One cannot well write a book on Bohemian restaurants of San Francisco
without saying something about the great hotel whose history is so
intimately intertwined with that of the city since 1873, when William C.
Ralston determined that the city by the Golden Gate should have a hotel
commensurate with its importance. San Francisco and the Palace Hotel
were almost synonymous all over the world, and it was conceded by
travelers that nowhere else was there a hostelry to equal this great
hotel.
To the bon vivant the grills of the Palace Hotel contained more to
enhance the joy of living than anywhere else, and here the chefs prided
themselves with providing the best in the land, prepared in such perfect
ways as to make a meal at the Palace the perfection of gastronomic art.
There are three distinct eras to the history of the Palace Hotel, the
first being from 1876 to 1890, the second from 1890 to 1906, and the
third from 1906 to the present day. In the earlier days the grills, both
that for gentlemen and that for ladies, were noted for their magnificent
service and their wonderful cooking. A breakfast in the Ladies' Grill,
with an omelet of California oysters, toast and coffee, was a meal long
to be remembered. Possibly the most famous dish of the old Palace was
this one of omelet with California oysters, and it was prepared in the
following manner: