Saw I am My Own Wife on Friday. Jefferson Mays was amazing; he seamlessly morphed back and forth between characters the entire play. The story was fascinating too, although the woman behind me obviously didn't think so as she began snoring loudly during the last half-hour.

Today I went to the New York Public Library for the first time, to see an exhibit called New York Eats Out. First of all, what a gorgeous building. I can't believe I walked past it every day on the way to work for a year and a half and never went inside. The exhibit was great. Some highlights:

-Prix Fix menus used to be called an "ordinary." There was one menu for a "Ladies Ordinary."

-The word "tip" was not in use at the turn of the century. Instead it was called a "fee," as in "fee the waiter."

-A menu was called a "bill of fare" at the turn of the century, as the word "menu" was considered pretentious.

-Favorite listings: "patty in crust" (1912), and "brain sauce" (1843). Also, the .35 "Yankee Doodle Cocktail" (1942), "made the American way with rum, dry gin, and vermouth."

-A New York Times headline from 1908 declared "Two Restaurants Let Women Smoke." Apparently this risque decision was rescined only days later.

-A children's menu from Tofferetti at the 1940 World's Fair in Queens offered "Irradiated Vitamin D Milk."

-Lastly, I found the reference to "Chop Suey Parlors" interesting. I think the work "parlor" needs to make it's way back into everyday usage.

The program for the exhibit says all the menus on display are from The Buttolph Menu Collection. "Miss Frank E. Buttolph" was simply some lady who collected menus and then asked the New York Public Library if they were interested in acquiring her collection.