On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 13:07:29 -0400, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:

>On 10/25/2013 11:53 AM, jmcquown wrote:
>> What comes to mind when you think of a "Blue Plate Special"?
>>
>> To me it conjurs up images of an old-style diner with something like
>> meat loaf and mashed potatoes and perhaps another vegetable side or two.
>>
>> At the "club" today (10/25/2013):
>>
>> Blue Plate Special
>>
>> Baked Salmon Stuffed with Crab Meat
>> Topped with a Delicious Lobster Cream Sauce, Yellow Rice and Steamed
>> Vegetables
>> $11.00
>>
>> It sounds nice, might even be quite tasty! I'm just not sure the yellow
>> rice would play well with the salmon. Just like the black rice didn't
>> work at all with the sauteed scallops I had last year. The black rice
>> completely overpowered the delicate sweet taste of the scallops.
>>
>> So, Blue Plate Special? Please tell me what you think of as a Blue
>> Plate Special.
>>
>> Jill
>
>I think of the diner too. I'd expect the Blue Plate Special would be
>meatloaf, not stuffed salmon. I guess the chef is trying to be cutesy
>with the description. Probably few people under 40 ever heard of it.
>
>Found t his on Wikipedea
>The origin and explanation of the phrase are not clear. Kevin Reed says
>that "during the Depression, a manufacturer started making plates with
>separate sections for each part of a meal—like a frozen dinner tray—it
>seems that for whatever reason they were only available in the color
>blue." Michael Quinion cites a dictionary entry indicating that the blue
>plates were, more specifically, inexpensive divided plates that were
>decorated with a "blue willow" or similar blue pattern, such as those
>popularized by Spode and Wedgwood. One of his correspondents says that
>the first known use of the term is on an October 22, 1892 Fred Harvey
>Company restaurant menu, and implies that blue-plate specials were
>regular features at Harvey Houses

Just about every Chinese restaurant in NYC used those compartmentized
plates for serving their Combination Specials... I'm sure many still.
They were heavy white porcelain dinnerware (sometines ecru), typically
a larger diameter than their regular plates, with a thin blue line
around the border, I ate countless thousands of those combination
specials. In the '50s was typically chow mein (pork, chicken, shrimp
- shrimp was dirt cheap back then), egg roll, and fly lice... preceded
with soup (wonton, chicken egg drop, tomato eggdrop), followed by
dessert (ice cream, jello, almond cookies) w/fortune cookie,
accompanied by bottomless teapot and typical condiments; soy sauce,
hot mustard, duck sauce, crispy noodles. Served on real linen,
impeccable wait service, and portions were huge; 35¢ + 15¢ tip. It's
NOT an Archie Bunkerism, everyone in NYC called it eating "Chinks".
Before dinner on Saturday most kids went to the matinee movies; a full
lenght double feature, preceded by newreels, many shorts, and 25
cartoons... kids were kept occupied from 10 AM - 4 PM... wasn't much
TV back then... six hours of movies for 11¢... if your ticket had a
star printed on it admission was free, I never got a star, never heard
of anyone who did. Had to behave in the theater, there were Matrons
with flashlights who knew how to use them... Matrons were middle aged
women, probably mid forties, looked a lot older due to grey/white
hair, hardly anyone bleached their hair back then other than the
barroom floozies, brassy yellow from a bottle of Javel water. Matrons
wore name pins, the only Matron I still remember was Nancy... Matron
Nancy had the largest pointiest breasts I think I've ever seen
since... she was built like a '61 Chrysler Imperial with headlights to
match:
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/...n/1587143.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hypochlorite