Los Angeles Public Library Menu Database

I'm not sure if this has been brought up on Chowhound yet, but earlier this year I happened upon this great link to LAPL's online restaurant menu database. It heavily favors menus from local L.A. restaurant history, but there is also a smattering of worldwide menus from San Francisco to Berlin. Once you get past the Library's Boolean search syntax, there's much nostalgic fun to be had...or you can just go down to the Rare Book Room @ the Central Library and drool on the menus in person.

On of my favorite menu designs:

Link: http://dbase1.lapl.org/pages/menus.htm

Image: http://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/t...

[Mr Taster]

Just a heads up (and flashback to 2004)

These links no longer work. LAPL's menu database can be searched using this link.

http://www.lapl.org/resources/en/menu_collection.html

Mr Taster

EDIT: Egg lemonade? http://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/f...

[posh]

Thanks for sharing. What a wonderful site.

And god bless the public library.

I think the Chinese name for the Mandarin ROom is Shuang Bao Ting - Double-Precious (dining) Hall. It's XiaoZhuan (sp?) script, small seal writing, archaic so it's my guess.

Yet more reason to love our wonderful library! I just found a program/menu from 1931 for an event honoring Albert Einstein at the Ambassador Hotel. Thanks so much for spreading the word!

There's also a 1972 menu honoring President Nixon at the Century Plaza Hotel. For dessert they served "Charlotte Republican" with chocolate sauce. Those animals!

Well you could hardly expect them to eat Charlotte Russe!

Thanks for the link. Here's one I found that is totally confounding. What in the world?

Image: http://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/f...

Just punny turnothecentury jokes -
Some guesses, i scream and coon walk are Ice Cream and Cake; spring offering is lamb; Jew's aversion could be any treyf, probably some ham in the sauce; Son of Noah is definitely Ham, etc.

It's a great website; was mentioned here before but's it's always nice to have a reminder and something for new people as well.

I was thinking pork & beans (Boston.)

Yup. ThAT makes more sense.

What asthmatic people are-coffee (cough)
Boston a la Jew's aversion-pork and beans

This is a challenge.

Extract of beef = cream ?

more guesses with help from co-workers!:

The beginning of trouble = tea
saccharine cubes = sugar
will w up in vinegar = cucumber pickles
bovine beeswax = (cottage) cheese

more tenuous guesses:
skipper's delight = port (but at a church social??)
spring offerings au jus = cherries or peaches in syrup?
fried merry-go-rounds = donuts?
revolvers = rolls

remaining question = where are the vegetables? peas or carrots should be on that menu!

You guys are whizzes!

The only one I got by myself was Saccharine Cubes.

Only a few left

The most delightful age of childhood
Extract of beef
Coon walk (racoon?)

I agree with Jerome below that coon walk is cake. It turns out to be a pretty interesting connection - I could live without the racial slur to get there though. According to the website below, the cakewalk was the first crossover dance craze from African Americans to white Americans via vaudeville in the 1890's.

And I also buy coffeebeast's extract of beef = cream.

Both of the above also make sense when you look at menu layout from that time period. They're often pretty formulaic and having the sweets and tea and coffee at the end looks right (which is why I don't think spring offering is lamb - altho' it makes total sense).

So I still want to know how come there aren't more vegetables on there - not even potatoes (unless that's the fried merry-go-rounds). And no soup either! What kinda cooks where these Minnesota guys?

So who's going to tells us what the childhood thing is? Or the congealed sweetness for that matter (some kind of jelly perhaps)? Thanks Elmomonster - this has been fun!

Link: http://www.riverwalk.org/proglist/sho...

"Or the congealed sweetness for that matter..."

A trifle perhaps?

Jello?

"most delightful age of childhood" = salad days???

brilliant!! I'm sure you're right...

salad days? I don't get it...?

I was thinking perhaps young goat as in "kid"...?

Being Minnesotans, can you make lutefisk or lefse fit any of the descriptions?

"salad days" is an expression.
http://www.wordorigins.org/wordors.htm

bovine beeswax: honeycomb tripe

This is hilarious! I cheated and Googled "son of Noah": the one we want is probably Ham. But this seems a bit redundant with my guess for Boston a la Jew's Aversion, which was Boston butt (pork shoulder).

That's great - thanks so much!