When the business titans and power brokers of mid-19th century New York wanted to wheel and deal over lunch or dinner, they headed to the all-male dining room at Astor House—Gotham’s first luxury hotel, located steps from City Hall.
But what about their wives, mothers, and sisters—where could they share a table if they wanted to catch up over a meal?
Not only did the 360-room Astor House have innovative features like private bathrooms and an in-house gas plant. This hostelry, built by multi-millionaire John Jacob Astor, also had a ladies’ dining room—or a “ladies’ ordinary,” as it was called when the hotel opened in 1836.
Sure it was smaller than the main restaurant and situated on the south side of the hotel, which stood on Broadway between Vesey and Barclay Streets, rather than in the center.
But in a sex-segregated era when women and men spent much of their time in separate spaces, the Astor House Ladies’ Ordinary provided the rare place where a sit-down meal could be had for a solo female traveler, a group of women friends, or a mixed-gender party.
This 1843 breakfast menu speaks to 19th century New York’s same-sex dining culture. The offerings probably weren’t much different than the menu in the men’s dining room. But if you were an upper-class women in search of a morning meal, here’s what you could order.
Options abound, with an emphasis on meat and seafood—like boiled mutton, boiled tongue, and the mysterious “small birds, Italian style.”
What exactly is “jole and cabbage”? This dictionary tells me that jole is an “obsolete” term for jowl, so perhaps the cabbage was served with guanciale.
About those side dishes, they sound like gut-busting dinner entrees, not breakfast fare. Calf’s head and brain sauce, anyone?
As for “peach ice” in the dessert section, I’m not sure if this refers to ice cream—a handmade delicacy of the era—or a peach-flavored iced dessert, like an Italian ice. Either way, it sounds more satisfying than a bowl of filberts.
By the time Astor House closed and was fully demolished in the 1920s, dining culture had changed significantly. Women alone or in groups were no longer viewed suspiciously by taking a table at a restaurant, from higher-class eateries to local luncheonettes.
Still, it took many decades for the gender divide in old-school bars to disappear. Not until 1970 were formerly all-male taverns forced by law to accept women customers—as McSorley’s Old Ale House on East Seventh Street did so with deep reluctance.
[Top image: NYPL Digital Collections; second image: NYPL Digital Collections; third image: MCNY, X2011.34.4477]