We went to The Cosmopolitan in Silver Reef, Utah, last night. It was just
okay. The site was the actual site of a restaurant there from about 1880 to
about 1895. The recreation wasn't even close to the original. Although the
restaurant calls itself a four star restaurant, I found it only passable.
The lobster bisque was lacking a lobster taste. I had seafood risotto. The
plate had some shrimp and langostino which were represented to be lobsters.
It had some salmon, scallops, and sole, also. My wife had lobster ravioli,
and they were skimpy on the lobster.

Anyway, we looked at the menu, and it has some old pictures, and historical
data on it.

I was wondering what anyone here (who actually knows, that is) could offer
about restaurants of that era. Without refrigeration, the menu had to be
"different". I would wonder what the common fare was in restaurants at that
time, and what the common fare would have been say, for a boarding house,
and for the common household.

This lovely place is in a historic ghost town. When driving there, we saw
about thirty deer, so fresh deer probably would have been a staple. I know
that in many restaurants, fresh game and fowl were common, as was commercial
hunting without restrictions from Fish and Game Departments.

Anyone care to comment?

Steve