Some of these have lasted until now, but the majority have had to give way to bank and office premises. Of the old ones, Birch's, formerly in Cornhill, dates from 1700, and Stone's Chop House in Panton street W., from 177o.
The restaurant habit as known to-day in London dates from the later decades of the 19th century when large fashionable hotels began to cater to the needs of fastidious diners on an elaborate scale. Suppers after the theatre became popular, and the estab lishments attached to hotels competed at widely varying prices while small restaurants sprang up in Soho, run by French and Italian proprietors, and provided good dinners tastefully served, at reasonable prices.
Modern grill rooms are an even later offshoot of the hotels and restaurants, and owe their existence largely to the travelling American who, with his own ideas of comfort, felt he did not wish to dress every night, but that otherwise he would be out of place in a fashionable restaurant. The grill room made no demand for dress, and offered an excellent dinner, long or short as required, served with rapidity in luxurious surroundings. London's first grill room was opened by Spiers and Pond in the '6os under the arch at Ludgate Hill, and the Savoy hotel was the first of the large hotels to inaugurate a similar room.
One of the first restaurants in London was that opened at Whiteleys in 1873, purely for the benefit of customers, but that it was not enthusiastically received is shown in the first year's loss of £183 on £1,629 turnover. But from then on the idea grew in favour and the takings annually. Soup or fish, meat and vegetables were served for is. 6d. In 1884 the first A.B.C. teashop was opened near London Bridge Station, and was ridiculed, the coffee shops with their high-backed benches being still popular. Ten years later J. Lyons and Co. (q.v.) opened at 213 Piccadilly, their first teashop which was still open in 1928.
All the larger restaurants have banqueting halls and other rooms where Masonic, regimental, club and other festival dinners may be had at varying prices. Among the "classic" restaurants are the Carlton, Savoy, Berkeley, Ritz, Claridge's, Oddenino's, Romano's, and the Cafe Royal, and latterly the May Fair, the Dorchester, and the Grosvenor House.
The word restaurant in America was first applied to the dining rooms of the better class hotels and to a few high class a la carte restaurants. As establishments of different types came into being their character was fixed by some such expression as coffee-house, as in England. Then came cafés, lunch rooms, dairy lunch rooms, cafeterias, tea rooms, waffle houses, fountain lunches, sandwich shops and many others, all included in the general use of the word restaurant.
The early American eating places were patterned after the inns, taverns and coffee houses in England and on the Continent. In Philadelphia there was the Blue Anchor Tavern, opened as early as 1683 or 1684. Ye Coffee House was opened in 170o, the pro prietor being Henry Flower, who was also the postmaster of the province. In fact, the Coffee House was in all probability used as the post office for a time. The London Coffee House, opened in
1702, and the second London Coffee House, established in by William Bradford, printer of the Pennsylvania journal, and the City Tavern (1773) were meeting places for the sea captains, merchants and others who went there to transact their business, as well as social gathering places for the leading citizens. The City Tavern, later known as the Merchants Coffee House, was long considered the largest and best coffee house in America.
Ye Crown Coffee House, in Boston, was built in 1711 on the Boston Pier, or Long Wharf, by Jonathan Belcher.
In New York the famous old Fraunces' Tavern at Broad and Pearl streets near the Battery still stands, only the ground floor being used as a restaurant. Upstairs the Sons of the Revolution protect the collection of mementoes of Washington's life and times in the room in which he said farewell to his officers. Brown's Chop House was famous for many generations not only for its chops and steaks but for its unique collection of old photographs, prints and autographs. For years it was the rendezvous of journal ists, authors, actors and painters. The Old St. Denis on Broadway at II th street in the 9o's; Fleischman's Vienna Garden, opposite the St. Denis, with its continental touch; Dorlon's on 23rd St., famous for its sea food; the old Hoffman House; Cafe Martin and the Holland House should be at least mentioned. But supreme over all until Sherry opened was Delmonico, first built on Broad street, later moved to 26th street and finally to 44th street and Fifth avenue. Soon after Delmonico moved to 44th street, Sherry opened diagonally across the avenue and, attracting the younger generation, threatened for a time to usurp the crown so long worn by Delmonico. But the two great restaurants were both destined to go. Delmonico closed its doors, and the Sherry of to-day is not the old-time Sherry.
Begue's, opened over 6o years ago in New Orleans for the butchers of the city, is now a fashionable rendezvous.
Don's and the El Dorado House, famous for their Spanish cooking, were the earliest eating places in San Francisco in the pioneer days. Lavish feasts and exorbitant prices were the order of the day. The most fashionable restaurant was the Iron House made of sheet iron which had been brought in a sailing ves sel around the Horn. Unique among the restaurants was the Baz zuro, opened by an Italian. The first restaurant by that name was a sailing vessel which had run aground in the bay. Later this spot was filled in with land and a house built on the same site. The restaurant is still run by members of the original family. Other eating places of special interest were the Tehama House, fre quented by the army and navy officers; Marchand's, where the food was cooked in the window to entice the passerby; and the Mint, which boasted an old Southern mammy in the kitchen. Few of these famous places survived the San Francisco fire of 1906.