This is a title of no very ancient date in Paris. _Traiteurs_ have
long existed here: independently of furnishing repasts at home, these
_traiteurs_, like Birch in Cornhill, or any other famous London cook,
sent out dinners and suppers. But, in 1765, one BOULANGER conceived
the idea of _restoring_ the exhausted animal functions of the
debilitated Parisians by rich soups of various denominations. Not
being a _traiteur_, it appears that he was not authorized to serve
ragouts; he therefore, in addition to his _restorative_ soups, set
before his customers new-laid eggs and boiled fowl with strong gravy
sauce: those articles were served up without a cloth, on little
marble tables. Over his door he placed the following inscription,
borrowed from Scripture: "_Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis,
et ego restaurabo vos._"
Such was the origin of the word and profession of _restaurateur_.
Other cooks, in imitation of BOULANGER, set up as _restorers_, on a
similar plan, in all the places of public entertainment where such
establishments were admissible. Novelty, fashion, and, above all,
dearness, brought them into vogue. Many a person who would have been
ashamed to be seen going into a _traiteur's_, made no hesitation of
entering a _restaurateur's_, where he paid nearly double the price
for a dinner of the same description. However, as, in all trades, it
is the great number of customers that enrich the trader, rather than
the select few, the _restaurateurs_, in order to make their business
answer, were soon under the necessity of constituting themselves
_traiteurs_; so that, in lieu of one title, they now possess two; and
this is the grand result of the primitive establishment.
At the head of the most noted _restaurateurs_ in Paris, previously to
the revolution, was LA BARRIÈRE in the _ci-devant Palais Royal_; but,
though his larder was always provided with choice food, his cellar
furnished with good wines, his bill of fare long, and the number of
his customers considerable, yet his profits, he said, were not
sufficiently great to allow him to cover his tables with linen. This
omission was supplied by green wax cloth; a piece of economy which,
he declared, produced him a saving of near 10,000 livres (_circa_
400£ sterling) per annum in the single article of washing. Hence you
may form an idea of the extent of such an undertaking. I have often
dined at LA BARRIÈRE'S was always well served, at a moderate charge,
and with remarkable expedition. Much about that time, BEAUVILLIERS,
who had opened, within the same precincts, a similar establishment,
but on a more refined plan, proved a most formidable rival to LA
BARRIÈRE, and at length eclipsed him.
After a lapse of almost eleven years, I again find this identical
BEAUVILLIERS still in the full enjoyment of the greatest celebrity.
ROBERT and NAUDET in the _Palais du Tribunat_, and VÉRY on the
_Terrace des Feuillant_ dispute with him the palm in the art of
Apicius. All these, it is true, furnish excellent repasts, and their
wines are not inferior to their cooking: but, after more than one
impartial trial, I think I am justified in giving the preference to
BEAUVILLIERS. Let us then take a view of his arrangements: this, with
a few variations in price or quality, will serve as a general picture
of the _ars coquinaria_ in Paris.
On the first floor of a large hotel, formerly occupied, perhaps, by a
farmer-general, you enter a suite of apartments, decorated with
arabesques, and mirrors of large dimensions, in a style no less
elegant than splendid, where tables are completely arranged for large
or small parties. In winter, these rooms are warmed by ornamental
stoves, and lighted by _quinquets_, a species of Argand's lamps. They
are capable of accommodating from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred persons, and, at this time of the year, the average number
that dine here daily is about two hundred; in summer, it is
considerably decreased by the attractions of the country, and the
parties of pleasure made, in consequence, to the environs of the
capital.
On the left hand, as you pass into the first room, rises a sort of
throne, not unlike the _estrado_ in the grand audience-chamber of a
Spanish viceroy. This throne is encircled by a barrier to keep
intruders at a respectful distance. Here sits a lady, who, from her
majestic gravity and dignified bulk, you might very naturally suppose
to be an empress, revolving in her comprehensive mind the affairs of
her vast dominions. This respectable personage is Madame
BEAUVILLIERS, whose most interesting concern is to collect from the
gentlemen in waiting the cash which they receive at the different
tables. In this important branch, she has the assistance of a lady,
somewhat younger than herself, who, seated by her side, in stately
silence, has every appearance of a maid of honour. A person in
waiting near the throne, from his vacant look and obsequious
carriage, might, at first sight, be taken for a chamberlain; whereas
his real office, by no means an unimportant one, is to distribute
into deserts the fruit and other _et ceteras_, piled up within his
reach in tempting profusion.
We will take our seats in this corner, whence, without laying down
our knife and fork, we can enjoy a full view of the company as they
enter. We are rather early: by the clock, I perceive that it is no
more than five: at six, however, there will scarcely be a vacant seat
at any of the tables. "_Garçon, la carte_!"--"_La voilà devant vous,
Monsieur._"
Good heaven! the bill of fare is a printed sheet of double _folio_,
of the size of an English newspaper. It will require half an hour at
least to con over this important catalogue. Let us see; Soups,
thirteen sorts.--_Hors-d'oeuvres_, twenty-two species.--Beef, dressed
in eleven different ways.--Pastry, containing fish, flesh and fowl,
in eleven shapes. Poultry and game, under thirty-two various forms.
--Veal, amplified into twenty-two distinct articles.--Mutton, confined
to seventeen only.--Fish, twenty-three varieties.--Roast meat, game,
and poultry, of fifteen kinds.--Entremets, or side-dishes, to the
number of forty-one articles.--Desert, thirty-nine.--Wines, including
those of the liqueur kind, of fifty-two denominations, besides ale
and porter.--Liqueurs, twelve species, together with coffee and ices.
Fudge! fudge! you cry--Pardon me, my good friend, 'tis no fudge. Take
the tremendous bill of fare into your own hand. _Vide et lege_. As we
are in no particular hurry, travel article by article through the
whole enumeration. This will afford you the most complete notion of
the expense of dining at a fashionable _restaurateur's_ in Paris.