week. Now I see why: a 7-course dinner was $3, and given my mother’s cooking it was probably the safest, most economical option. (Besides, Mom would never have eaten seven courses, so she probably reduced her cost to about a buck.) How lucky for me: our favorite waiter, Max, used to take me into the kitchen and introduce me to exotic spices. I remember mostly French food, but now I see that it was French-Hungarian and its appeal to my German father becomes clearer.
We ate at the late, lamented Luchow’s at least once a week. My father usually had Kassler Ripchen with a side order of chanterelles. Mom always ordered the apple pancake (the size of a large pizza, it was flambeed at the table). I think I ordered something different every time I went; the menu was huge and there was so much to explore.
Charming. Old. And the place where my parents were married. (After a hitch; when the management discovered that the minister marrying them was African-American, they tried to wriggle out of the contract. My indomitable grandmother wouldn’t have it.) Sadly, after an eighty year run the restaurant closed last month.
Another Mom favorite. Also charming and old. (This too had a long run; it just closed last year.)
Categorised in: Vintage Books and Magazines
11 Comments
The Silvermine Tavern had a great bar- The red Barn was right off the Merit-
I remember reading about your mom’s cooking in Tender at the Bone…no wonder Dad wanted to eat out! 🙂
The Red Barn shut just last year, actually.
Sorry! Missed your comment re: the closure of the Red Barn.
Thanks for bringing back memories of Luchow’s! For a Mexican family it was exotic food.
Thanks for a wonderful journey !
Driving past the Luchow’s location yesterday, I pointed it out to the young man(probably in his late 20’s) in the car and told him of the wonderful times and good food we enjoyed there.
Of course, he had never heard of it. His loss.
We visited Luchows coming off the Wel-Met Camps bus, MadisonSquare, hiking boots and happy for the splendid treat that was Luchows–or was it Union Square. Oom-pa-pa, raspberry bottomed glasses of …..? Sauerbraten, red cabbage, dumplings — high heaven!
For many years my parents flew to New York (from Cleveland, Ohio) monthly for my father’s business. They often spoke of the great food at all the best restaurants. Luchow’s was their favourite. It was very nice to be reminded of it.
1958 was a very good year. My father mother and I ate out every Sunday, mostly in Greenwch Village. The Coach House, with its black bean soup, was a favorite. Cocktails, dinner and wine was under $25 for three. Harry
Silvermine Tavern gone…oh no! Went with my parents. The puff pastry swan with ice cream and chocolate sauce unforgettable. And the location so beautiful. So sad the millennials did not embrace. A loss for the new generation.