Welcome to A Retro Kitchen!: Marshall Field & Company's dining rooms

I'm reading a fascinating history of Marshall Field's, my by-far favorite department store when I lived in Chicago. It's Give the Lady What She Wants, by Lloyd Wright and Herman Kogan, who also draw from the work of Lloyd Lewis and Robert Wycliffe Twyman of the history department of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and others. The book is from 1952 so of course things have changed pretty much completely -- though a few of my very favorite dishes are from there from the last millennium! and many of my favorite memories are from relaxing there and admiring the beautiful products and surroundings.

Here's some of the history of their dining rooms! They were started at the behest of Harry Gordon Selfridge, who of course went on to start Selfridge's in England! It all started with a tearoom in 1890 with 15 tables with a red rose on each and a menu featuring what I still think of as typical of classic department store restaurants: chicken pie, chicken salad, orange concoctions, ice cream, corned beef hash (well, actually I've not encountered the latter). Eventually there were several restaurants, including one with an open grill and one serving "sandwiches in tiny baskets with bows on their handles."

I'm seeing nice websites about this store, including http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/05/marshall-field-company-chicago.html and https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2008/12/11/department-store-restaurants-marshall-fields/ and http://americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise-exhibition/corporate-era/shopping .

My favorite bit of non-eating history! about Marshall Field's is that when none other than William Morris was popular, they dedicated a whole room to his and his people's offerings.

You'll find old and new ideas on this site...

I love playing with both food and history and am trying to combine these loves here and in various projects. My most recently published was a fun 3-volume set, which you can get free below, which speaks much of cuisine in a little known part of the world from earliest times to 700 CE....Speaking of old, this is a reincarnation of three old blogs, one shared with friends all over the world and called something like Our Favorite Food This Week, and then one called That Was Delicious that started my toying with retro food ideas, and then A History Writer in the Kitchen where I explored history more....I have kept many posts from those blogs, including many recipes I thought you might like.

Enjoy!