Menus

Civic Lunch, Inc., 40 N.W. First St., Phone 23042, Miami, Fla. Where low prices keep company with high quality. "Excellent food, speedy service, and immaculate surroundings are the three essentials to success in the restuarant business, according to Charles Gorgas, proprietor of the Civic Lunch, 40 N.W. First St., who has been feeding Miami officaldom for the past several years" (see " Civic Lunch Head Outlines Growth ," Miami News , Sept. 30, 1934, society section, p. 7).

For this menu, see the front (above), inside , and back . "Jackson-Jefferson Day Dinner honoring U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver, Abraham Lincoln Hotel, Reading, Pa., March 1, 1952." According to Wikipedia, " Jefferson-Jackson Day is the most common name given to the annual fundraising celebration (dinner) held by Democratic Party organizations in the United States. It is named for Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. During presidential election campaigns, certain dinners are considered important venues for candidates to attend." Estes Kefauver was a U.S. Senator from Tennessee who was seeking the Democratic nomination for president when this dinner was held in March 1952. He had adopted the coonskin cap as a campaign symbol after political opponents claimed that he was a "raccoon-like Communist puppet." The unique headgear became popular in the 1950s and 1960s as the result of television programs that featured Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone wearing coonskin caps. As Wikipedia explains, "In the 1952 presidential election , Kefauver decided to offer himself as a candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Campaigning in his coonskin cap, often by dogsled, Kefauver won in an electrifying victory in the New Hampshire primary, defeating President Harry S. Truman, the sitting President of the United States, prompting Truman to cease campaigning for renomination." Despite Kefauver's early success, the Democratic presidential nominee that year was Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson.

For this menu, see the front , inside (above), and back . Menu: "Half grapefruit maraschino, celery hearts, mixed olives, sliced roast tenderloin, parisienne potatoes, buttered lima beans, hearts of lettuce, Roquefort dressing, rolls, butter, coffee, blueberry tartlette." Program: "Address, Hon. Estes Kefauver, U.S. Senator, State of Tennessee. Music by Leo Brailer Trio."

For this menu, see the front , inside , and back (above). "Sponsored by Labor's League for Political Education."

The men of the Marion Hose and Steam Fire Engine Company, No. 10, of Reading, Pennsylvania, sponsored a trip, probably as a fundraiser, to Springfield, Massachusetts, where they dined on beef and turkey at the Hotel Gilmore on October 7, 1909. This keepsake menu for the meal was printed in portrait orientation over a postcard of The Connecticut River at Springfield, Mass., Mt. Tom in the Distance, 1909 (see below for the original landscape version). Hotel Gilmore, A. E. Smith, mgr., Springfield, Mass. Marion Hose and Steam Fire Engine Co. No. 10 of Reading, Pennsylvania. Dinner. Consommé Printiniere. Baked bluefish, parsley sauce. Catsup, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish. Fillet of beef larded, mushroom sauce. Roast young turkey, giblet sauce. Lettuce-celery salad. Mashed potatoes. Mashed turnips. Green peas. Rice pudding. Pies: apple, mince, peach. Coffee, milk, tea. October 7, 1909. Allied Printing Trades Council, Union Label, Springfield.

"The Connecticut at Springfield, Mass., Mt. Tom in the Distance." For additional information about this postcard, which was overprinted with a menu, see Marion Hose and Steam Fire Engine Company No. 10, Menu, Reading, Pa., 1909 (below).

Menu from page 3 of the program for the "Fourteenth Annual Watch and Wait of the Slumbering Ground Hog Lodge of Quarryville, in Pennsylvania," February 2, 1921 (see below for a transcription of the text). For additional information about the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge, see an enlargement of the groundhog illustration on the front cover of the program for the lodge's 1963 celebration, the full front cover of the program , and the back cover of the program . Ground Hog Day, Nineteen Twenty-One Ground Hog Feast Hotel Weber, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the Garden Spot of America. To sleep or not to sleep? That is the question. Whether 'tis weather-wise thus to suffer The stings and arrows of a Borean Winter, Or, by retreating to a cozy corner, burrow, and end them, To sleep, to hibernate and by a six-week nap To say we end the backache and the rheumatism And the hundred ills woodchucks are heir to, To hibernate! To sleep! Perchance to dream-- Aye, there's the rub! For in that death-like sleep What dreams may come, eke make me suck my paws, For who would prophesy and shake and shiver In an advancing cold wave and storm When he at once might rest and comfort take By getting in out of the wet. Menu Celery, Olives, Oysters on the Half Shelf, Vegetable Soup Stuffed Turkey, grown in Colerain Township Turkey Giblet Sauce Mashed Potatoes, raised in East Drumore Candied Sweet Potatoes, product of Beggar Row Cranberry Sauce, as sassy as can be made Quarryville Peas Salads, a la Eden Township Ice Cream, frozen in Lancaster Cakes Coffee, direct from Brazil, grown especially for ground hogs

A menu from an elaborate meal at the Irvington Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Independence Day, 1893. -------- "The Irvington, July 4, 1893, Dinner. Oysters on shell, snapper, consommé royal, Kennebec salmon, Hollandaise sauce, pommes à la Russe, cucumbers, capon, oyster sauce, prime ribs of beef, young duck, apple sauce, lamb, mint sauce, sweet bread patties, à la reine, braised tenderloin, with mushrooms, queen fritters, glace au rum, mashed potatoes, Bermuda potatoes, peas, tomatoes, cauliflower, cream sauce, rice queen olives, Worcestershire sauce, chow chow, cole slaw, lettuce mayonnaise, gherkins, lemon meringue pie, English plum pudding, brandy sauce, queen of puddings, vanilla ice cream, raspberry water ice, assorted cake, apricots, plums, bananas, figs, almonds, English walnuts, raisins, crackers, cheese, black coffee, milk. Wine list may be obtained from head waiter."

I haven't been able to uncover any information regarding Gustav Brünner and Helene Rumke, but see below for a Google-assisted translation of the German text of their wedding menu. -------- Menu zur Hochzeitsfeier des Herrn Gustav Brünner und Fräulein Helene Rumke am Sonnabend, den 11. Mai 1889. Krebssuppe. Ochsenfilet, Bratkartoffeln. Lachs, Butter, und Petersilie. Spargel, Spinat, Erbsen, Schinken, Ochsenzunge, gebr. Schweser. Kapaunen, Salat, und Compot. Eis, Backwerk. Butter, Käse, Nachtisch. Ernst Gravenhorst, Hamburg. -------- Menu for the Wedding of Mr. Gustav Brünner and Miss Helene Rumke on Saturday, May 11, 1889. Crab Soup. Fillet of Beef, Fried Potatoes. Salmon, Butter, and Parsley. Asparagus, Spinach, Peas, Ham, Ox Tongue, fried Sweetbreads. Capons, Salad, and Compote. Ice Cream, Baked Goods. Butter, Cheese, Dessert. Ernst Gravenhorst, Hamburg.

Front cover of a menu for a birthday dinner in honor of George Washington, State Normal School, West Chester, Pa., February 22, 1907. See below for the inside pages and back cover .

Inside pages of a menu for a birthday dinner in honor of George Washington, State Normal School, West Chester, Pa., February 22, 1907. See also the front cover and back cover of this menu.

Back cover of a menu for a birthday dinner in honor of George Washington, State Normal School, West Chester, Pa., February 22, 1907. See also the front cover and inside pages of this menu.

The Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, was built by Henry Morrison Flagler , "a Gilded Age industrialist, railroad pioneer, and partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil" (as described on Flagler College's Legacy of Innovation page). The luxury hotel opened on January 10, 1888, and this menu dates to February 26 of that year. Today, the hotel building is part of Flagler College . Gil Wilson 's History of the City of St. Augustine Web site contains additional information regarding the Ponce de Leon Hotel and Osborn Dunlap Seavey , the hotel's manager in 1888. Not to be confused with the Ponce de Leon Hotel in Roanoke, Virginia : Hotel Ponce de Leon, St. Augustine, Florida O. D. Seavey, manager Lunch, Saturday, February 25, 1888. Consommé. Julienne with rice, Pickled oysters. Fried shad roe, á la tartare. Radishes. Bermuda potatoes. Roast leg of mutton. Smoked beef tongue with spinach. Currie of chicken, á l' Indienne. Kidneys, sautés, with mushrooms. Baked sweet potatoes. New beets. Boston baked beans. Pressed corned beef. Game pie. Ribs of beef. Ham. Tongue. Mutton. Pickled tripe. Pickled lamb tongue. Asparagus salad. Chicken salad. Sliced tomatoes. Lettuce. Stewed prunes. Apple pie. Pumpkin pie. Ginger snaps. Lady cake. Croquettes Parisiennes. Assorted cake. Pistache ice cream. Fruit. American and foreign cheese. Tea. Coffee.

Hood College , located in Frederick, Maryland, was known as the Woman's College of Frederick until 1913, the year before this Thanksgiving dinner was held. -------- Hood College, Thanksgiving Dinner Menu, 1914, Menu Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat and we can eat; Sae let the Lord be thankit. --Burns. Grape fruit au marasquin, olives, celery, radishes, salted almonds. Lemon sherbert, roast turkey with giblet sauce, sweet potatoes en glace, cranberry jelly, corn en creme. Bird's nest salad, saltines. Mince pie, pumpkin pie, nuts, raisins, mints, cafe demi tasse. Ah, sweet content, where doth thy labour hold? --Barnabe Barnes.