Creator
Kimball Hotel
Title
Table d’hôte
Coverage
Atlanta
Date
March 16, 1888
Description
Although the new Kimball House was the finest hotel in Atlanta, there is no French on this menu and the middling entrées hint at the frugality of everyday life in the South after the Civil War. One of the better dishes is roasted ribs of “New York beef,” reflecting Gotham’s position at the center of the national food distribution chain. The most distinguishing feature of this minor historical document is the handsome, full-length portrait of African-American headwaiter Thomas H. Frazier (1852–1903). The image of Frazier symbolized the ambience of the dining room at the Kimball House, which was a matter of civic pride. Snippets about Frazier occasionally appeared in the Atlanta Constitution where he was lavishly praised for handling all of the arrangements for President Grover Cleveland’s stay at the hotel in 1887.