Chowhound (Chow Hound)
The word "chowhound" is probably best known today from the Chowhound food website. The term began as the two words "chow hound," with "chow" meaning "food"…
Hangover Breakfast
A "hangover" is a result of drinking too much; a "hangover breakfast" is the first meal taken after a night's drinking spree. The term "hangover breakfast" is…
Hangover Brunch
The words "hangover" and "brunch" were introduced in the 1890s and 1900s, but they weren't put together as "hangover brunch" until 1950 (the first recorded…
Devil’s Food Cake
Entry in progress -- B.P. Wikipedia: Devil's food cakeDevil's food cake is a rich, chocolate layer cake. Devil's food cake is aptly considered a counterpart to angel cake, that is…
Irish Soda Bread
Irish soda bread has long been a St. Patrick's Day treat. The name "Irish soda bread" dates in print to at least 1912, but the soda bread's "Irish" association became…
“Barbecue is as old as fire”
"Barbecue is as old as fire" writes John Egerton in his book Southern Food. A 1973 newspaper article about barbecue declared that "the practice is as old as fire." New York…
“Sales is vanity, profit is sanity, cash is reality” (“Volume/ Turnover/ Revenue is vanity…”)
"Sales is vanity, profit is sanity" (or "Volume is vanity," "Turnover is vanity," "Revenue is vanity") means that it's not how much that one sells that…
Caruso (cocktail)
The opera star Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) gave his name to the Caruso Cocktail -- gin, vermouth and crème de menthe. Most cocktail accounts agree that the Caruso cocktail had its origins in New…
Broadway Country Club/42nd Street Country Club (Knickerbocker Hotel bar)
The Knickerbocker Hotel (or Hotel Knickerbocker) was located on the southeast corner of Broadway and Forty-Second Street. The hotel opened in 1906, but Prohibition laws slowed business and it…
“We Cure Our Own Corned Beef; Our Chicken Soup Cures Everything Else” (Ben’s Deli)
Ben's is a deli located in Manhattan at 38th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Ben's began in the 1970s on Long Island, specializing in curing its own corned beef. "We Cure…
Fettuccine Alfredo
Fettuccine (a pasta dish with Parmesan cheese, butter and cream) had been served at Italian restaurants in the 1800s, but Alfredo di Lelio's restaurant Alfredo on the Via della Scrofa in Rome…
Tetrazzini (Chicken Tetrazzini; Turkey Tetrazzini; Spaghetti Tetrazzini)
Luisa Tetrazzini (1871-1940) was an Italian lyric coloratura soprano who had an enormous popularity in America from the 1900s-1920s. Several dishes were named after her, including: . Turkey…
Beef Wellington
Beef Wellington (or "Fillet of Beef a la Wellington") was served in New York City's fashionable restaurants in the 1930s and 1940s, although today it can rarely be found anywhere.…
Italian Ice
Italian ice (also known as "water ice") is similar to a snow cone or a piragua (Puerto Rico). Each summer, many street vendors and Italian restaurants offer the flavored ice treat.…
Celery Soda or Celery Tonic (Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda)
Dr. Brown's Celery Tonic was (according to the company) first produced in 1868 in Brooklyn. The Food and Drug Administration objected to its being called a "tonic," and in the 1900s…
Black Cow or Brown Cow (root beer float)
Entry in progress -- B.P. Wikipedia: Ice cream soda (variations)Root beer floatAlso known as a "brown cow" "black cow", the root beer float is traditionally made with vanilla…
Cream Soda
Cream soda (a carbonated soft drink0 is first cited in America in 1854. Cream soda became popular in New York City, where Hegeman's drug stores sold the product in the 1860s. Dr. Brown's…
Boston Cooler
A "Boston cooler" means several things: . Vanilla ice cream in a cantaloupe. In the Boston (MA) Journal of 1901, this Boston cooler of vanilla ice cream inside a cantaloupe was described…
“Okey-dokey, artichokey” (“Okie-dokie, artichokie”)
"Okey-dokey" or "okie-dokie' (an extension of "O.K.") has been in use since the 1930s. "Okey-dokey, artichokey" (also "Okie-dokie, artichokie") has…
Arnold Palmer or Half-and-Half (lemonade + iced tea)
An "Arnold Palmer" (named after the famed golfer) is a drink of half lemonade (sometimes pink lemonade) and half iced tea. The drink is also called a "half-and-half," although…