Swing (Jan-Dec 1945)

66 S. •A-FREEMAN CHUM'S. East is east and west is west, and Freeman Chum gets around the proverbial impossibility of their juncture by maintaining places on both sides of Manhattan. Menus and prices are identical. The easterly spot is the most ornate of the two, but it doesn't consider itself above serving a fifty cent lunch to the office workers in the neighborhood, either. The Canton style chow mein comes with chewy soft noodles, instead of gooey ones. And the sweet and sour roast pork boasts genuine pineapple in its sauce — something that hasn't been happening around these parts with any degree of regularity since Hawaii got forced off the Dole. The best Chinese food value in town. 142 E. 5 3rd. ELdorado 5-7765. 151 W. 48th. LOngacre 5-8682. GAIETY DELICATESSEN. Paste this one in your bat, but leave the skimmer at the hotel, because there just isn't enough extra space at the Gaiety to hang the thing. About the size of a bole in the wall. Worth fighting your way into, nevertheless, because the Gaiety, ignoring the "delicate" part of "delicatessen," dishes up the astoundingly bountiful corned beef, pastrami, and turkey sandwiches that have forced a loosening of the famoui Broadway Belt. Half an inch of meat per sandwich is the usual par for the course, and one course is all you'll be able to handle. You'll order cherry soda, naturally, which looks, appropriately enough, like borscht with bubbles. Come and bring your friends — those with first team experience, preferably; this i« that forced Gaiety you're always hearing so much about. 202 W. 46th, off Broadway. if GRIPSHOLM. Smorgasbord, glorified in the center of the room, and should be. Shrimp — no sauce, no nothing — for them as likes 'cm that way. Lunch, consisting of smorgasbord and coffee, only a quarter less than lunch with lunch, which establishes their relative importance. Dinner from $1.75. J24 East 57th Street. ELdorado 5-8746. •k HOUSE OF CHAN. Real Chinese dishes served by lineal descendant of first Emperor of China. Lunch 75c-90c. Dinner a la carte. Bar. 52 ff Seventh. CH. 7-3785. ★ JACK DEMPSEY'S. Former heavyweight champion, turned restaurateur. Music by string orch., ent., no dancing. Good food. Lunch 65f-$l,I0 — dinner $1.25-$1.65. B'way y 49. CO. 5-7875. ★ KING OF THE SEA. Fine seafood cooked to order, in spacious quarters. A la carte only, entrees 65c-90c; lobster $1.75 up. Wine, beer (f ale. Open 11-2 a. m. 879 Third Ave. EL. 5-9309. ★ KUNGSHOLM. Very fine Swedish fare in a gracious setting. At lunch smor«asbord, desert d coffee 85c; reg. lunch $1.75; at dinner smorgasbord, dessert fi beverage $1.50. Dinner $1.85-$2.50. 142 East 55. EL. 5-8183. •A-PLACE ELEGANTE. Built as a domicile for the Donahue division of the Woolworth clan, and (till stately in the manner of a dowager wearing last year's dress. Worked its way through the gambling house-speakeasy era. and employs four perspiring musicians to prove that rackets may come and rackets may go, but the racket keeps up forever. Supposed to be honeycombed with secret passages installed to baffle prohibition agents, who found evidence as elusive as needle beer in a haystack. Long time feature is Bill Farrell, dusky pianist. He plays college songs for the old grads, most of whom seem to have attended an amazing number of universities with thundering vocal results. The food is good, not too expensive. The place — oops. Place — employs one of the few chefs who don't have to catch the 8:17 for Malverne, so you can entrust your stomach to the Elegante after the theatre. Loud, but never lewd; heartily recommended for all those who like din with the dinner. 33 W. 56th. Circle 7-7222. if ROBERTO'S. Biggest menu in town . . . physically, that is, but a good selection of good food in the French manner, too. Decor a la Louis XVI; don't sit against the back wall, tho', because a refrigerator motor that sounds like the one Louis bought makes rump rumpus. Lunch and dinner. Stay away from the hors d'oeuvres if you're a parsley hater. Not too crowded for these times, but best come early. 22 East 46th Street. VAnderbilt 6-3042. if THE SCRIBE'S. Louis and Eddie specialize in food with the emphasis on Chateaubriand steaks (at $6.00 for two) when they can be had, which is usually. Cheesecake murals by famed cartoonists and a prominently-placed Corsair photograph decorate the walls. Much literary atmosphere of the journalistic kind. 209 East 45th Street, MUrryhill 2-9400. ★TOFFENETTI'S. Throw away that compass, stranger; the place isn't as big as it looks. They come by that cavernous effect by the use of gold tinted mirrors. All very modern, right down to the brightly bedecked basement, whence you emerge, eventually, via a one lane escalator that makes you feel something like the star robot in a Norman Bel Geddes futurama. Toffenetti's employs the most rhapsodic menu writer in town. The fare, unfortunately, is sometimes only fair, and the ham and sweets, to take one example, aren't any yummier, or yammier, than in any one of a dozen places you could name. On the credit side, the French toast is crunchier than most, and the pumpkin pic, come punkin season, is lusciously creamy. The strawberry .ihortcake tends to be bigger and berrier. too. Usually plenty of room, unless Sinatra's playing across the street at the Paramount, at which times the girls don't feel much like eating anyhow, and the men sit and munch away in sour silence, contemplating, apparently, Frank in earnest. 4 3rd and Broadway. if TOOTS SHOR'S. Best prime ribs of beef in town, but the chef proved what could be done with fowl when Toots got caught with his points down Where the praise agents tell stories into cauliflower ears, and talk loudly enough to be overheard by the broadcasting execs. Lunch and dinner, a la carte 51 West 5l8t Street. PLaza 3-9000. if TWENTY-ONE. Excellent cuisine in the Kriendlor manner, a la carte, expensive, and, in most cases, worth it. Don't order the B.ikcd Alaska unless you've got your gang along to help eat it. 21 West 5l8t Street. ELdorado 5-6500. if ZUCCA'S. Heaping Antipasto, praise be. with enough black olives and those little Italian fish. Lunch a dollar, dinner a dollar sixty, but it's the same meal in a different time zone. 118 West 49th Street. BRyant 9-5511.