Restaurants (part 1)
A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to be consumed on the premises. The term covers a multiplicity of venues and a diversity of styles of cuisine. Restaurants are sometimes a feature of a larger complex, typically a hotel, where the dining amenities are provided for the convenience of the residents and, of course, for the hotel to maximise their potential revenue. Such restaurants are often also open to non-residents.
History
The term “restaurant” (from the French “restaurer”, to restore) first appeared in the 16th century, meaning “a food which restores”, and referred specifically to a rich, highly flavoured soup. The modern sense of the word was born in around 1765 when a Parisian soup-seller named Boulanger opened his establishment. The first restaurant in the form that became standard (customers sitting down with individual portions at individual tables, selecting food from menus, during fixed
Whilst inns and taverns were known from antiquity, these were establishments aimed at travellers, and in general locals would rarely eat there. The restaurant became established in France after the French Revolution broke up catering guilds and forced the aristocracy to flee, leaving a retinue of servants with the skills to cook excellent food; whilst at the same time numerous provincials arrived in Paris with no family to cook for them. Restaurants were the means by which these two could be brought together – and the French tradition of dining out was born. In this period the star chef Antonin Careme, often credited with founding classic French cuisine, flourished, becoming known as the “Cook of Kings and the King of Cooks.”
Restaurants spread rapidly to the United States, with the first (Jul-lien’s Restarator) opening in Boston in 1794, and they spread rapidly thereafter. Most however continued on the standard approach (Service a la franaise) of providing a shared meal on the table to which
Types of Restaurants. Restaurants range from unpretentious lunching or dining places catering to people working nearby, with simple food served in simple settings at low prices, to expensive establishments serving refined food and wines in a formal setting. In the former case, clients are not expected to wear formal wear. In the latter case, clients generally wear formal clothing, though this varies between cultures.
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