Whatever happened to "family-style" restaurants

[andiesenji]

After reading through many posts on the tasting menu thread, I recalled that we used to have several "ethnic" restaurants around the greater Los Angeles/Orange County area that served "family-style" in that almost every type of food they served was set out on long tables and one could try as many or as few as they wished.

One Greek restaurant in the Valley served this way one night a week. The individual tables were pushed into three long rows and down the center of the table were bowls or platters of all of their specialty dishes on each table.

We would sit down, pass things back and forth, selecting perhaps only a bite from each and if we liked it, taking more later.

This introduced me to several dishes that I would never have ordered from reading the menu because there was not enough description of the flavors, etc.

An African restaurant in West L.A. had a similar routine as did a Morrocan restaurant, I can't recall where it was located. There was also a Mexican restaurant in Brea, Orange County.

I liked these places because I could sit down and not have to trundle along a line as one had to do at a buffet type service, but had almost the same variety of foods.

(I do not care for buffet service at any time, when I happen to be in a restaurant that has a buffet brunch, or whatever, I always order off the menu. I do not want to carry my food around a room, I want to be served. I also tip generously.....)

Even the desserts were intersperced with the main dishes so if one had a sweet tooth, that could be satisfied early in the meal or at the end.

The wait staff served drinks, wine or coffee at the Greek place, refilled platters and bowls and removed plates when one was finished.

As far as I can determine, all of these places are no longer in business. A sad passing

[Pan]

I see you're using "family-style" differently from the way I'd think of the term - probably because the style of restaurant you're talking about may not have existed in my lifetime. To me, a "family-style" meal is one in which you are expected to share dishes, which is often the case in Chinese, Korean, and Indian restaurants, for example. But that is not what you described.

[andiesenji]

These are shared with others at the tables.

At the Greek place each long table would seat as many as 20 people and there were rarely any empty chairs. They had three seatings on Saturday beginning at 4 p.m., a second at 7 and the third at 10. They had entertainment that started at 6 and continued to midnight.

It was fun, meeting strangers who liked the same foods, getting recommendations, "take a bit of this, it tastes heavenly," etc. Passing platters and bowls up and down the table and talk, talk, talk.

I met several people who became very good friends and still are, after all these years.

The only rule they had was no children under 10 years.

It became so popular that they had reservations weeks in advance for the later seatings.

[Milt]

The concept you are describing is alive and well in the southeastern states. Here in Georgia, the Smith House in Dahlonega serves several meats and several vegetables family style at long tables. The Dillard House in Dillard does similarly. This approach works particularly well in an area where the typical traditional southern restaurant serves a choice of a meat and a choice of a couple of vegetables along with biscuits and/or cornbread and, of course, sweet tea.

The other place where I have been served family style at long tables, along with whomever happened to be seated alongside of me, was at the Maifest in Hermann, Missouri. I am not Catholic, but I always ate at the Catholic church in Hermann during the Maifest. They served wonderful food family style until we couldn't move, and then said - over there on the bleachers are an assortment of pies and cakes that the women of the church made and brought in. Go help yourself. We left the Kansas City area in 1978. Is the Maifest still held? Does the Catholic church basement still offer a wonderful family style meal?

[mongo_jones]

i'm not clear on what exactly you mean by family-style service here. do you not have to order anything in particular? or do they just put down large bowls of whatever you've ordered on the table for all present to take as much or as little of as they choose? if the latter this is still pretty much how korean places in koreatown in los angeles and chinese places in the san gabriel valley do it. most indian places do it this way as well (exceptions being thalis at the average restaurant and all entrees at upscale restaurants which buy into the european-style plating system).

[andiesenji]

i'm not clear on what exactly you mean by family-style service here. do you not have to order anything in particular? or do they just put down large bowls of whatever you've ordered on the table for all present to take as much or as little of as they choose? if the latter this is still pretty much how korean places in koreatown in los angeles and chinese places in the san gabriel valley do it. most indian places do it this way as well (exceptions being thalis at the average restaurant and all entrees at upscale restaurants which buy into the european-style plating system).

You did not order anything the price was fixed per person. One day a week they served up almost all of their regular menu items in large platters or bowls. This was times three as they had lined up their regular tables into three long tables with 10 chairs down each side, 20 people per table.

It was set up so you paid when you entered at 4, 7 or 10. The only additional charge was for wine and often people would order a bottle and share with others, who would in turn order a bottle and share, etc. Or you could have coffee or a soft drink, included in the cost of the meal.

When all the tables had been filled with the foods you would be admitted and would select your seat.

A server would ask what beverage you wanted, water was always on the table in carafes, and bring whatever you wanted.

The platters and bowls were passed up and down the table and you could take as much or as little as you wished of each item or just a few items, or whatever you wanted.

As I said, it was a lot of fun. I tried things I would never have ordered, I met people I would never have met and I wish there were still some restaurants that did this.

As I recall, the cost was something like $15.99 a head, 60 patrons per seating and 3 seatings.

I don't know how it compared to their regular days but there were never any vacancies and you had to make reservations weeks in advance.

[NulloModo]

Hmm, in Amish country in PA they have restaurants like that., with the exception that that is the only way they do service (And there is no wine).

You go in, you are seated at a table with others, and whatever happens to be on the stove that day is brought out in big bowls, veggies, meats, sausages, sides, desserts, and you just enjoy as much of whatever you want and leave when you are through. It is a great deal, and the Amish home cooking is traditionally very good.

[mongo_jones]

You did not order anything the price was fixed per person. One day a week they served up almost all of their regular menu items in large platters or bowls. This was times three as they had lined up their regular tables into three long tables with 10 chairs down each side, 20 people per table.

It was set up so you paid when you entered at 4, 7 or 10. The only additional charge was for wine and often people would order a bottle and share with others, who would in turn order a bottle and share, etc. Or you could have coffee or a soft drink, included in the cost of the meal.

When all the tables had been filled with the foods you would be admitted and would select your seat.

interesting. i don't believe i've ever experienced anything like that. i don't know if that's really family style though--seems more like a way for people not in a "family" or group to meet others.

here's a related question(s): have non asian restaurants in the u.s always had the individual plating system that almost all of them seem to have now? or was there ever a time when even a steak and potatoes place served food in the kind of asian family style that pan and i have described? how about in europe?

and a non-sequitur: sometimes it seems to me that the tasting menu almost functions as an attempt to give a microcosmic experience of a family-style meal to an individual diner. this will make more sense if you've ever eaten at a traditional bengali family's home or gone to a bengali wedding banquet--you get served/take and eat small portions of many different things in sequence; the structural difference being that at home different folks at the same table can take things for themselves in different sequence and at a wedding banquet the sequence is set by whoever is serving everyone (usually 50+ at a time in multiple seatings).

[andiesenji]

Mongo-Jones,

Have you ever eaten at a Moroccan resturant??

[docsconz]

here's a related question(s): have non asian restaurants in the u.s always had the individual plating system that almost all of them seem to have now? or was there ever a time when even a steak and potatoes place served food in the kind of asian family style that pan and i have described? how about in europe?

Family style dining has been popular in a number of Italian-American restaurants, especially with a southern Italian tradition. The difference is that you tend to go as a family (or a group) rather than being seated communally and order some dishes which are served from platters to individual plates. Paradiso in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. is an Italian-American restaurant that does just that today.

[Varmint]

Here's a report of the Dillard House from our family vacation last summer. As mentioned above, there are plenty of family style restaurants throughout the Southeast.

[Andrew Fenton]

Yeah, I can think of a number of family-style places I've been to; but they've all been Southern style. Interesting.

[Bux]

To answer Mongo, at most of the Indian restaurants in NYC in which I've eaten, the food is brought in serving bowls and each diner gets his own empty plate. Usually the diners at a table agree on the selection of dishes that together make up an interesting meal. I can't say that this has always been the case, but it's the norm.

It's definitely the norm in Chinese restaurants, but of course, I always see people at other tables who order one dish and don't wish to share it, or what others order. There are also those very inexpensive places with "over rice" dishes that appeal largely to workmen at lunch. Those dishes are not meant to be shared. Certain noodle soup dishes are designed to be one person's lunch as well.

[Pan]

In Flushing, I've seen a lot of couples share noodle soups by pouring the contents of the large bowl into smaller bowls or even teacups, on occasion. At the same time, they may or may not share their lo mein or over rice dishes.

[mongo_jones]

Mongo-Jones,

Have you ever eaten at a Moroccan resturant??

yes, on numerous occasions--but the sharing there is for the people at one table. it has not been the kind of general communal experience you're describing, which seems closer to a buffet.

[mongo_jones]

To answer Mongo, at most of the Indian restaurants in NYC in which I've eaten, the food is brought in serving bowls and each diner gets his own empty plate. Usually the diners at a table agree on the selection of dishes that together make up an interesting meal. I can't say that this has always been the case, but it's the norm.

bux, you're corroborating me here, right? not answering me. my comment about indian restaurants in the u.s was that it seems to be the upscale ones--see, for example, amma under suvir--that do the individual plating. is amma an exception among upscale indian places in nyc?

It's definitely the norm in Chinese restaurants, but of course, I always see people at other tables who order one dish and don't wish to share it, or what others order. There are also those very inexpensive places with "over rice" dishes that appeal largely to workmen at lunch. Those dishes are not meant to be shared. Certain noodle soup dishes are designed to be one person's lunch as well.

certainly. and this is true of certain dishes in various indian regional cuisines as well. while dosas, for example, can be shared by people merely by cutting them into pieces a dosa is a single unit of food. vadas and idlis on the other hand may arrive on a table stacked on a platter.

docsconz:

Family style dining has been popular in a number of Italian-American restaurants, especially with a southern Italian tradition. The difference is that you tend to go as a family (or a group) rather than being seated communally and order some dishes which are served from platters to individual plates. Paradiso in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. is an Italian-American restaurant that does just that today.

that other great bastion of italian food traditions, buca de peppo (or however it is their name is spelled) does a similar thing too.

now, does anyone have any thoughts about my question about the history of individual portion plating and non-asian restaurants in the u.s?

[andiesenji]

Mongo-Jones,

Have you ever eaten at a Moroccan resturant??

yes, on numerous occasions--but the sharing there is for the people at one table. it has not been the kind of general communal experience you're describing, which seems closer to a buffet.

At one time there was a Moroccan restaurant in L.A. that seated either 2, 4 or 8 people at table. Actually the tables were huge brass trays set on low bases and there were cushions on which to sit. Another room had regular tables. I always had dinner in the first room. I often went alone and was asked if I would like to join the people at one of the large tables (if they had indicated they would welcome additional diners at their table. Many of the patrons were UCLA students and were happy to have anyone join them and share the table charge.

This was a flat charge for the table which included several courses.

Each diner would have a stack of plates, in front of them. As I recall there were two small plates, two medium plates and a large plate.

The courses were brought in on one large platter or shallow bowl placed in the center of the table and everyone would select what they wanted.

Each course was followed by hot damp towels to clean the hands.

It was a popular restaurant and did a great business, however the property owner would not renew their lease when it expired. There is now a high-rise office building on the lot.

[marlena spieler]

mongo, have you never eaten at the basque or italian restaurants in the san francisco area/central vallley area that are sadly disspappering at a fast pace, where the daily menu was brought to the long communal tables.......rustic soups, platters of pasta, trays of meat and fish and potatoes.......

or eaten a cypriot meze in a village, where the food just comes out in little plates for the table to share. true, it is usually a table of people who have come togehter to eat......but everyone at other tables is doing the same thing.

there was also a restaurant, in the says just prior to and the early days of berkeley's chez panisse that served up rustic french fare on the oakland berkeley border, family style: in big bowls to be shared by all at the table.

marlena

[Fat Guy]

The market segment in which family-style restaurants have traditionally operated has in the past couple of decades come to be dominated by chain buffets like Golden Corral, Ponderosa, Sizzler, etc. The ones that survive tend to do so in specific ethnic and cultural niches, like the Amish Country and the Southern boarding-house tradition.

Just to clarify terminology, I think what is being described here as family style is one species of family style dining, where the table is served a meal as a family would be in a certain kind of home, where the mother would bring out all the food on platters and in bowls, everybody would sit, and then food would be passed around for self-service. The kind of family-style service at Italian family-style places is somewhat different, because it tends to occur in courses and because it is ordered from a menu. Ditto for some of the other ethnic examples. And the term family syle is also used to describe some contemporary haute cuisine restaurants like Craft and even the new Spice Market, basically any environment in which dishes are meant to be shared.

If you go back not too long ago in Western culinary history, most every meal was served this way. Up through most of the 19th Century, meals were banquets and buffets. It was only when the French imported Service a la Russe that individual plated portions served in a succession of courses became the norm.

[mongo_jones]

mongo, have you never eaten at the basque or italian restaurants in the san francisco area/central vallley area that are sadly disspappering at a fast pace, where the daily menu was brought to the long communal tables.......rustic soups, platters of pasta, trays of meat and fish and potatoes.......

or eaten a cypriot meze in a village, where the food just comes out in little plates for the table to share. true, it is usually a table of people who have come togehter to eat......but everyone at other tables is doing the same thing.

there was also a restaurant, in the says just prior to and the early days of berkeley's chez panisse that served up rustic french fare on the oakland berkeley border, family style: in big bowls to be shared by all at the table.

marlena

hey, i'm not the one concerned about the alleged disappearance of the family-style meal. my interest is more in the use of the term "family-style" to describe a form of serving that doesn't mesh at all with the term as i use it and the practices of it that i am familiar with in other cultural settings. as such i'm not sure why people keeps addressing to me these examples of places where this communal form of dining takes place. i'm not denying they exist (though marlena, i have not in fact eaten at any of these places you list) or lamenting their demise.

family style dining to me is simply food served in communal rather than individual portions, with people serving themselves at their own table from food they've ordered. and in this form it is alive and thriving in asian restaurants all over this country. is it the case that many americans of other ethnic origins get served individually plated portions at home as well? if so, i suppose the cheesecake factory experience might well be a representative of family-style dining as well.

fatguy, thanks for the oh-so-brief primer on the western history of food delivery. a little more detail? and do you know when the french/service russe form of plating saturated the american home and restaurant?

[Fat Guy]

Not really my area of expertise, but the basic issue is that the restaurant is a relatively new concept. Again well into the 19th Century there were places where travelers could eat but they were more tavern-like than anything we would recognize as a restaurant by today's standards. A family might open a place where you could pay money for a meal, but the meal would be served in some variant of home or boarding-house style or maybe as a buffet. It took the creation of a middle class, the collapse of French aristocracy, the unemployment of the palace chefs, etc., to create the restaurant culture as we know it on both sides of the Atlantic. Service a la Francais -- banquet-style service -- works great when meals are taken at banquets in palaces. But when you move to a restaurant context, Service a la Russe -- which was imported from Russia by the French chefs who cooked for the Czars -- makes a lot more sense. Restaurants here in America followed the European model, and indeed often had European chefs. These changes came close in time to Escoffier's creation of the brigade system -- they're all connected and situated around the evolution of the way people dined. Those restaurants that serve family-style are historically connected to roots that either predate or were never affected by the evolution in restaurant culture that took place in the Western world around the turn of the 20th Century. I think. You can probably learn more about this from Google than you can from me.

[andiesenji]

mongo, have you never eaten at the basque or italian restaurants in the san francisco area/central vallley area that are sadly disspappering at a fast pace, where the daily menu was brought to the long communal tables.......rustic soups, platters of pasta, trays of meat and fish and potatoes.......

marlena

Right, there is a Basque restaurant nine miles from me in Rosamond (next door to Edwards AFB) where they still serve this way.

Prior to moving here 16 years ago, I managed to get to one of the Basque restaurants in Bakersfield, also family style, at least once a year when I was in town for a dog show.

I enjoy the experience of meeting new people over a meal. So often in restaurants, there is almost an adversarial atmosphere, each table competing with the others for a server's attention, often with an annoying lack of manners.

[lilac0485]

For more information about service a la Francaise, check out Peter Hertzmann's article at his website, a la carte. service a la Francaise

He also has lots of other informative articles about French food and traditions.

[Pan]

Thanks, lilac0485. That was very interesting.

[phaelon56]

I spent the bicentennial summer (1976) working on a farm in the Fiebaugh/mendota area of the Central Valley and commuting to and from Fresno. back then the Basque restaurants were popular and well known for this exact communal seating and serving style. There were a few in the Fresno area but I think one mostly had to get closer to the Sierra foothills where the Basque population was in order to have the experience.

Not the same but an interesting twist that was likely more popular in the Northeast at one time (now appears to be gone) was the system used by the Krebs in Skaneatles NY. They had family style dining - each group sat at its own table but all food was served family style. Waitresses in starched white aprons would come in succession bearign platters overloaded with all the Sunday dinner staples: sweet and mashed potatoes, turkey, ham, roast beef, vegetables etc. The menu was the same for everyone in the place - you paid one price and were able to pick and choose what you wanted. never heard anyone rave about the food but it was a local institution and people went mostly for "the show" (that being the procession of the waitresses and the decidely old-school feel that the place had).