(For two): Take six eggs, one hundred California oysters, one small
onion, one tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of flour, salt and
pepper to taste. Beat the eggs to a froth and stir in the onion chopped
fine. Put the eggs into an omelet pan over a slow fire. Mix the flour
and butter to a soft paste with a little cream, and stir in with the
oysters, adding salt and pepper to taste. When the eggs begin to stiffen
pour the oysters over and turn the omelet together. Serve on hot plate
with a dash of paprika.
This is the recipe of Ernest Arbogast, the chef for many years of the
old Palace. The slightly coppery taste of the California oysters gives a
piquancy to the flavor of the omelet that can be obtained in no other
way, and those who once ate of Arbogast's California oyster omelet,
invariably called for it again and again.
We asked Jules Dauviller, the present chef of the Palace, for the recipe
of what he considered the best dish now prepared at the Palace and he
said he would give us two, as it was difficult to decide which was the
best and most distinctive. These are the recipes as he wrote them for
us: