Everything about Restaurants totally explained
A
restaurant is a retail establishment that serves prepared
food to
customers. Service is generally for eating on premises, though the term has been used to describe
take-out establishments and
food delivery services. The term covers many types of venues and a diversity of styles of
cuisine and
service.
A restaurant owner is called a ; both words derive from the French verb
restaurer, meaning
to restore.
History
China
Food catering establishments which may be described as restaurants were known since the 11th century in
Kaifeng,
China's northern capital during the first half of the
Song Dynasty (960–1279). With a population of over 1 million people, a culture of hospitality and a paper currency, Kaifeng was ripe for the development of restaurants. Probably growing out of the
tea houses and
taverns that catered to travellers, Kaifeng's restaurants blossomed into an industry catering to locals as well as people from other regions of China. Stephen H. West argues that there was a direct correlation between the growth of restaurant businesses and institutions of
theatrical stage drama, gambling, and prostitution which serviced the burgeoning merchant middle class during the Song.
Restaurants catered to different styles of cuisine, price brackets, and religious requirements. Even within a single restaurant much choice was available, and people ordered what entree they wanted from written
menus.
The restaurants in Hangzhou also catered to many northern Chinese who had fled south from Kaifeng during the
Jurchen invasion of the 1120s, while it's also known that many restaurants were run by families formerly from Kaifeng.
Ma Yu Ching's Bucket Chicken House was established in Kaifeng in 1153 AD during the Jurchen-controlled
Jin Dynasty (though documentation doesn't exist to prove continuous service) and is still serving up meals today.
Western world
In the West, while
inns and
taverns were known from
antiquity, these were establishments aimed at travellers, and in general locals would rarely eat there. Restaurants, as businesses dedicated to the serving of food, and where specific dishes are ordered by the guest and generally prepared according to this order, emerged only in the 18th century. According to the
Guinness Book of Records, the
Sobrino de Botin in
Madrid,
Spain is the oldest restaurant in existence today. It opened in 1725.
The term
restaurant (from the
French restaurer, to restore) first appeared in the 16th century, meaning "a food which restores", and referred specifically to a rich, highly flavoured
soup. It was first applied to an eating establishment in around 1765 founded by a
Parisian soup-seller named Boulanger. The first restaurant in the form that became standard (customers sitting down with individual portions at individual tables, selecting food from menus, during fixed opening hours) was the Grand Taverne de Londres (the "Great Tavern of London"), founded in Paris in 1782 by a man named Antoine Beauvilliers, a leading culinary writer and gastronomic authority who achieved a reputation as a successful restaurateur. He later wrote what became a standard
cookbook,
L'Art du cuisinier (1814).
Restaurants became commonplace in
France after the
French Revolution broke up catering guilds and forced the aristocracy to flee, leaving a retinue of servants with the skills to cook excellent food; whilst at the same time numerous provincials arrived in Paris with no family to cook for them. Restaurants were the means by which these two could be brought together — and the French tradition of dining out was born.
A leading restaurant of the Napoleonic era was the Véry, which was lavishly decorated and boasted a menu with extensive choices of soups, fish and meat dishes, and scores of side dishes.
Balzac often dined there. Although absorbed by a neighbouring business in 1869, the resulting establishment
Le Grand Véfour is still in business.
The restaurant described by Britannica as the most illustrious of all those in Paris in the 19th century was the Café Anglais (the "English coffee-shop") on the Boulevard des Italiens, showing for a second time the high regard that Parisians evidently had for London, England, and the English — at least when it came to naming their restaurants.
Restaurants then spread rapidly across the world, with the first in the
United States (
Jullien's Restarator) opening in
Boston in 1794. Most however continued on the standard approach of providing a shared meal on the table to which customers would then help themselves (
Service à la française, commonly called "family style" restaurants), something which encouraged them to eat rather quickly. Another formal style of dining, where waiters carry platters of food around the table and diners serve themselves, is known as
Service à la russe, as it's said to have been introduced to France by the Russian Prince
Kurakin in the 1810s, from where it spread rapidly to England and beyond. The familiar pattern of service where customers are given a plate with the food already arranged on it's called "American Service," though it surely didn't originate in America.
Types of restaurants
Restaurants range from unpretentious
lunching or
dining places catering to people working nearby, with simple food served in simple settings at low prices, to expensive establishments serving refined food and
wines in a
formal setting. In the former case, customers usually wear
casual clothing. In the latter case, depending on culture and local traditions, customers might wear
semi-casual,
semi-formal, or even in rare cases
formal wear.
Typically, customers sit at tables, their orders are taken by a
waiter, who brings the food when it's ready, and the customers pay the bill before leaving. In finer restaurants there will be a host or hostess or even a
maître d'hôtel to welcome customers and to seat them. Other staff waiting on customers include
busboys and
sommeliers.
Restaurants often specialize in certain types of food or present a certain unifying, and often entertaining,
theme. For example, there are
seafood restaurants,
vegetarian restaurants or
ethnic restaurants. Generally speaking, restaurants selling "local" food are simply called restaurants, while restaurants selling food of foreign origin are called accordingly, for example, a
Chinese restaurant and a
French restaurant.
Restaurant regulations
Due to a controversy over oils and grease, restaurants are required by United States law that oils' contents must be animal free, or otherwise state so on the menu. There has also been more talk about restaurants either frying or using the same oils and grease on certain food due to cases of allergic reaction to certain minerals or other substances of the food. While most restaurants are not forced to do this by law, they're required to state so on their menu.
Depending on local customs and the establishment, restaurants may or may not serve
alcohol. Restaurants are often prohibited from selling
alcohol without a meal by alcohol sale laws; such sale is considered to be activity for
bars, which are meant to have more severe restrictions. Some restaurants are licensed to serve alcohol ("fully licensed"), and/or permit customers to "bring your own" alcohol (
BYO /
BYOB). In some places restaurant licenses may restrict service to beer, or wine and beer.
Restaurant guides
Restaurant guides review restaurants, often ranking them or providing information for consumer decisions (type of food,
handicap accessibility, facilities, etc). In 12th century Hanzhou (mentioned above as the location of the first restaurant,) signs could often be found posted in the city square listing the restaurants in the area and local customer's opinions of the quality of their food. This was an occasion for bribery and even violence. Today, restaurant review is carried out in a more civilized manner. One of the most famous contemporary guides, in
Western Europe, is the
Michelin series of guides which accord from 1 to 3
stars to restaurants they perceive to be of high culinary merit. Restaurants with stars in the Michelin guide are formal, expensive establishments; in general the more stars awarded, the higher the prices. In the United States, the
Mobil Travel Guides and the
AAA rate restaurants on a similar 1 to 5 star (Mobil) or diamond (AAA) scale. Three, four, and five star/diamond ratings are roughly equivalent to the Michelin one, two, and three star ratings while one and two star ratings typically indicate more casual places to eat. In 2005, Michelin released a
New York City guide, its first for the United States. The popular
Zagat Survey compiles individuals' comments about restaurants but doesn't pass an "official" critical assessment. The Good Food Guide, published by the Fairfax Newspaper Group in Australia, is the Australian guide listing the best places to eat. Chefs Hats are awarded for outstanding restaurants and range from one hat through three hats. The Good Food Guide also incorporates guides to bars, cafes and providers.
Nearly all major American
newspapers employ
restaurant critics and publish online dining guides for the cities they serve. A few papers maintain a reputation for thorough and thoughtful review of restaurants to the standard of the good published guides, but others provide more of a listings service.
More recently Internet sites have started up that publish both food critic reviews and popular reviews by the general public. This is a growing area and the market is still immature with no sites yet gaining dominant public or critical support. Several are gaining traction including, Zagot.com and Fodors.com. Their major competition comes from
bloggers and search engines since search engines often favor active bloggers over large somewhat static websites.
One interesting twist is Menuism.com, they review the dishes rather than the restaurant. Many of these sites also offer discount coupons and maps.
Economics
As of 2006, there are approximately 215,000 full-service restaurants in the United States, accounting for $298 billion, and approximately 250,000 limited-service (fast food) restaurants, accounting for $260 billion, according to the
2006 U.S. Industry & Market Outlook by
Barnes Reports.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Restaurants'.
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