In Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie, one of the characters dines there: "Rector's with its polished marble walls and floor, its profusion of lights, its show of china and silverware, and, above all, its reputation as a resort for actors and professional men, seemed to him the proper place for a successful man to go."Īt first, the oysters - usually Blue Points - were shipped here through the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes, then later on daily trains from the East Coast.Įventually, their popularity - and safety concerns over shipping perishable seafood during the hot summer months - led Illinois legislators to institute a seasonal ban on oysters in 1901. "Demand was high because early settlers of Chicago came from New England and New York, where oysters were de rigueur," says food historian Bruce Kraig.Īmong the city's most famous were the Boston Oyster House, Race Brothers New England Oyster House, Chicago Oyster House and the famous Rector's Oyster House at Clark and Monroe. The celery fad would continue to leave its mark on American menus through the 1960s as an element of the classic steakhouse relish tray.įor a similar experience today, check out an old-school steakhouse like The Grill On the Alley or Lawry's The Prime Rib.ĭespite Chicago's lack of ocean front, the Loop hosted at least half a dozen oyster houses around the turn of the century. "Celery was huge," says Kraig, because "it got your gastric juices going, and because it had so much fiber it was thought to have helpful benefits for elimination of waste."
Historian Bruce Kraig said it was part of a celery health craze sweeping the nation. One of those standard dishes was raw celery served as its own dish. "So if a person said 'I want X' and it wasn't on the menu, they would fix it for them, because the idea was to have all the standard dishes, of which there were a lot." "They were supposed to have everything," she says. Whitaker says they were supposed to project an image of opulence, abundance and customer-pleasing service. While most of the dishes would seem at home on big steakhouse menus today, others like croquettes, turtle soup, pickled lamb's tongue, canned sardines and a whole section for wild game wouldn't anymore. Tables would have been decked out in linen tablecloths, China and silver, and the menu would have featured hundreds of items. These restaurants would have been filled with politicians, magnates, business people and middle-class folks celebrating special occasions. "They had money so they could hire a chef from Europe if they wanted to. "Hotels were like corporations at the time," says restaurant historian Jan Whitaker. Many of the fanciest restaurants were in hotels like the Palmer House, Sherman House and The Drake. Some of these restaurants were large, handsome eateries run by European immigrants, like Viennese pastry chef Philip Henrici, who owned Henrici's on Randolph. Others (but not all) offered controversial amenities like music, dancing and private booths.īut the controversy was also fueled by xenophobia, as illustrated by this investigation published in the Chicago Tribune in 1911:Īt the turn of the century, Chicago's finest dining rooms featured enormous menus, with steaks, chops, seafood and many European-influenced dishes, also known as continental fare. This is partly because some of Chicago's Chinese restaurants were located near the vice district.
Many were seen as risque, counterculture venues where customers could try "oriental" delicacies and briefly escape the more rigid societal norms of the time. But the reputation of chop suey houses, which ranged from little eateries to grand dining halls, was anything but bland. "One is because it was cheap food, and another is because it was considered exotic."īy most accounts, this "exotic" dish was little more than pork bits, onion and celery cooked in a bland, beige cornstarch and soy sauce. "Chop suey became immensely popular beginning in the 1890s for a couple of reasons," says food historian Bruce Kraig. This was partly because the city's first Chinatown was in the Loop - near Clark and Van Buren - but also because the nation was in the middle of a chop suey craze. By 1910, the Loop was already home to more than a dozen chop suey houses.
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