ISSUE 33, VIRGINIA, Part 1: Virginia's First Restaurant
Virginia’s First Restaurant
The restaurant in the United States is a distinctive institution. From the first it emphasized the recuperative power of superlative food—soups and roasts particularly—in the climb maldisposition to health. Julien’s Restorator in Boston was the first, in 1794. While numbers of institutions offered meals and hospitality at the beginning of the 19th century, no one placed quite the premium on the food. Taverns and Inns were all about the beverages. Coffee-houses were about stimulants as well as alcohol. Hotel saloons aspired to a certain splendor in repast, but the menu was table d’hote rather than a’la carte, the hallmark of the restaurant. So what was the first self-identified restaurant in Virginia—the first house of entertainment that embraced the tasks of recuperation and refreshment?
In September 1820 Daniel Schelling announced the opening of his “Restorative,” in the fire proof house, three doors above the Post Office in Norfolk. It would be “upon the plan of European establishments of a similar nature.” Like Boston’s famous Julien (Jean Baptiste Gilbert Paylat, 1753-1805), a nourishing soup was a daily fixture, offered at 11:00 a.m. That most potent of all restorative foods, Calves Foot Jelly, known to counter invalids’ loss of appetite and flood the body with nourishment, “may be had at short notice.” Indeed, it was among the trio of consumables—toddy, calves foot jelly, and beef tea—administered to people in perilous condition. The mainstays of the menu—beef steaks, oysters, and relishes (meaning side dishes)—were perhaps not so distinctive, having been the advertised allurements of John McCleod’s “Beer House” in 1799 Alexandria, and Domini Bearcrafts “Oyster and Beefsteak House” in Alexandria through most of the 1820s.
The duration of Schelling’s experiment is not known. He advertised only during his opening weeks. He may have been the Daniel Schelling who died in New York City in 1825 at 55 years of age. Whatever the case, he should be recognized as the first restaurateur in the Old Dominion.