More great stuff gents….keep them coming. phlmaestro, Are you saying you can’t see my pics? Because I can. Hmmm.

Yes. I cannot see the menu photos you posed. It looks like there should be three of them.

You’re not alone…just little black squares on mine!

More great stuff gents….keep them coming. phlmaestro, Are you saying you can’t see my pics? Because I can. Hmmm.

Ugo Sguanci was a Long Island, NY, chef and restaurant owner. Even though I lived on Long Island and may have eaten in one of his places, our paths never crossed until after we had both retired. I met him in Quito, Ecuador, where he and his second wife had settled. His wife, Cecy, knew my wife from years ago in NY. My wife and I were in Quito and we were invited to their home for their annual Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner was great. Ugo and Cecy were very charming and the perfect hosts.

Afterwards, Ugo and I talked for a long time. Mostly, we talked about NY and all the places we both knew, from Monte s Venetian Room in Brooklyn to Nick s other place on the other end of Long Island, Gurney s Inn in Montauk.

He told me how he had first come to the US from Bologna, Italy, to cook for his aunt in her Manhattan restaurant. She owned the Mama Laura Restaurant on East 58^th Street.

I looked around online to see what I could find out about the long gone Mama Laura Restaurant. I couldn t obtain the real thing, but I did get a copy of the menu dating from, I m guessing, the late 1950s. I had it framed and brought it to Ugo. Even though I explained the pages were just copies, he was deeply touched. He explained that his tears were for his aunt, Laura. He recognized her handwriting on the menu.

Check out the prices of a NYC restaurant back then. From the full-dinner page, I think I d have the baked oysters, the onion soup, the filet mignon and the profiteroles glace for dessert. Not bad for $7.00.

Have you ever seen “The Complete Family Cookbook”? I bought one at an antique book store in large, thick format paperback…Thousands of every day c9mmon recipes, and cooking charts. My mom, rest her soul. loved that book(of the many, many she had. I’ve used it ever since. It started to fall apart a bit as paperbacks are wont to do. I looked on Amazon and was surprised to see copies for sale, used. Also found it in a looseleaf hard cover edition, which now has an honored position on our cookbook shelf.

I remember the first time I spent more than $10 for a single meal. It was for a steak dinner in the early 1980’s.
Hmmm…while I can’t be sure I wouldn’t be surprised if the first time I spent more than $10 on a meal was the https://www.aureliospizza.com Aurelio’s pizza I bought with my football pool winnings after the Dolphins beat the Bears in 1985.  Back then $10 would get you a decent amount of pizza and I was young enough to be able to eat it all.

I’m also a big fan of old menus, and old barbecue books as well.

phlmaestro, That’s a nice one…congrats. Here are a couple you should look for in the wild in your area. If you can find one online you will pay $$$.

About five years ago, I found a website that listed a few old restaurant menus from 100 years ago.  It compared the menus of 1914 to those of 2014.  (I may have found it through a link on this site.  I don’t remember.)  If you are interested in restaurant menu history, you may enjoy this.  (Scroll your cursor back and forth to see the difference between the menus.)

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/nyc-restaurant-menus-100-years-ago?utm_term=.auJroLJ2z https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/nyc-restaurant-menus-100-years-ago?utm_term=.auJroLJ2z

Great book and thread phlmaestro, I have been collecting menu’s for years and have slowly weened my collection of @ 1000  down to @ 100. 

What did you emphasize in deciding which 100 to keep? 

At least at this point, I’m satisfied to just read them online or in this book and don’t feel the need to have actual old menus in hand. If I see a menu for a restaurant to which I had a close attachment, I may make an exception and buy it. An Imperial Inn menu would definitely interest me. I’ve written about that place and how much it meant to me extensively on here.

phlmaestro, Good question. Having been in the Restaurant Biz all my life along w/ being an artist, I am drawn to both the graphics and the regions. Places near where I have lived or frequented. I enjoy the history of restaurants and have always collected vintage Restaurant memorabilia and Roadside items (Gas-Food-Lodging pics/postcard/etc) including service ware. Tiki and Diner have also played a part.

I was looking at those prices from 1977.  It reminds me of the six months I lived in the Detroit area in the latter half of 1976.  I could eat three large restaurant meals a day for less than $10.  Because it was close by, 1/4 of the time I ate at Elias Brothers’ Big Boy restaurant chain, but I explored as many of the restaurants in the area as my $70 a week in extra spending money would allow.  I ate so much that I gained 25 pounds in the first two months.

Louis,

I remember the first time I spent more than $10 for a single meal. It was for a steak dinner in the early 1980’s. I was aghast. Now that $10 gets you two coffees at Starbucks.

Jim

Great book and thread phlmaestro, I have been collecting menu’s for years and have slowly weened my collection of @ 1000  down to @ 100. 

Hell, that must have been difficult!