Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Eating History

I love food history and when I found this book at a local antique store it brought a big smile to my face, and not just because it was 80% off the $7.99 price. Published some time close to 1950 (from extensive research I did on the businesses who advertised within), it was compiled by the Longfellow Parent-Teacher Association. They must have been a fun group - and good cooks too from the recipes included within. The only name I recognized was Mrs. Frank X. Tolbert who submitted her recipe for Dill Potato Salad.

But I'm interested also in all of the restaurants and food businesses that advertised within, and was wondering how many of you have memories of these places? Please leave word if you remember any:

Cabell's Dairy * Beef N' Bun (2 locations) * Fred's (1 Super Drive-In and 7 Barbecue locations) * Bluff View Farms Dairy and Ice Cream * Cohen Candy Company * Lucas B & B (1 Restaurant, 1 Bakery, and 4 Farms - Packing House, Poultry, Dairy and Ice Cream Plant) * Vick's Restaurant (4 locations) * Little Bit of Sweden * The Southern Kitchen * Ernie's Bakery * Sammy's Restaurants * Dinner Time Food Service.
Thank you!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Amy,

I too am a cookbookaholic and have just stumbled across your site while researching the answer to a question I will present below...

Meanwhile, I remember Lucas B & B, Little Bit of Sweden (was on the backside of Inwood Village and had a huge rotating turntable buffet) – my mom and I used to go there. The space later became occupied by the S&S Tea Room when it moved from HP. Also, I remember the Southern Kitchen on NW Hwy just west of Harry Hines. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet of southern classics (unfortunately, as a young teen I once contracted food poisoning there). Last I knew, the space became a huge “gentleman’s club” a.k.a. stripper joint. Awww, fond memories.

Here’s my question for you... I now live in Los Angeles and until the financial foes of this past year we had an amazing cookbook shop here called the Cooks Library – it closed in recent months. One day I was there perusing cookbooks and came across two that I loved and in hindsight, should have purchased. One of them was for either the Dallas Museum of Art (not the soup cookbook – I have that one), or the Dallas Symphony, or perhaps another arts org, but fairly certain it was one of those two. There was a section on a variety of spreads for hors d'oeuvres and one in particular was a recipe that I had lost… cream cheese, olives, and pecans. There were several other spread variations. Do you have any idea what book that might have been? It was not an old edition – fairly recent and I thought the cover was mostly white. I cant find it online.

The other book was Matt’s Ranchero Restaurant and included their famous Bob Armstrong Dip – queso with ground beef, guacamole, and sour cream on top.

Kindest,
Truett
taglaca@roadrunner.com