This week’s Story of America Card: “Early American Restaurants”
This week’s Story of America Card: "Early American Restaurants".
Restaurants were largely a creation of post-Civil War America, spurned by the growth of slaughterhouses and shipyards and well as mass-immigrant and former labor to Northern cities.
America’s oldest restaurant, however predates this period by a full 4 decades. The Union Oyster House in Boston, has been open continuously since 1826 and has had exactly 3 owners in 182 years.
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And, as someone who has eaten there several times now, it has a dang fine chowder to boot!
The neatest thing about the Union Oyster House, though, is how its small rooms mostly have these bizarre angles to their walls. It’s lightly claustrophobic, deeply atmospheric and completely a hoot and a half to walk in the front door, pass the bar and the oyster tank, up a rickety windy staircase in the back and up to the dining rooms on the second floor with their heavy wood tables and crazy old paintings. It’s one of my favorite restaurants in Boston, in case you couldn’t tell. 🙂
And, as someone who has eaten there several times now, it has a dang fine chowder to boot!
The neatest thing about the Union Oyster House, though, is how its small rooms mostly have these bizarre angles to their walls. It’s lightly claustrophobic, deeply atmospheric and completely a hoot and a half to walk in the front door, pass the bar and the oyster tank, up a rickety windy staircase in the back and up to the dining rooms on the second floor with their heavy wood tables and crazy old paintings. It’s one of my favorite restaurants in Boston, in case you couldn’t tell. 🙂