Courtesy of the New York Public Library, here is a dinner menu featuring Mesa Verde National Park on the cover. Compared with many postwar menus, this menu offers an incredible number of items.
Click image to download a 0.9-MB PDF of this menu.
The table d’hôte side offered seven different entrées: trout; salmon; minute steak; chicken; prime rib; and lamb chops, any of which were $1.25 (about $20 today); or sirloin steak for $1.75 (about $28 today). These all came with soup or fruit cup; a choice of two kinds of potatoes; a choice of two vegetables; biscuit; salad; a choice of four desserts; and beverage. On top of these meals, an insert offered lamb chops with soup or salad; potatoes and vegetable; bread; dessert; and beverage for just 90 cents (less than $15 today).
Click image to download a PDF of this insert.
The a la carte side was packed with two kinds of fish; six meat dishes; three egg dishes; four salads including lobster salad; three kinds of potatoes (none of which are on the table d’hôte side); several vegetables (is “Sugar corn, string beans, June peas, stewed tomatoes” one item or four?); eight kinds of bread; and at least eight desserts (most with or without cream) not counting two cheese plates. The most expensive thing was the minute steak for $1.20, but anyone who wanted that should have paid the extra nickel to get it table d’hôte.