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which insisted that nothing but scrambled eggs and bacon should
be included on a night club menu,
Mr.
Billingsley went all out for
the pleasure and satisfaction of those of his guests whose idea of
dinner or supper was something beside salami on rye. At one time
the Billingsley support of transcendental gastronomy included the
maintenance of a daily airplane service between Florida and New
York for the ferrying to the Stork of live stone crabs, fresh Gulf
pompano and other rare and costly viands from tropic waters. It
was
Mr.
Billingsley who, to the rage and consternation of com–
petitors in the restaurant business, inaugurated the presence at each
table of monstrous mounds of gigantic ripe olives and sheaves of
fresh Boston Market celery.
·
The lnenu has bristled from year to
y~ar
with game birds from
the grouse moors of Scotland, pheasant en plumage, :6.rkins of
pate de foie and casks of Caspian caviar·: The waiters tottered under
chateaubriands of outsize proportions culled from prize-winning
beeves, and the eyes of patrons lovingly caressed menus awash with
soups, sorbets and souffies reminiscent of Foyot's in the great days
and of Claridge's in London during the spring seasons before the
wars.
Three :fish dishes which are the pride of the Stork's chef are
Mousse of SoleWashington, Broiled PompanoTyrolienne and Baked
Lobster Excelsior. Mousse of Sole, which was first successfully
evolved by the great Escoffier at the Savoy in London and has been
universally hailed by gourmets as one of the triumphs of modem
culinary art because of the difficulty of retaining in concentrated
1
1
form the flavor of so delicate a :fish, is at the Stork poached and
garnished with Lobster a
I'
Americaine and ornamented with diced
mushrooms and truffies.
The pompano is broiled and ornamented with a sauce of French
onions and stewed tomatoes, while the lobster is a conventional half
71: Night