The Ritz Restaurant holds an exceptional position in the dining world of Paris. The Ritz Hotel is not a large one, but the Ritz Res- The Ritz, Place taurant is of a goodly size, and therefore Venddme the Ritz establishment is a restaurant firstly and an 22 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe hotel secondly. It is the restaurant of the smartest foreign society in Paris, and the English, Americans, Russians, Spaniards, dining there always outnumber greatly the French. It is a place of great feasts, but it is also a restaurant at which the maitres d'hbtel are instructed not to suggest long dinners to the patrons of the establishment. In M. Elies’ hands or that of the maitre cThotel there is no fear of being “ rushed ” into ordering an over-lengthy repast. This is a typical little dinner for three I once ate at the Ritz, and as a feast in the autumn it is worth recording and repeating : — Caviar. Consomme Viveni. Mousseline de Soles au vin du Rhin. Queues d’Ecrevisses a TAmericaine. Escalopes de Riz de veau Favorite. Perdreaux Truffes. Salade. Asperges vertes en branches. Coupes aux Matrons. Friandises. In the afternoon the long passage with its chairs, carpets, and hangings, all of crushed strawberry colour, is filled with tea-drinkers, for the “ five o’clock ” is very popular in Paris, and the Ritz is one of the smartest if not the smartest place at which to drink tea. In the evening the big restaurant, with its ceiling painted to represent the sky, and its mirrors latticed to repre- sent windows, is always full, the contrast to a smart English restaurant being that three-quarters of the ladies dine in their hats. Sometimes very elaborate entertainments are given in the Ritz, and I can recall one occasion on a hot summer night, when the garden was tented over and turned into a gorge apparently somewhere near the North Pole, there Varis 2 3 being blocks and pillars of ice everywhere. The anteroom was a mass of palms, and the idea of the assemblage of the guests in the tropics and their sudden transference to the land of ice was excellently carried out. The Summer Restaurants Of all the pleasant impressions that Paris leaves on the mind of any one not too blase to be receptive the remembrance of breakfasts and dinners eaten in the open, with delightful surroundings of flowers and green turf and great trees, is one of the pleasantest. The little tables, the white-aprone*d waiters scuttling over the gravel, the checker of light and shade, the colour and movement are all redolent of the spirit of Paris. Breakfast at Ledoyen’s on the day of a vernissage at one of the Salons, dinner at the Armenonville or Pre Catalan or Chateau de Madrid on a hot June night, tea at the Cascade after a race day at Long- champ, are part of the life of all those who are in the movement ; and to watch the bourgeoisie enjoying themselves whole-heartedly at the Porte Jaune in the Bois.de Vincennes, to sit on the terrace at the Pavilion Henri IV. at St. Germain and to look over the plain and the twisting rivers towards Paris, to breakfast at the Pavilion Bleu at St. Cloud, and afterwards see the merry-making of the bridal parties that have come out from the city, are each a separate delight.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The Ritz Restaurant holds an exceptional position in the dining world of Paris. The Ritz Hotel is not a large one, but the Ritz Res- The Ritz, Place taurant is of a goodly size, and therefore Vendôme the Ritz establishment is a restaurant firstly and an 22 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe hotel secondly. It is the restaurant of the smartest foreign society in Paris, and the English, Americans, Russians, Spaniards, dining there always outnumber greatly the French. It is a place of great feasts, but it is also a restaurant at which the maitres d'hbtel are instructed not to suggest long dinners to the patrons of the establishment. In M. Elies’ hands or that of the maitre cThotel there is no fear of being “ rushed ” into ordering an over-lengthy repast. This is a typical little dinner for three I once ate at the Ritz, and as a feast in the autumn it is worth recording and repeating : — Caviar. Consomme Viveni. Mousseline de Soles au vin du Rhin. Queues d’Ecrevisses a TAmericaine. Escalopes de Riz de veau Favorite. Perdreaux Truffes. Salade. Asperges vertes en branches. Coupes aux Matrons. Friandises. In the afternoon the long passage with its chairs, carpets, and hangings, all of crushed strawberry colour, is filled with tea-drinkers, for the “ five o’clock ” is very popular in Paris, and the Ritz is one of the smartest if not the smartest place at which to drink tea. In the evening the big restaurant, with its ceiling painted to represent the sky, and its mirrors latticed to represent windows, is always full, the contrast to a smart English restaurant being that three-quarters of the ladies dine in their hats. Sometimes very elaborate entertainments are given in the Ritz, and I can recall one occasion on a hot summer night, when the garden was tented over and turned into a gorge apparently somewhere near the North Pole, there Varis 2 3 being blocks and pillars of ice everywhere. The anteroom was a mass of palms, and the idea of the assemblage of the guests in the tropics and their sudden transference to the land of ice was excellently carried out. The Summer Restaurants Of all the pleasant impressions that Paris leaves on the mind of any one not too blase to be receptive the remembrance of breakfasts and dinners eaten in the open, with delightful surroundings of flowers and green turf and great trees, is one of the pleasantest. The little tables, the white-aproned waiters scuttling over the gravel, the checker of light and shade, the colour and movement are all redolent of the spirit of Paris. Breakfast at Ledoyen’s on the day of a vernissage at one of the Salons, dinner at the Armenonville or Pre Catalan or Chateau de Madrid on a hot June night, tea at the Cascade after a race day at Longchamp, are part of the life of all those who are in the movement ; and to watch the bourgeoisie enjoying themselves whole-heartedly at the Porte Jaune in the Bois de Vincennes, to sit on the terrace at the Pavilion Henri IV. at St. Germain and to look over the plain and the twisting rivers towards Paris, to breakfast at the Pavilion Bleu at St. Cloud, and afterwards see the merry-making of the bridal parties that have come out from the city, are each a separate delight.

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