Show tt BI G 4 Men are not BIG EATERS f 1 i 4 5 J 6 er y y a tta U v v k S S Z ik e a f 9 S' S l 4 J n a N f N 1 1 M I r y J Recollections of o Famous amour amouri Men in American i w e 55 l National Life by a v a N 7 B J b 6 Noted Hotel r J i Y Maitre re a ta p G fr Who Served Them em in Washington Brings h A L N Out Ou tIn Interesting t ere sting t r A tf lk if 4 11 BIG IG men are not big eaters the eaters the men doing the heavy thinking dont don't do the heavy eating That is the opinion of a man who has watched over over the gastronomic destinies of celebrated men and women for thirty-five thirty years for Leon de Kost in charge of the restaurant restaurant restaurant res res- res- res of one of the most exclusive night clubs in Washington was maitre at the historic old Shoreham Hot Hotel I for fifteen years before it closed its doors in 1926 was for twenty years at the Waldorf Valdorf in New York New York and has worked at the Stratford Bellevue in Philadelphia Philadel Philadel- y g phia at the l in London and at the Roma in Milan Leon came to America from Lucerne in the country which has hasti ti produced more excellent than any other This quiet I I. I gentle gentIe haired gray-haired man is so unobtrusively courteous that it is not f d difficult to understand why he can n c-n count among his friends many of the thc great and near f fAs i As s Told li by hy Leon eon De a Kost ost 5 Famous Washington V ash n l Maitre tre d Hotel HAVE seen most of Americas America's r. r I s en greatest greatest great- great j est men as well as a great many distinguished foreigners over a period t of years as s few people ever get getT T the chance to see them in in their rooms I when their official reserve had dropped from them and when they just wanted to exchange the everyday little pleasantrIes pleasantries pleas pleas- pleasantries and human comments In no s sense nse of the word could AmerIcan Amer Amer- ican men in high official positions be considered epicures or gourmets Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- haps prudence has become the better part of valor when savory foods are paraded before them but they nearly always order simple dishes And they are small eaters or average caters Ex- Ex President William m Howard Taft is a small email eater cater for so big a person and his predecessor on the Supreme Court bench Chief Justice Edward D D D. White a very large man also ate very small meals U General Pershing President Harding President Coolidge President Wilson Thomas Marshall and Senator Henry r Cabot Lodge preferred plain food when to the choice of a d dinner or luncheon wasS was S S left to them William Jennings Bryan and nc Josephus Daniels had a weakness v 1 1 for the most popular American dish dish dish- corned beef and cabbage cabbag Barney Baruch will eat chicken seven days inthe in inthe inthe the week He will look over the menu A from one end to the other and say c. c What shall we have What shall we have 1 and nd then order chicken every time 2 r MANY TANY ANY of my most interesting memories memo mem mem- o ories ones aT ar aro entered around the old Shoreham Hotel which in retrospect o-dl o 1 seems Mems the most most wonderful hotel with which I have ever been associated because because be be- cause I was there at a time when many y 5 of the worlds world's most famous and powerful people came to Washington and I witnessed witS witnessed witnessed wit wit- S so many brilliant gatherings there during the war period Both President President President Pres Pres- ident Wilson and Vice President Marshall Marshall Mar Mar- shall stayed at the Shoreham prior to their inan and Marshall continued continued con con- 5 to live there for two years after 5 Mr Wilson had moved over to the White House Almost at the very beginning o othe of the Wilson Administration the Cabinet Cabine t members rs started the practice of meeting meeting meeting meet meet- ing at the Shoreham m every day fo for r re luncheon and soon we had what w we e called caned the White House HOUS table reserve reserved d for them They came and brought their r ra friends with the result that we had a t continuous succession of distinguished men at that table for a period of fourteen fourteen four four- fourteen teen years the practice having extended extended extended ex ex- tended over into the Administrations of President Harding and President Cool Cool- idge Every Everyone one had an eye on that table and every everyone one wanted to sit there In the first group to establish the practice e were William Jennings Jennings- Bryan and Garrison lat later r replaced by Robert Lansing and Newton Baker Josephus Daniels Joe Admiral Carey Grayson and later on n Carter Glass Herbert Hoover Andrew Mellon Charles Evans Hughes John W. W Weeks and Edwin yin Denby In addition to the distinguished men of America who came to stay at the Shoreham a great many notables from foreign countries drifted in from time to time and i many of the foreign com con missions the missions the war commissions and the debt commissions in in Washington had their suites there sometimes as the guests of this country and sometimes at their own expense In fact that small hote hotel saw more of the creme de la creme of society and of the makers of history perhaps than any other one similar building ih in the world The first official commission to come as clearly as I can remember was Admiral Admiral Admiral Ad Ad- miral Down Dewa of the Japanese Navy with his staff guests of our Government Ho He was followed by an official military mission from Serbia and nd froth from that time on there was a continuous succession of distinguished visitors The Presidents w were re not such frequent visitors after they once moved into the White House but their wives President Wilsons Wilson's dau daughters and the Roosevelt children were frequent visitors Two nights before his inauguration tion Mr Wilson Wilson Wil Wil- son gave a family dinner at the Shoreham Shoreham Shoreham Shore- Shore ham evidently assembling all the relatives relatives rela- rela tives that he hp knew the existence of and andI I remember hearing Margaret Wilson turn to her father and Say Father I didn't know there were so many Wilsons in our family On the morning of March 4 1913 I waited for the President-elect President to come comedown comedown down to breakfast He slipped in quietly without my knowing it The dining room was almost empty at that time and utterly Unconscious that anybody was watching him he walked over t to toone toone one of the windows and drew back th the e heavy draperies and watched the crow crowd d that had gathered outside to see ee him a as ashe ashe s he went from th the hotel to the White Whit e I Facts ac is as to Their et where Officers Mess lifers at G. G H H. Q General John J. J Pershing entertained entertained entertained enter enter- President President and Mrs Airs Wilson Vilson Epicurean i urean Tastes Tastes- as at Christmas dinner in m In 1 1918 The k usual army Y rat rations ions probably were t the h e B Bigger b Th They e ey supplemented with a few extra deli dolt delicacies on this occasion Come the More ore o rte Br Bridled Their sir Appetites S i t 1 J i 5 V VIL Vr r v F b X IL t t a fi ewe tK 4 4 I House to meet et P President Taft and drive with him to the Capitol There was Avas the cavalry troop from Fort Myer and hundreds of students students' from Princeton who were to accompany him and numbers numbers numbers num num- bers of others I T SHALL never forget the wistful smile that flitted over the face of this man who was to become the President of the United States When he came over to the table I 1 said to him Today Mr Wilson you become President I congratulate congratulate congratulate con con- you Yes Leon he said I 1 wish it were over And I answered him I know it will be all right sirI sir I remember what he ate that morning because it seemed to me to be a peculiar breakfast but I have since found out that a great many people take it because it is nourishing and strengthening strengthening-a a large glass of orange juice with raw eggs in it oatmeal toast and tea As the time approached for him to leave the were filled with briliant bril bril- brilliant brilliant uniforms of the army the navy nary and the Diplomatic Corps Mr Marshall went first accompanied by the Black of his State and Mr l Wilson followed amid the enthusiastic shouting of the Princeton students That night he gave his first public dinner as President President President dent of the United States to the graduates graduates graduates ates of his class at Princeton the Princeton the class of 1879 1819 From the outbreak of the World War there was a continuous fight to get reservations reservations reservations res res- at the hotel which was the scene scene of many of the brilliant functions given by the representatives of foreign countr countries es in America One of the most brilliant sights I remember ever having tie F 4 a ay y W r. r s a a Vi J q Former President William Villiam H. H Taft eats sparingly for so large a map man i seen was the assemblage which gathered for a dinner which the head of a military military military mili mili- tary mission from Russia Colonel Niko- Niko gave upon pon his departure for home in honor o of the high officials in the armies and navies of the Allies then inthis inthis in this country country- and the only dinner of its kind that I can remember There were present British French Italian Belgian Russian Serbian and and American army and navy officials with their staffs All were in full dress u uniforms and and I dont don't remember having seen so much gold braid and so many different medals and other decorations in my life Secretary Herbert Hoover who revolutionized t the h e Nations Nation's diet during the war is shown cutting a huge prune pie served at a California State Society dinner in Washington President Coolidge shown above is another believer in simple wholesome meals But it was i invariably variably true that all the big men ate small plain meals when they chose the food themselves At the elaborate dinners of course they ate rich fo foods ds but the they almost never chose anything fancy or rich I dont don't think I Ican Ican Ican can recall that a single one of them might be called caned an epicure or a gourmet The most outstanding gourmet within my whole memory was the Prince of Hawaii the son of Queen who was in the United States for awhile s a vh while le on on-a on a visit He always wanted the finest of of everything to be had had caviar caviar diamond back terrapin canvas back ck duck burgundy and the finest and rarest of wit wines es HE Russian Ambassador to Washington Washing Washing- ton George Bakhmeteff the personal representative of the Czar was very particular about his food and we prepared prepared pre pre- pared for him if we knew he was coming He usually drove up in a big automobile attended by several Cossacks in full uniform uniform uni uni- form and if if we weren't expecting him we h hurried to get a bottle of wine the table at once usually a red wine wine wine-St. St St. Julien i if possible He had to have that ready for lor him when he arrived and he ha never i allowed a waiter to touch it He always poured it himself But we ve had had to have some one keep an an eye on him for anything he wanted during th the meal There were delicate situations to b be b. handled too One of the most interesting interesting interest interest- ing of these happened in August 1914 1014 shortly after war had been d declared b by England against Ge Germany any Sir Cecil Spring Spring Rice Rice the British Ambassador and Count von Bernstorff the German Ambassador arrived at the door of the tha dining room at virtually the same mo mo- mo- mo ment They had been warm friends before before be be- fore the outbreak of the war and frequently frequently fre ire came to the hotel together for fol meals They were still friends personally personally personally person person- ally but after war was declared it was against against official etiquette for them to tore re recognize each other So I 1 seated one of them at one end of the dining room and the other at the other end and thereafter we were very particular to seat the representatives of the Allied countries on one side of the house and those of the Central Powers on the other we had as guests men who O OFTEN were passing through political crises in their lives Count von B Bernstorff Bernstorff Bern Bern- rn- rn was entertained at the Shoreham the night before he sailed for Germany and after ho he had received his passports from the United States De Valera th the President of the Irish Republic was Wal staying at the hotel when it was reported re reported reported re- re ported that the British Government was looking for him and he hurried from Washington into Canada before hs hI finally made his way back to Ireland as asa asa asa a stoker or a stowaway on a cattle boat General Pershing sta stayed ed at the Shoreham Shore Shore- ham before he went on the expedition to the Mexican border aft after r the border trouble was over and again with his entire staff when he first returned from France I believe he is one of the most moat wonderful men I 1 have ever met met always always genial kind and thoughtful I shall never forget the first day he arrived in Washington after the World War was over Vice President Marshall had gone down to Union Station to m meet et him and escort him to the hotel The people were out in the streets yelling their heads off oft for him but he w went nt straight up to his room took off oft his coat and went to work and worked for for hours without stopping While staying with us he tae gave a series of very brilliant dinn dinners rs and luncheons to various celebrities who happened to be in this country notably to General Foch General Haig Gen General ral Gouraud Lad Lady Nancy Astor and oth others oft by W Pub L LM w. w |