Creator
Parker's Restaurant
Title
À la carte
Coverage
Boston
Date
June 29, 1842
Description
Parker’s Restorant opened in 1832 in a low, basement room near the Old State House, where it was well situated to serve the commercial and professional classes. The word “restorant” is an early spelling that referred to the specialized shops in eighteenth-century Paris that sold health-restoring bouillons. This menu is organized by “Dishes Ready Cooked” and “Dishes Cooked to Order,” giving diners the option of eating quickly so they could get back to business. The prices are shown in increments of a sixteenth of a dollar, units that were then common to accommodate the widespread use of the Spanish real and other foreign coins. The United States outlawed the use of foreign coins in 1857 when the country had enough gold and silver to mint all of its own specie. Restaurateur Harvey Parker established the famed Parker House on School Street in 1855.