1946 The Stock Club Bar Book by Lucius Beebe

which insisted that nothing but scrambled eggs and bacon should be included on a night club menu, Mr. Billingsley went all out for the pleasure and satisfaction of those of his guests whose idea of dinner or supper was something beside salami on rye. At one time the Billingsley support of transcendental gastronomy included the maintenance of a daily airplane service between Florida and New York for the ferrying to the Stork of live stone crabs, fresh Gulf pompano and other rare and costly viands from tropic waters. It was Mr. Billingsley who, to the rage and consternation of com– petitors in the restaurant business, inaugurated the presence at each table of monstrous mounds of gigantic ripe olives and sheaves of fresh Boston Market celery. · The lnenu has bristled from year to y~ar with game birds from the grouse moors of Scotland, pheasant en plumage, :6.rkins of pate de foie and casks of Caspian caviar·: The waiters tottered under chateaubriands of outsize proportions culled from prize-winning beeves, and the eyes of patrons lovingly caressed menus awash with soups, sorbets and souffies reminiscent of Foyot's in the great days and of Claridge's in London during the spring seasons before the wars. Three :fish dishes which are the pride of the Stork's chef are Mousse of SoleWashington, Broiled PompanoTyrolienne and Baked Lobster Excelsior. Mousse of Sole, which was first successfully evolved by the great Escoffier at the Savoy in London and has been universally hailed by gourmets as one of the triumphs of modem culinary art because of the difficulty of retaining in concentrated 1 1 form the flavor of so delicate a :fish, is at the Stork poached and garnished with Lobster a I' Americaine and ornamented with diced mushrooms and truffies. The pompano is broiled and ornamented with a sauce of French onions and stewed tomatoes, while the lobster is a conventional half

71: Night