Fast forward from 1950 to 1970 for a breakfast menu dated October 1. Unlike yesterday’s lunch menu, this one doesn’t skimp on anything: a folder with a color cover (unlike the Texas Chief whose menus seemingly deserved only sepia tones) and an interior menu offering plenty of attractive entrées on both the a la carte and table d’hôte sides.
Click image to download a 1.3-MB PDF of this menu.
The cover painting is by Ernest Blumenschein, one of the many Taos artists cultivated by the Santa Fe. Born in Pittsburgh in 1874, he studied art in Cincinnati, New York, and Paris, opening a New York studio in 1896. He first visited Taos in 1898, and moved there full time in 1919, continuing to live and paint there until his death in 1960.
The a la carte side of the menu has a dozen entrées, five of which are considered “old time favorites”: kippered herring; calf’s liver; French toast; corned beef hash; and buckwheat cakes. Six of the other seven are eggs or eggs and meat, the seventh being griddle cakes.
The table d’hôte side has six of these entrées, including French toast; griddle cakes; and various egg-and-meat combinations. For $2.75 (about $16 today), or 55 to 80 cents more than the same items on the a la carte side, table d’hôte meals come with juice or fruit; toast or muffins; and beverage. Since these items add up to about $1.30 on the a la carte side, this is a good deal, but much better for French toast, which is $2.20 on the a la carte side, than for scrambled eggs, which are just $1.95 a la carte.
The Santa Fe French toast was famous for being extra fluffy. The secret was that, after being cooked on a skillet, like most French toast, it was baked in a 400-degree oven for several minutes.