menu
Member Sign In
  • IWFS Homepage
  • Blog Home
  • Forums Home
  • Global Forum
  • Contact Us
Close
  • IWFS Homepage
  • Blog Home
  • Forums Home
  • Global Forum
  • Contact Us
    Member Sign In
  • Blog Home
  • Forum Home
  • Global Forum
FOLOW US

Recent Posts

  • SHAW + SMITH ARE EXPRESSING ADELAIDE HILLS IN AUSTRALIA WITH VIBRANT MODERN CLASSIC WINES
  • Ask Sid: What are smudge pots?
  • CHATEAU PAPE CLEMENT VINTAGES BY BERNARD MAGREZ SHOW MUCH IMPROVED PESSAC-LEOGNAN QUALITY
  • Ask Sid: Which wine did golfer Rory McIlroy drink to celebrate his 2025 Masters win?
  • SEVEN SAN FRANCISCO RESTAURANTS WORTH TRYING

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

10 interesting facts about Delmonico’s – the restaurant that changed the way we dine!

October 8th, 2018 by Joseph Temple

Delmonico's restaurant history

By Joseph Temple

Prior to 1830, before brothers Giovanni and Peter Delmonico decided to convert their small café into New York’s poshest restaurant, American dining was, as described by Charles Dickens, “piles of indigestible matter.” Eating exclusively at home and stuffing cold sandwiches in your coat pocket during the work day, the idea of going out to enjoy first-rate dishes was clearly a foreign concept. But by completely transforming the landscape of what we now know to be fine dining, Delmonico’s became world-famous by offering patrons an experience of a lifetime! Modeled after the restaurants of Paris, one ate their Lobster Newberg or Chicken a la King in an ambience consisting of marble columns, glowing gaslights and only the finest silverware – a clear contrast from the numerous taverns and saloons that were ubiquitous around Manhattan.

Having ten locations during its existence from 1830 to 1923, Delmonico’s broke the mold by popularizing concepts that today we take for granted: table linens, a separate wine list and à la carte menus. Easily the most popular restaurant of the nineteenth century, its rich history maybe unparalleled in the history of American dining. So have a look below at ten interesting facts that made Delmonico’s legendary!



1. Delmonico’s was one of the first restaurants in the United States to print their menus in both French and English (on the backside).
blank


2. Known for its extravagance, one banquet in 1863 had fourteen courses with an unheard of 46 dishes listed on the menu.
blank


3. The restaurant was the first to offer Manhattanites something called the business lunch. During the 1830s, it was nearly impossible to get a hot meal during daylight hours.
blank


4. Head chef Charles Ranhofer, author of The Epicurean, was known to name dishes after its famous patrons. In honor of Secretary of State William Seward’s purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, he created the dessert Baked Alaska!
blank


5. Before Delmonico’s, wealthy families held balls and receptions at private homes. The restaurant became the first to serve as a meeting place for the elite’s most prominent events.
blank


6. Prominent guests included the Prince of Wales, Mark Twain, and every President of the United States after 1832. Abraham Lincoln, dining during the Civil War, told one of the Delmonico brothers that, “In Washington, where I live, there are many mansions, but no cooks like yours.”
blank


7. During the Civil War, Delmonico’s became known as a hot spot for the many Confederate sympathizers living in New York.
blank


8. The restaurant also earned itself a progressive reputation by being the first establishment to allow women to dine unaccompanied by men in 1868.
blank


9. Samuel F.B. Morse sent the first cablegram across the Atlantic from Delmonico’s in front of 350 diners.
blank


10. During the election of 1884, presidential candidate James G. Blaine hosted a dinner at Delmonico’s. Given its reputation for exorbitant and costly dishes, his opponent Grover Cleveland used it against him, tarnishing him as a puppet for “fat cat” millionaires.
blank

Sources:

Andrews, Peter. Delmonico’s: A History. New Word City, 2017.
Freedman, Paul. Ten Restaurants That Changed America. New York: Liveright Publishing, 2016.
Grimes, William. Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.
Haff, Harry. The Founders of American Cuisine: Seven Cookbook Authors, with Historical Recipes. Jefferson: McFarland, 2011.
Kamp, David. The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation. New York: Broadway Books, 2006.
Mariana, John F. How Italian Food Conquered America. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2011.
Maruzzi, Peter. Classic Dining: Discovering Americas’ Finest Mid-Century Restaurants. Layton: Gibbs Smith, 2012.
Walker, John R. Restaurant Concepts, Management, and Operations. Wiley Global Education, 2017.


You might also like:

October 8th, 2018 by Joseph Temple
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The object of the Society is to bring together and serve all who believe that a right understanding of good food and wine is an essential part of personal contentment and health and that an intelligent approach to the pleasures and problems of the table offers far greater rewards than the mere satisfaction of appetite.
Andre Simon Wine & Food Society Founder (1933)
© 2025 The International Wine & Food Society (IW&FS) IW&FS
Credits | Privacy | Accessibility