I found it in the 2015 book on culinary expressions "You Said a Mouthful!" by Florence Markoff.


From Wikipedia:

....In 1875, The New York Times wrote of elaborate free lunches as a "custom peculiar to the Crescent City" (New Orleans), saying, "In every one of the drinking saloons which fill the city a meal of some sort is served free every day. The custom appears to have prevailed long before the war.... I am informed that there are thousands of men in this city who live entirely on the meals obtained in this way." As described by this reporter,

"A free lunch-counter is a great leveler of classes, and when a man takes up a position before one of them he must give up all hope of appearing either dignified or consequential. In New-Orleans all classes of the people can be seen partaking of these free meals and pushing and scrambling to be helped a second time. [At one saloon] six men were engaged in preparing drinks for the crowd that stood in front of the counter. I noticed that the price charged for every kind of liquor was fifteen cents, punches and cobblers costing no more than a glass of ale."

The repast included "immense dishes of butter," large baskets of bread, "a monster silver boiler filled with a most excellent oyster soup," "a round of beef that must have weighed at least forty pounds," vessels filled with potatoes, stewed mutton, stewed tomatoes, and macaroni Ã* la Français. The proprietor said that the patrons included "at least a dozen old fellows who come here every day, take one fifteen cent drink, eat a dinner which would have cost them $1 in a restaurant, and then complain that the beef is tough or the potatoes watery."[1] ($0.15 in 1875 is equivalent to $3.34 in 2017; $1 in 1875 is equivalent to $22.28 in 2017)...

(snip)


According to Markoff, the "free meal" dwindled to the handful of pretzels or peanuts we see today in bars.

From Amazon:

"Have you ever been given the cold shoulder? Or been sold a lemon? Were you ever curious how Graham crackers got their name? Or Salisbury steak? Harvard beets? Have you ever wondered who Little Jack Horner was? And what about his famous plum? You Said a Mouthful is a fascinating collection of stories behind the food expressions we hear and say every day. From doggie bags to sugar cubes, from Baked Alaska to pie in the sky, You Said a Mouthful uncovers the history and mystery of how our language became garnished with words related to food..."


Lenona.