The Gourmets Guide to Europe | Page 4

was owned by a M. Chevereuil. The ownerships of
MM. Chellet and de L'Homme marked successive steps in its upward
career, and when the restaurant came into the market in '79 or '80 it was
bought by a syndicate of bankers and other rich business men who
parted with it to its present proprietor. The Comte de Grammont

Caderousse and his companions in what used to be known as the "Loge
Infernale" at the old Opera, were the best-known patrons of the Anglais;
and until the Opera House, replaced by the present building, was burnt
down, the Anglais was a great supping-place, the little rabbit-hutches of
the _entresol_ being the scene of some of the wildest and most
interesting parties given by the great men of the Second Empire. The
history of the Anglais has never been written because, as the proprietor
will tell you, it never _could_ be written without telling tales anent
great men which should not be put into print; but if you ask to see the
book of menus, chiefly of dinners given in the "Grand Seize," the room
on the first floor, the curve of the windows of which look up the long
line of the boulevards, and if you are shown the treasure you will find
in it records of dinners given by King Edward when he was Prince of
Wales, by the Duc de Morny and by D'Orsay, by all the Grand Dukes
who ever came out of Russia, by "Citron" and Le Roi Milan, by the
lights of the French jockey club, and many other celebrities. There is
one especially interesting menu of a dinner at which Bismarck was a
guest--before the terrible year of course. While I am gossiping as to the
curiosities of the Anglais I must not forget a little collection of glass
and silver in a cabinet in the passage of the _entresol_. Every piece has
a history, and most of them have had royal owners. The great sight of
the restaurant, however, is its cellars. Electric light is used to light them,
luminous grapes hang from the arches, and an orange tree at the end of
a vista glows with transparent fruit. In these cellars, beside the wine on
the wine-list of the restaurant, are to be found some bottles of all the
great vintage years of claret, an object-lesson in Bordeaux; and there
are little stores of brandies of wondrous age, most of which were
already in the cellars when the battle of Waterloo was fought.
From a gourmet's point of view the great interest in the restaurant will
lie, if he wishes to give a large dinner, in the Grand Seize or one of the
other private rooms; if he is going to dine alone, or is going to take his
wife out to dinner, in the triangular room on the ground floor with its
curtains of lace, its white walls, its mirrors and its little gilt tripod in the
centre of the floor. Dugleré was the _chef_ who, above all others, made
history at the Anglais, and the present proprietor, M. Burdel, was one
of his pupils; and therefore the cookery of Dugleré is the cookery still

of the Anglais. _Potage Germiny_ is claimed by the Café Anglais as a
dish invented by the house, but the Maison d'Or across the way also
laid claim to it, and told an anecdote of its creation--how it was
invented by Casimir for the Marquis de St-George. The various fish _à
la Dugleré_ there can be no question concerning, the _Barbue Dugleré_
being the most celebrated; and the _Poularde Albufera_ and the _Filet
de Sole Mornay_ (which was also claimed by the Grand Vefour) are
both specialities of the house. You can order as expensive a dinner as
you will for a great feast at the Anglais, and you can eat rich dishes if
you desire it; but there is no reason that you should not dine there very
well, and as cheaply as you can expect to get good material, good
cooking, and good attendance anywhere in the world. The "dishes of
the day" are always excellent, and I have dined off a plate of soup, a
pint of Bordeaux, and some slices of a _gigot de sept heures_--one of
the greatest achievements of cookery--for a very few francs. I always
find that I can dine amply, and on food that even a German doctor
could not object to, for less than a louis. For instance, a dinner at the
Anglais of half-a-dozen Ostende Oysters, _Potage Laitues et
Quenelles_, _Merlans Frits_, _Cuisse de Poularde de Rôtie_, _Salade
Romaine_, cheese, half a bottle of Graves 1e Cru, and a bottle of
St-Galmier costs 18 francs.
Voisin's, in the Rue St-Honoré, the corner house whose windows,
curtained with lace, promise