# How Likely Would a Dinner at Delmonico's (1890) Make You Sick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908 "2011-05-23T15:33:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/41 "2011-05-25T13:27:21Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Here’s a link to a page showing a Delmonico’s menu from 1899: > > [Menu](http://www.fab-restaurants.com/content/fabulous-restaurants-online) > > Sounds pretty tasty. You know, I wonder if those prices are cents and not dollars? Even in a swanky place like that, a dime went a lot farther then. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/42 "2011-05-25T13:59:13Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > .. **BMalion** , that _Titanic_ dinner sounds wonderful. I’m envious. When I next see you I’ll show you some photos, we dressed the part. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/43 "2011-05-25T15:26:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You know, I wonder if those prices are cents and not dollars? Even in a swanky place like that, a dime went a lot farther then. Yes they are in cents - you can see some items are in the dollar range :eek: As I remember, around 1900 25 cents would buy a very nice cheap cut of steak dinner in a more common diner type place [remember the stead dinner in The Road to Wellsville in the tavern looking place?] Penny candies would be a small bag full of candies for a penny [open bag, grab shovel scoop and scoop a bunch of boiled sweets into the bag, give to urchin] I know somewhere online there is a page that shows food costs in 1900, I remember stumbling across it a couple years ago. I believe it was someones school project. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/44 "2011-05-25T16:42:39Z")
The book mentioned earlier, _Time and Again_, notes that in the 1880s you could get a stein of beer _and_ a buffet lunch for five cents. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/45 "2011-05-25T17:34:05Z")
The Waldorf Astoria began as a monumental “Eff you” from William Waldorf Astor to his aunt (by marriage) _The_ Mrs. Astor. He tore down his mansion and built a 13 story hotel, the Waldorf, that literally put her mansion in the shade part of the day, and then to add insult to injury had its restaurant offer a ten to twenty-five cent lunch menu that encouraged people who would otherwise never have lunch on 5th Avenue to come try it out. (They could eat cheaper certainly, but not on 5th Avenue and certainly not next to one of the most famous mansions in the city.) The Mrs. Astor couldn’t take it and moved to other digs, tore down her mansion, and built a bigger hotel, The Astoria. Eventually the two hotels merged and I seriously doubt they have budget menus for lunch anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/46 "2011-05-25T17:38:20Z")
And back then, nickels had bumblebees on them. “Give me five bees for a quarter,” you’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/47 "2011-05-25T18:49:51Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > And back then, nickels had bumblebees on them. “Give me five bees for a quarter,” you’d say. I still don’t understand why they wore onions on their belts though. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/48 "2011-05-25T20:57:31Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I still don’t understand why they wore onions on their belts though. It was the style at the time. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/49 "2011-05-26T00:59:17Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > It was the style at the time. You couldn’t get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908/50 "2011-05-26T03:44:04Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > You couldn’t get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones. And we _liked_ 'em, dadgummit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-likely-would-a-dinner-at-delmonicos-1890-make-you-sick/582908.md?page=2)