Oldest Restaurants in the USA and Europe

By Dr. Diane Holloway Cheney

Eating with others is a restorative activity. When dining in an historic restaurant, the setting, cuisine, and relics of the past take us back in time. We come to understand a people’s history through the restaurant, those who founded it, how it stayed afloat, special dishes, and past famous guests. Recipes featuring local foods prepared by distinctive chefs leave diners with a souvenir of a beloved restaurant. We may find ourselves swept away by the unique atmosphere, friendly waitpersons, and abundant information to inform our historic journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Feb 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662936944

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Alexandre Dumas was not only a novelist and playwright but a food author and connoisseur. He wrote Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo in 1844, The Man in the Iron Mask in 1850, and Dictionary of Cuisine in 1870. The latter book was not published until 1873 after he had died. Under his entry dinner he wrote:

A major daily activity, which can be accomplished in worthy fashion only by intelligent people. It is not enough to eat. To dine, there must be diversified, calm conversation. It should sparkle with rubies from the wine between courses, be deliciously suave with the sweetness of dessert, and acquire true profundity with the coffee.

In other words, the great writer believed in dining and chatting, with excellent food, dessert, wine, and coffee. He also mentioned the reason that restaurants have become important in the world—the opportunity for people to restore their bodies while talking to each other calmly on a variety of subjects. Sharing conversation while dining stimulates friendship and ideas.

Probably, since the beginning of agriculture required the combined and synchronized efforts of a group of people, mankind has evolved differently from other animals. After chasing prey and plants for sustenance on a daily basis, mankind is the only animal on earth that can plan meals and eat leisurely with each other. Some 10,000 years ago, planting and harvesting vegetables and coordinated slaughter of animals afforded a different lifestyle due to our larger brain. Yes, diet made a larger brain happen because we ate so much protein.

Around 700 B.C.E. (before the common era) or so, the ancient Greek works The Iliad and The Odyssey described people in dining together and chatting with other wayfarers as they gained sustenance for their bodies and information necessary for survival and successes. But eating in those age-old stories often had even more meanings. In The Odyssey, food was often used to entertain guests during a celebration. In the 1932 T. E. Lawrence’s (Lawrence of Arabia) translation of the Greek epic, eating and sexuality with dancing and music went together in Book 1:

But when their lusting for food and drink had been assuaged, the suitors began to mind them of other things; of singing and dancing, those twin glories which crown a feast.

There is an eating scene from the 1963 movie of Tom Jones in which Tom, played by Albert Finney, and actress Joyce Redman display sexual lust and food consumption from the bawdy 1749 book by Henry Fielding.

The desire for camaraderie between strangers while dining and drinking is portrayed in the 1974 Mel Brooks Gene Wilder movie Young Frankenstein as a blind man played by Gene Hackman welcomes the monster played by Peter Boyle to break bread with him. This ironic meal together ends in hilarious confusion.

Dining together sometimes allowed people to discuss plans to wreak havoc on foes or combine forces for the betterment of others. Sharing information about what is known and seen was a prominent role in dining with others in yesteryear as well as today’s world. Comparing ideas about happenings creates action plans as well as pleasant pastimes with others.

Alcohol at such gatherings can relax people as they socialize or sometimes release strong feelings and even obnoxious behavior. It has become a tradition in most parts of the world to combine food and spirited beverages in restaurants for evening meals. In our day and in our country, restaurant owners often follow rules to ensure the safety of diners both within their establishments and for controlled behavior upon departure from their site so that alcohol does not cause accidents.

This book will present the oldest restaurants in each of the United States as well as many European countries. When possible, recipes for some dishes served are included for those wishing to carry on food traditions preserved in these old restaurants. Historic facts and famous diners will often be mentioned allowing readers to understand life and activities that were quite different from our time.

Whenever possible, travelers are urged to frequent the restaurants described herein. And as Alexandre Dumas knew, the word restaurant comes from the word restore or renew. The first place called a restaurant was begun by Parisian Monsieur Boulanger who set up a little bouillon restaurant near the Louvre.

His motto as a soup vendor was Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis et ego vos restaurabo translated as Come to me all who suffer from pain of the stomach, and I will restore you. The motto reminds some of Jesus’s invitation in Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

The term café came from Turkish, Arabic, and Dutch coffee, tea, and drink places which began around 1600. It later included wine. Thus, people went to places that specialized in those drinks with some food that complemented the beverages chosen.

The word bar came from the long brass bar or counter where drinks were served. The word pub came from bars that were called public houses where one could drink and have some food or snacks that complemented the beverages chosen.

Restaurants are so important that movies were made about them. Here are a few of them.

Chocolat (2000) with Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, and Judi Dench was about a French woman who opened a chocolate shop that shook up the rigid morality of the community.

The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) with Helen Mirren was about a family from India who open a restaurant across the street from a French eatery and how competition became conviviality.

Chef (2014) with Robert Downey, Scarlett Johansson, and Dustin Hoffman was about a chef who quit his job and bought a food truck to make peace in his estranged family.

Julie & Julia (2009) with Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, and Stanley Tucci was about Julia Child’s start in the cooking profession and a blogger who cooked her first recipes.

Ratatouille (2007) with Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, and Ian Holm was about a rat who could cook and made a strange alliance with a young kitchen worker in a Parisian restaurant.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2001) with Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, and Raoul Bova was about a writer who impulsively bought a villa in Tuscany to change her life.

No Reservations (2007) with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart was about the life of a top chef when she became the guardian of her young niece.

Burnt (2015) with Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller depicted a chef who destroyed his career with drugs and bad behavior but redeemed himself by creating a top restaurant.

There are movies about eating including raucous scenes such as Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles bean eating scene, where all the cowboys relieve themselves of flatus with sound effects.

Now the fun begins. We will find that some old restaurants housed important events and others were mainly for refueling. In our day, three meals a day is the usual for most countries but not all restaurants are open for all three. Also, many specialize in cuisine available mainly in their own area. Others arrange for cuisine of all sorts because they intend to appeal to all levels and backgrounds of diners from places far and wide. Whatever restaurant situations we discover, we can imagine the happiness of the diners because we all know that food and drink are very enjoyable.

HOW ARE THE OLDEST RESTAURANTS IN THE UNITED STATES DIFFERENT FROM FOREIGN RESTAURANTS?

Readers will notice differences in the type of oldest restaurants in the relatively young United States compared to Europe, Asia, Africa, and other countries. America was a wilderness where Indians lived in a seemingly uncivilized manner. It was precisely because of these dangers that throughout time, mankind came together and created civilization, which makes our communal life possible. Those particular problems were unique to North America with a starting point in the 1600s.

Thus, most original North American restaurants were taverns and stagecoach stops. These self-contained operations provided vital functions in remote areas. They offered food and water for travelers and animals, played a role in tending horses, repairing wagons, providing shelter, and serving as post offices, trading posts, and information exchange sites between people.

Things bought and traded included flour, pork, powder, lead, blankets, butcher-knives, spirits, hats, ready-made clothes, coffee, sugar, etc. Doctors were few so patent medicines, alcohol, and wound tending supplies were valuable.

The frontier shaped American social and political life. The frontier where these old restaurants existed were the meeting points between savagery and civilization. There was even a fractious diversity between different stocks of settlers like English, Dutch, French, Scots, Irish, Swedes, Finns, Welsh, Germans, and even between Indians of different tribes.

Roadways went to and from places that were not yet lived in but they were imperative for the movement of people and goods. That landscape involved constant conflict and negotiation. In additional to those problems, there were perils of ruts, lack of bridges, rocks, mud, flooding, lack of water, disrepair, falling trees, storms, and bandit attacks.

Consequently, taverns became the unofficial political, economic, and social centers which often attracted individuals, each with his own particular political sentiments. Roadways and taverns directly influenced the decision-making of military leaders. They offered hospitality and served as a sphere of influence. Each tavern was a place to rest, dine, enjoy camaraderie and past-times for short periods, engage in economic activity, plan moves, and share information.

The oldest of our restaurants were critical in planning and moving troops of opposing armies during the American Revolution and the Civil War. Those troop commanders often used taverns to plan their strategies and learn the latest news. The oldest foreign restaurants were important to political movements, information sharing, and the development of allies.

Taverns, inns, and restaurants are decorated in ways which reveal the opulence or scarcities of settlers and travelers. They also reveal the distrust of foreigners and new ideas which took much time to become suitable for life on the isolated frontier.

All these characteristics demonstrate how the earliest restaurants in North American differ so much from the foreign restaurants in countries where long civilizations have removed the remote outposts, wilderness, and savagery. We begin with Alabama through Wyoming.

ALABAMA

The Bright Star Restaurant

304 19th St. N., Bessemer, AL 35020

[phone] [e-mail]

Alabama is known for its southern hospitality, its fresh Gulf seafood, its fried green tomatoes, and its history of civil rights.

The Bright Star Restaurant is a white tablecloth restaurant specializing in seafood and was founded by Greek immigrant Tom Bonduris. The talented young man was no blank page but was a page where everything had already been written, and with Tom, it was written with creativity and love.

Tom started this restaurant in downtown Birmingham in 1891 but moved it to Bessemer in 1907. The dining room had ceiling fans, tiled floors, and walls of marble and mirrors. He hired an artist to hand-paint murals just before finally opening at this location in 1915. The restaurant served working men’s food such as chili, sandwiches, and soup around the clock for miners working all shifts.

In 1925, Bonduris took in grand-nephews Bill and Pete Koikos from Greece. Fresh snapper was added to the menu in the 1930s as seafood from the Gulf Coast became available from Birmingham. Bill Koikos began serving fried snapper throats as a lunch special. That became a favorite and was named by Garden & Gun Magazine in 2008 as one of 100 Things You Simply Must Eat Before You Die.

The restaurant’s star-shaped neon sign was installed at the beginning of World War II in 1941. The 1907 Room was added in 1978 for banquet dining. The building was purchased and expanded with the Dixie and Green Rooms in 1985. In 2001, they added a bar.

Andreas Anastassakis was invited to run the kitchen and work together as a partner in 2010. Togetherness was an important term where a sense of community takes hold and people can bond together. That year, the James Beard Foundation recognized Bright Star Restaurant as an American Classic. It was named Alabama Restaurant of the Year in 2011-12 by the Alabama Restaurant Association. The restaurant crew has now grown to around ninety people.

Bessemer became a city just after the Civil War in 1869. There were iron ore, coal and limestone deposits in the area, and the city became a center of steelmaking from about 1890 through the 20th century. The town was named for the Bessemer process which was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron. That process removed impurities from iron by air being blown through the molten iron. Englishman Henry Bessemer took out the patent on the process in 1856.

The town attracted rural migrants from across the South, as well as European immigrants. By the 1950s, the city was largely African American in population. At the present time, it is 70% African American or Black. It is no wonder that Alabama was the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.

An interesting chicken made history in Bessemer. Residents Keith and Donna Barton bought the chicken at the Alabama Fairgrounds in 1990 and it lived until February 9, 2004, thus setting a Guinness World Record for the longest-lived chicken in the world. The Bartons’ had a magic act with the chicken which they took on the Jay Leno Tonight Show on September 9, 2004. They named their chicken Matilda after the popular Australian song, Waltzing Matilda because the chicken walked side to side in a curious manner, but it never laid eggs.

Bessemer, 16 miles southwest of Birmingham, was named in 2019 by Wall Street Journal as the worst town in Alabama in which to live. But Bright Star Restaurant continues serving the town of 26,000 and plenty of visitors. Be like a Greek and yell Opa! as you toast the crew or your friends.

We are grateful to the Bright Star Restaurant for a recipe of their popular Greek-Style Snapper.

GREEK STYLE SNAPPER

Bright Star staff recommends buying a whole snapper and portioning it yourself, but pre-cut fillets will do just fine. This recipe serves six.

Juice of 3 lemons

1 T. dried oregano

1 tsp. salt, plus more for seasoning

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

1 c. extra-virgin olive oil

6 (8-oz.) snapper fillets

½ c. unsalted butter, melted

½ c. all-purpose flour

6 T. vegetable or canola oil, divided

To make the sauce, whisk together the lemon juice, oregano, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. While whisking, slowly pour the olive oil into the lemon mixture until blended.

Place the snapper fillets on a large plate and drizzle with melted butter, coating each fillet evenly. Lightly dust each fillet with flour on both sides and season with salt and pepper.

In a heavy skillet or griddle, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add two snapper fillets to the skillet and cook until lightly brown, about 5 minutes per side. Remove to a warm plate. Repeat with remaining fillets, heating additional oil in the skillet as needed before cooking each batch. Serve immediately with desired condiments.

Food maven Martha Steward said: The mild, slightly sweet flavor and flaky texture of red snapper takes well to light seasoning and a quick sauté.

ALASKA

Olivia’s Restaurant at Skagway Inn

655 Broadway, Skagway, Alaska 99840

1 907-983-2289 1 888-752-4929

[e-mail]

Alaska is the northwest extremity of North America. It is the largest state by area and the most sparsely populated state. It was the entry point for the original settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge.

Olivia’s restaurant is housed in a bed and breakfast inn which began as the Gutfield residence. Enterprising Max Gutfield built his house in early craftsman style architecture, popular in the early 1900s. He built the front part in 1918 using materials from an 1897-1898 bordello on Second Avenue. In the 1920s, the middle section was added by moving a vacant 1901 warehouse from 4th Avenue and Main Street. A log cabin was attached to the rear of the building completing the look we have today.

The inn and restaurant on Broadway were in the Red-Light District where prostitution was a common practice. It was regulated but finally outlawed in 1910 so the bordello went into disrepair. During the Gold Rush, miners left families behind if they had any. So, they wanted women, food, and alcohol when they relaxed. The ladies who served them were occasionally arrested and paid fines, so their names and locations were on police files.

Each room at the Skagway Inn is named for a prostitute and some information about each one can be found on the website for the Inn. There were criminals in Skagway in those early days. Here lived the good, the bad, and the ugly. One was Jefferson Randolph Soapy Smith who was called the King of the Frontier Con Men.

Occasional special visitors came to Skagway such as President Warren Harding in 1923. The Skagway restaurant was often involved in treating such special people. Skagway, the home of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, became the first incorporated city in Alaska.

Robert Service, a Scotsman, had read of Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling who moved to America. He came over the pond but chose Alaska for his work and writing. He was in Skagway, Whitehorse, and Dawson. He is celebrated in Skagway for his poetry and stories. The city’s evil secrets mingled with the depths of his heart. Here is one of part of a poem about the Klondike:

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who toil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the barge of Lake LaBarge,

I cremated Sam McGee.

Excerpt from "The Cremation of Sam McGee. "

Others came to Alaska for monetary purposes and one of those was Donald Trump’s grandfather, Frederick Trump. He moved from Germany in 1885 at age 16. After work as a barber in New York, he headed for Seattle in 1891, where he bought a restaurant and named it the Dairy Restaurant. It was in Seattle’s red-light district, and he began to offer fronts for prostitution services. He moved on to Bennet in British Columbia and Whitehorse in the Yukon, which was then on the Alaska Highway to Skagway.

In Whitehorse, Frederick Trump offered private boxes (often called cribs) for ladies and parties. Those boxes were equipped with a bed for sex and a scale, used to measure out gold dust that customers used to pay ladies at the Arctic Restaurant in Whitehorse. A comical sign hangs in Whitehorse at Trump’s old site: Arctic Restaurant Birthplace of the Trump Family Fortune.

There are unusual items on the menu at Olivia’s such as reindeer sausage, greens and feta salad, and elk meatballs. They have no recipes to offer but here is a recipe for one of the best dishes served at Olivia’s--the Alaskan Halibut Cakes.

ALASKAN HALIBUT CAKES

2 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled, cut in large chunks or 3 c. instant mashed potatoes

2 T. butter

6 green onions, or scallops trimmed and finely chopped (3/4 c.)

1 lb. skinless Alaska halibut cut into large pieces

1 egg beaten

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

¾ c. (3 oz.) instant polenta, divided (flour or cornstarch is a substitute)

Vegetable oil for frying

Cook potatoes in lightly salted boiling water until tender. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Mash the potatoes and let them cool slightly. Melt butter in a medium pan. Add onions and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove onions from pan and set aside. Add halibut and cook until milky, breaking fish into chunks while cooking. Add the onions and halibut with any remaining butter to the potatoes. Mix well, add beaten egg and 2 tablespoons polenta. Season with salt and pepper. Form into 16 cakes using ¼ cup portion to form each cake. Sprinkle the remaining polenta onto a large plate. Lightly coat the fish cakes in polenta.

Fry the cakes in a thick layer of vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the fish cakes in batches, cooking about 3-4 minutes per side until browned and cooked through. Serve immediately.

Actress Mae West said: I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.

ARKANSAS

Oark General Store

117 Co Rd. 5241 Oark, Arkansas 72852

[phone]

Arkansas is known for its lakes, rivers, hot springs, rice, and poultry production, and has the only active diamond mine in the country. A diamond is forever but those who have dug in the mine believe it takes forever to find a diamond. The state’s terrain has mountains, caves such as Blanchard Springs Caverns, wilderness areas, and hiking trails.

The Oark General Store is surrounded by the Ozark Mountains off State Highway 215 about 21 miles north of Clarksville. F. M. Nelson moved here in 1889, purchased the land, and opened his store in 1890. Osage Indians occupied the area earlier, but French trappers and settlers were attracted to the scenic beauty, natural resources, and fur-bearing animals.

People come here to see the Mulberry River with class 3 rapids, Ozark Highlands Trail of 200 miles, and Trans-American Trail through Tennessee to Oregon. The population of Oark is 43 and the population of Ozark is 3,618.

Mr. Nelson carried articles that people needed for their homes, camping, and visiting as well as food. Gradually, it became a full-scale restaurant. Some 300 cars pass by every day and many stop for breakfast or lunch since the store is open from 8am to 4pm or sunset. Their worst season is winter when there are few customers, but locals keep a bit of business going.

The store and restaurant have changed hands several times and owners Brian and Reagan Eisele bought it in 2012 for about $170,000. They had worked in Washington, D. C. for congressmen. Despite lack of experience for such a project, they have learned from the former owner and their employees about what to do and how to do it. It’s hard to start over, but it’s good, they say.

Vintage gas pumps and machines give customers a taste of the olden days. Cars, motorcycles, and diligent hikers stop in. A cuddly dog and friendly smiles greet patrons, and the Trans-American Trail even brings travelers from other countries. Many such travelers are thirsty to traverse and know as much of the earth’s surface as possible.

The lunch menu includes burgers, chicken, salad, snacks, several home-made pies, and soft drinks and coffee. Alcohol is not served here. Reviews of the food and store are mixed with some talking about how cold it was so that coats were needed inside, and food that was sometimes not done properly. However, there are many rave reviews of burgers and French fries and pies. Their motto could be Target’s motto: Expect more, pay less!

It has greatly surprised travelers to be able to find such a restaurant in this very remote area and is worth a drive to enjoy this unique historical treasure. They have no recipes.

ARIZONA

The Palace, 120 S. Montezuma St. Prescott, AZ 86303

[phone] [e-mail]

Arizona is best known for the Grand Canyon, the mile-deep chasm carved by the Colorado River. The canyon is described by British author J.B. Priestley as a revelation. When you are there, you feel that God gave the Colorado River its instructions. It is all Beethoven’s nine symphonies in stone and magic light.

Prescott was the capital of Arizona twice; first in 1864-1867, and again in 1877-1889. Its Palace is the oldest business in Arizona as well as the oldest restaurant in the state. The original Palace Saloon was established on Goodwin Street in 1883 by Isaac Goldberg, a Jewish immigrant from Piotrkow near Lodz, Russia/Poland. As a barkeeper, in his memoir he described a rough character who came in the door.

A rough customer whom I did not previously observe told me, with a frightful oath, that I must take a drink at his expense, accompanying his request with a terrific display of murderous weapons. Filling the tin cup to the brim with fiery liquid, he ordered its instant disappearance on pain of death. But when I had consumed a portion of the unrelished draught, I abruptly dashed the remainder into the blood-shot eyes of the demented ruffian…. I had but little difficulty in overpowering, disarming, and binding him, prior to confining him in an adjacent hog pen.

As time passed, Montezuma Street had the most saloons and was dubbed Whiskey Row. Goldberg moved there and then moved on. Big brawny Dan Conner D.C. Thorne was lured west by gold and moved to Prescott in 1867. He invested in mines, married a possible fortune hunter, and purchased the Palace in 1868. In 1874, he opened the Cabinet Saloon next door to the Palace. There, Thorne kept a bear cub. To keep order in the saloon, the cub was released when customers got hostile, and it usually cleaned out the crowd.

By 1877, the Palace had many uses. Men came in to check for notices of available work, mineral claims were bought and sold over the bar, and elections for political races were held there. After all, it was Abraham Lincoln who said, If given the truth, [the people] can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts — and beer.

The Palace had other attractions. In 1880-1881, Thorne had three cock fights on the roof of the Cabinet Saloon, calling it the world’s oldest spectator sport. That shook up the staid crowd quite a bit. He also held lottery tickets for $25 every Saturday night. The ticket came with each person’s first drink.

Farida Mazar Spyropoulos, a belly dancer who went by the stage name of Fatima, got her start at the Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881. She appeared at the Palace at least once before she moved on to Chicago to appear at the World’s Columbian Exposition. She was Syrian and popularized this form of dancing, which came to be referred to as the Hoochee-Coochee, or the shimmy and shake. And as Irving Berlin wrote during Prohibition, You can’t make your shimmy shake on tea.

Sadly, Thorne’s wife died from childbirth complications, and he was not seen around much longer. A terrible fire burned most of the saloons on Whiskey Row in 1883. Fire, the eternal enemy of wood, wreaked havoc on the Palace and other wood-built saloons.

The Palace was rebuilt in lesser condition and became the scene of a murder. A part-time prostitute named Jennie Clark got into a fight with boyfriend Fred Glover one August evening in 1884. She was knocked down several times and may have been kicked on the floor. She died that night. Glover was tried and convicted for first degree murder and sentenced to be hung. However, the governor commuted the sentence to life in prison. It was further reduced when the next governor, Oakes Murphy, released Glover from prison the following year. Letting the punishment fit the crime was a sometime thing in early Prescott.

A new man came to town. Robert Brow moved from South Dakota to Tombstone, then Holbrook where he built a saloon and was elected constable. After his wife died and a storm washed his saloon away, he moved to Prescott and bought the Palace Saloon in 1892. Despite his terrible luck, he believed in the power of one—and that one was him. So he rebuilt the saloon in brick with a stone foundation and iron roof, supposedly fireproof. The interior features a 20-foot-long bar