Creator
The Carlos
Title
Fixed Price
Coverage
New York City
Date
May 27, 1906
Description
In his diary, Ashcan School artist John Sloan recorded several visits to the Carlos on West 24th Street, which faced a drab building concealing architect Stanford White’s infamous love nest. The Carlos was the type of restaurant known as an “Italian table d’hôte,” offering an à la carte menu as well as an inexpensive set dinner with a pasta dish, such as the one shown here that cost sixty-five cents. The à la carte menu at the new Italian restaurants did not stray far from the standard American menu, typically offering Anglo roast meats, French-inspired entrées, and Italian-American dishes made with locally-available ingredients. It was a formula for success: by the twenty-first century there were 28,000 Italian restaurants (excluding pizzerias) in the United States.