Bohemian San Francisco | Page 5

be found, and the old El Dorado House, at
Portsmouth Square, was really what may be called the first Bohemian
restaurant of the city. So well was this place patronized and so
exorbitant the prices charged that twenty-five thousand dollars a month
was not considered an impossible rental.
Next in importance was the most fashionable restaurant of early days,
the Iron House. It was built of heavy sheet iron that had been brought
around the Horn in a sailing vessel, and catered well, becoming for
several years the most famed restaurant of the city. Here, in
Montgomery street, between Jackson and Pacific, was the rendezvous
of pioneers, and here the Society of California Pioneers had its
inception, receiving impressions felt to the present day in San
Francisco and California history. Here, also, was first served Chicken
in the Shell, the dish from which so many later restaurants gained fame.
The recipe for this as prepared by the Iron House is still extant, and we
are indebted to a lady, who was a little girl when that restaurant was
waning, whose mother secured the recipe. It was prepared as follows:
Chicken in a Shell
Into a kettle containing a quart of water put a young chicken, one sliced
onion, a bay leaf, two cloves, a blade of mace and six pepper-corns.
Simmer in the covered kettle for one hour and set aside to cool. When
cool remove the meat from the bones, rejecting the skin. Cut the meat
into small dice. Mix in a saucepan, over a fire without browning, a
tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of flour, then add half a pint of
cream. Stir this constantly until it boils, then add a truffle, two dozen
mushrooms chopped fine, a dash of white pepper and then the dice of

chicken. Let the whole stand in a bain marie, or chafing dish, until quite
hot. Add the yolks of two eggs and let cook two minutes. Stir in half a
glass of sherry and serve in cockle shells.

Early Italian Impression
Almost coincident with the opening of the Iron House an Italian named
Bazzuro took possession of one of the stranded sailing vessels
encumbering the Bay, and anchored it out in the water at the point
where Davis and Pacific streets now intersect. He opened a restaurant
which immediately attracted attention and gained good reputation for
its service and its cooking. Later, when the land was filled in, Bazzuro
built a house at almost the same spot and opened his restaurant there,
continuing it up to the time of the great fire in 1906.
After the fire one of the earliest restaurants to be established in that part
of the city was Bazzuro's, at the same corner, and it is still run by the
family, who took charge after the death of the original proprietor. Here
one can get the finest Italian peasant meal in the city, and many of the
Italian merchants and bankers still go there for their luncheons every
day, preferring it to the more pretentious establishments.
The French peasant style came a little later, beginning in a little dining
room opened in Washington street, just above Kearny, by a French
woman whose name was a carefully guarded secret. She was known far
and wide as "Ma Tanta" (My Aunt). Her cooking was considered the
best of all in the city, and her patrons sat at a long common table, neat
and clean to the last degree. Peasant style of serving was followed. First
appeared Ma Tanta with a great bowl of salad which she passed around,
each patron helping himself. This was followed by an immense tureen
of soup, held aloft in the hands of Ma Tanta, and again each was his
own waiter. Fish, entree, roast, and dessert, were served in the same
manner, and with the black coffee Ma Tanta changed from servitor to
hostess and sat with her guests and discussed the topics of the day on
equal terms.

In California street, just below Dupont, the California House boasted a
great chef in the person of John Somali, who in later years opened the
Maison Riche, a famous restaurant that went out of existence in the fire
of 1906. Gourmets soon discovered that the California House offered
something unusual and it became a famed resort. Somali's specialties
were roast turkey, chateaubriand steak and coffee frappe. It is said of
his turkeys that their flavor was of such excellence that one of the
gourmands of that day, Michael Reece, would always order two when
he gave a dinner--one for his guests and one for himself. It is also said
that our well-beloved Bohemian, Rafael Weill, still holds memories of
the old California House, of which he was an habitue, and from whose
excellent chef he learned