From Prohibition to Today

	From Prohibition to Today

			Fine dining, fueled by wine and liquor, was killed by Prohibition. Delmonico’s closed in 1923. The Waldorf survived only because hotel guests needed to be fed. 1930 Thanksgiving Day menu from the Elks Club in Elmhurst, New York : an all American menu for $1.50. Entrees were salmon, halibut, sweetbreads, lamb, duckling, capon, and turkey. The menu notes "The Prohibition Law forbids furnishing accessories with knowledge that the same are for use in the consumption of intoxicating liquor."

	The 1930s saw a new type of restaurant -- the family restaurant, serving basic, simple, wholesome, comfortably "American" food. Instead of haute cuisine, the 1930s restaurants provided a break from household chores and an opportunity to socialize. 1935 Thanksgiving Day menu from the Governor Clinton Hotel : $2 bought an all American menu from celery to American cheese with saltines. Entrees were turkey, ham, and crab newburgh.

The rebirth of haute cuisine began slowly, in 1941, with "Le Pavillon." Staffed by refugees from war-torn Europe, Le Pavillon raised the level of sophistication of American restaurants by training a new generation of chefs. French terms and French sauces began to reappear on American Thanksgiving menus.

Ethnic restaurants are not a new phenomenon in America. The earliest group whose cuisine had an effect on restaurant cooking were the Germans in the 1850s, followed by the Chinese in the 1870s, the Italians in the 1880s, the Russians in the 1920s, and the Mexicans in the 1950s. (Because of its early supremacy, French cooking was never considered ethnic cooking.) Ethnic restaurants blossomed with the adulthood of the baby boomers. They were well-educated and well-traveled, open to new flavors, and took food authenticity seriously.

In 1997, Plymouth’s Sam Diego’s Restaurant served a traditional turkey dinner as well as "Hungry Pilgrim Burritos."