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…
Crabmeat Remick (Crab Meat Remick)
Crabmeat Remick (or "crab meat Remick" or "crab Remick") was created at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, about 1920, by chef Nestor Lattard. Lattard frequently named dishes…
Peanut Gallery
A "peanut gallery" is the top balcony of a theater -- the cheapest seats with usually the furthest views of the stage, and where the crowd often got rowdy. The term "peanut…
“Never say diet”
"Never say die" is a phrase cited in print from at least 1814. "Never say diet" has been the title of several weight-reducing books and articles, including a 1980 book by…
“Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet”
"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" is an old saying. "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet" is an American variant, cited in print from at least 1904.…
“There is a lot more juice in a grapefruit than meets the eye”
Eating a grapefruit with a spoon often results in plenty of unwelcome squirts. The joke that a grapefruit has more juice than "meets the eye" has been a popular one since at least 1931,…
“If you were my husband, I’d poison your coffee” (Nancy Astor to Churchill?)
The following joke is frequently told about Nancy Astor (1879-1964) and Winston Churchill (1874-1965). Astor supposedly said: "if I were your wife, I'd put poison in your coffee!"…
Crabmeat Dewey or Crab Meat Dewey (Crab Meat a la Dewey)
"Crabmeat Dewey or "crab meat Dewey" ("crabmeat a la Dewey" or "crab meat a la Dewey") was a specialty of two gone-but-not forgotten New York City restaurants --…