the very edge of the town, and the surrounding country
produced in abundance fine meats, game, all cereals and all vegetables.

But the chefs who came from France in the early days and stayed because
they liked this land of plenty were the head and front of it. They
passed on their art to other Frenchmen or to the clever Chinese. Most of
the French chefs at the biggest restaurants were born in Canton,
China. Later the Italians, learning of this country where good food is
appreciated, came and brought their own style. Householders always dined
out one or two nights of the week, and boarding houses were scarce, for
the unattached preferred the restaurants.

The eating was usually better than the surroundings. Meals that were
marvels were served in tumbledown little hotels. Most famous of all
the restaurants was the Poodle Dog. There have been no less than four
establishments of this name, beginning with a frame shanty where, in the
early days, a prince of French cooks used to exchange ragouts for gold
dust. Each succeeding restaurant of the name has moved further downtown;
and the recent Poodle Dog stands--stands or stood; one mixes his tenses
queerly in writing of this city which is and yet is no more--on the edge
of the Tenderloin in a modern five story building. And it typified a
certain spirit that there was in San Francisco.

For on the ground floor was a public restaurant where there was served
the best dollar dinner on earth. At least, if not the best it ranked
with the best, and the others were in San, Francisco. There, especially
on Sunday night, almost everyone went to vary the monotony of home
cooking. Everyone who was anyone in the town could be seen there off and
on. It was perfectly respectable. A man might take his wife and daughter
to the Poodle Dog.

On the second floor there were private dining rooms, and to dine there,
with one or more of the opposite sex, was risque but not especially
terrible. But the third floor--and the fourth floor--and the fifth! The
elevator man of the Poodle Dog, who had held the job for many years and
who never spoke unless spoken to, wore diamonds and was a heavy investor
in real estate. There were others as famous in their way--the Zinkand,
where, at one time, every one went after the theatre, and Tate's, which
has lately bitten into that trade; the Palace Grill, much like the
grills of Eastern hotels, except for the price; Delmonico's, which ran
the Poodle Dog neck and ne