NYPL Mega Menu Database

Why am I always the last one to see this stuff?  I was doing research on early Indian restaurants in New York City - yes, this is what I do for fun - and came across a site that led me to this database on the New York Public Library website.  It is an extensive database of restaurant menus dating back to the 19th century!  Individuals can volunteer to transcribe them, or correct things that aren't correct.  And it's not just New York restaurants, either.  One random one that popped up: a 1955 menu from Baltimore's own Chesapeake Restaurant, once open near Penn Station and what is now the Charles Theater.  Loving their entry for "Chicken Chesapeake In Casserole" for only $2.50.  That would easily be ten times the amount today, almost 60 years later.

This is a time waster for a few hours.

(Menu cover from the Chesapeake Restaurant in Baltimore, c. 1955.  Image linked from the New York Public Library Menu Database)

Secret Menu GOLD!

I was checking out the Mighty Girl blog, published regularly by San Francisco blogger and author Margaret Mason (who wrote the very funny No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog - hey, what if all you write about is food!?). I just got the book from the Baltimore County Public Library. Check it out!

Anyway, she posted something yesterday that really caught my eye: secret menus of Bay Area restaurants. It started at the popular SF restaurant the Presidio Social Club (no I didn't get there last August), and then her search just went from there. Margaret even links to a page about the secret menus of national chains and fast food joints.

Y'all know where I'm going with this by now.

So how many Baltimore-area places have secret menus? I need to start exploring this question. If anyone knows of some, please let me know. I want to start a running tally.