NEW YORK RESTAURANTS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 8034, 23 April 1888, Page 4

NEW YORK RESTAURANTS.

New Yorkers, to-day seldom pause in the midst nt a good jdinner at a firstclass hotel to reflect upon |ho extraOrdinary gastronomic advantages which they enjoy. To be sure, physicians and dyspeptics continue to dilate in public and in private upon the disastrous results of rich and intricate dishes, but people with pocket-books and digestions kept right along, and their funerals do not apparently outnumber those of their more abstemious fellow-citizens. The chief advantage of the year ISSB is that a man may enter any good hostelry, pick up an elaborate bill of ' are, order whatever suits his palate at the moment and comfortably settle back with a newspaper while the meal is being cooked for his especial benefit. Thirty years ago such a system was unknown iv the metropolis. All hotels cooked a regular dinner, and patronsof the house might take it or leave it, as taste dictated. The first hotel here to adopt the custom of serving dishes " to order" was the Irving House, • which was located on * Broadway and Chambers-street, opposite Stewart's store, where Delmonico settled later. New Yorkers were more conservative in those days and did not .take kindly for a time to the innovation, but the proprietor of the Irving held on, and the system gradually found favor and soon became general, for which let us bless the memory of the old Irving House. I was talking a day or two ago in Del-monico's'lip-town establishment with, a man wlio enjoys somewhat the confidence of this famed establishment, and whose opportunities for a knowledge of inside facts are exceptional. Referring to the termination of the gay season, with the adrent of Lent, I expressed a curiosity as to the average profits ef the place— for of all the splenditr houses ot entertainment which now grace the city ■ Delmonico's is about the only one which can depend absolutely upon a round credit at the end - of -the year. Said he : " I know that this year has been a very good one. There are to be considered the restaurant, the' cafe, the private diningroom, aud the ball-room. In the latter the great success of the New Year's ball stirred business up wonderfully, and many big society events haye since taken place here, including weddings, which pay par--1 ticularly well. The wealthy Hebrews are especially fond of this sort of wedding It is safe to say that the ball-room floor brings in an annual prolit of 100,000 dpi. In the catc there is an immense margin, as prices are at the top notch. A gallon of whisky, for which, perhaps, odol is paid, will bring in by tho glass at least lodol, and other things are in proportion. The same holds good in the restauraat, where you get everything of the best, and pay more than the best is worth. I estimate the entire profits of the establish- ' ment for the past year at 250,000d01. " Of course this sort !of thing is aft to make one more lenient towards the anarchists and envious of tho proprietors. But it isn't so bad to, be a subordinate here. Of this great proiit I understand that 200,000dbl go to the owners, and the manager and cook have an interest in all above that sum. For instance, the cook has a GOOOdol salary, and averages about 4000dol in commissions and perquisites. His interest in the surplns over 200,000d0l is not known, but it cannot be small, and his income probably falls not short of 15,000d0l a year Which poes to show that being chief for Delmonico is a trifle better than being a member of Cleveland's Cabinet."— New York correspondent Chicago HeraM'..