Poodle Dog Restaurants Explained

Poodle Dog Restaurants
State:	California
Zip:	-->
Country:	United States
Other-Label:	-->

The Poodle Dog Restaurants were a series of French Restaurants in San Francisco spanning from at least 1849 to the mid-1960s. The successive restaurants were mostly unrelated, but each built on the former's success and reputation.^{[1] [2]} During its heyday, the Poodle Dog was the epitome of wealth and opulence in San Francisco, catering to important statesmen, financial leaders, and business tycoons.^{[3] [4]} It also developed a racy reputation for catering to those men's need for a discreet place to meet with their mistresses and ladies of the night.^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]} More than anything, it was well known for having impressive foods, being labeled as "the best French restaurant in the city,"^[12] if not the "best dollar dinner on Earth".^[13]

History

Prospectors and Early San Francisco

The Poodle Dog Restaurants trace their origin to San Francisco's earliest days as a city. The first iteration of the Poodle Dog appears to have been a California Gold Rush era restaurant that provided inexpensive french cuisine to those seeking their fortune.^{[14] [15]} Historians do not agree on the origin story of the Poodle Dog's name. Indeed, it has been suggested that the name came from the first proprietor's family dog,^{[16] [17] [18]} or that it was named "Poulet D'Or or Poule D'Or which was unpronounceable to the average American",^{[19] [20]} or that a stray poodle known for begging there became the unofficial mascot and the proprietors "named the restaurant after it for good luck".^[21] In any event, historians do agree that there was a Poodle Dog restaurant from San Francisco's earliest days.^[22]

The Poodle Dog quickly became a popular restaurant beloved by San Franciscans. By 1868, it had transitioned away from simple French cooking to fine dining with more extravagant food.^[23] The clientele shifted accordingly: "Instead of the raw miner, its patron was the stiff collared banker, the frock-coated judge, the spade-beard lawyer - the Argonaut with a little more culture and greyer hair".^[24] The Poodle Dog maintained this level of sophisticated diner until its closing, some 100 years later.

The Gilded Age of the Poodle Dog: The 1890s through Prohibition

The Poodle Dog shifted again from mere fine dining to all-out opulence and luxury by the 1890s. Some say this era saw its "greatest popularity as a rendezvous and a restaurant".^[25] Diners could expect 23 courses and an even larger wine selection by the end of the century.^[26] The menu reflected this: it had swelled to 17 pages.^[27] As for the cooking facilities, the Poodle Dog boasted a "vast wine cellar and vegetable rooms, bottling rooms . . . refrigerators . . . a laundry".^[28] Cooks there also enjoyed one of a kind dishwashers and stoves, making it notable not to diners but to chefs as well.^[29]

During this Era, the Poodle Dog earned its reputation as a "five-storied dome of pleasure".^[30] During the lunch hour, it was a "who's who" of famous and powerful businessmen, such as "poets, journalists, physicians, politicians, and luminaries of law".^[31] It is said that "the destinies of many important business undertakings was settled at these noon dinners."^[32]

The Poodle Dog also had a decidedly more racy reputation in the evenings. It was well known for "its private upstairs dining chambers and love nooks [lending] a sort of Parisian air to the city's nightlife".^[33] This reputation was well-documented, and came with an expected level of scandal involving the city's elite, including the mayor of San Francisco.^[34]

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake "put an unhappy end" to the gilded days of the Poodle Dog.^{[35] [36]} The restaurant maintained its reputation - both in the dining room and upstairs - during this era, but it was never the same as the gilded era. Finally, Prohibition dealt it the "finishing blow," and the PD closed its doors on April 15, 1922.^{[37] [38]} The proprietors felt that a French restaurant without wine was not worth keeping open.

Later days

The Poodle Dog remained closed until 1933, when Calixte LaLanne, a former proprietor, reopened it. This iteration was called the "Ritz French Restaurant," until his son changed it back to Poodle Dog after Calixte's death in 1943.^[39] The restaurant remained open, although not in the same splendor, until it closed for good in the mid-1960s.

Notable Restaurateurs

• Jean Bergez, an "epicure and sportsman," originally from Cette-Eygun, France.^{[40] [41]} Known as one of San Francisco's most famous restaurateurs of the era.^[42]
• Calixte LaLanne^[43]
• Louis Courtard^[44]
• Camille Mailhebuau^{[45] [46] [47]}

Known locations

• 1849: Washington Street & Grant Avenue (then DuPont), although also claimed to be near Clay and Grant (then DuPont).^[48] Other historians believe the first Poodle Dog did not open until 1858, and that its first proprietor was Nicholas Richit.^[49]
• 1868: Bush Street & Grant Avenue.,^[50] although some say this location did not open until 1873.^[51]
• 1898: Mason Street & Eddy Street, although some say this move did not happen til 1895.^[52]
• 1906: 824 Eddy Street.^[53]
• 1908: 415 Bush Street.^{[54] [55]}
• 1920: New Montgomery and Stevenson Street.
• 1942: 65 Post Street.^[56]

Legacy

Crab Louie

Many restaurants, past and present, claim to have invented Crab Louis.^[57] Historians agree that Bergez-Frank's Poodle Dog has one of the strongest of those claims.^[58] Bergez-Frank's originally had a special menu item titled "Crab Leg a la Louis," named for famed restaurateur and co-owner of the Poodle Dog after his death in 1908.^[59]

California State Library Foundation Bulletin

The Poodle Dog was recognized with a cover story in the California State Library Foundation's Bulletin in 2006.^[60]

Notes and References

1. Book: Throop Purdy, Helen . San Francisco: As It Was, As It Is, and How To See It . 1912 . 146 .
2. Book: Irwin, Will . The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco . 1908 . 32 .
3. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 62 .
4. Book: Irwin, Will . The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco . 1908 . 33 .
5. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 62 .
6. Book: Irwin, Will . The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco . 1908 . 32 .
7. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 99, 108 .
8. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 115 .
9. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 116 .
10. Book: Woon, Basil . San Francisco and The Golden Empire . 1935 . 96 .
11. News: Guerrero . Susana . 2021 . One of San Francisco's Most Famous French Restaurants Ran a Brothel For the City's Elite . SF Gate . January 10, 2022 .
12. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 115 .
13. Book: Irwin, Will . The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco . 1908 . 33 .
14. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 62 .
15. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 107 .
16. Book: Throop Purdy, Helen . San Francisco: As It Was, As It Is, and How To See It . 1912 . 146 .
17. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 107 .
18. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 114 .
19. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 62 .
20. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 107 .
21. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 107 .
22. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 61 .
23. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 62 .
24. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 108 .
25. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 108 .
26. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 63 .
27. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 116 .
28. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 116 .
29. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 116 .
30. Book: Muscatine, Doris . A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes . 1963 . 62 .
31. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
32. Book: Millard, Bailey . A History of The San Francisco Bay Region: History and Biography, Volume 2 . 1924 .
33. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 99, 107–109 .
34. News: Guerrero . Susana . 2021 . One of San Francisco's Most Famous French Restaurants Ran a Brothel For the City's Elite . SF Gate . January 10, 2022 .
35. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
36. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 118 .
37. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
38. Book: Woon, Basil . San Francisco and The Golden Empire . 1935 . 96 .
39. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 118 .
40. Book: O'Connell, Daniel . The Inner Man: Good Things to Eat and Where to Get Them . 1891 . 25 .
41. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
42. Book: Millard, Bailey . A History of The San Francisco Bay Region: History and Biography, Volume 2 . 1924 .
43. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
44. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
45. Book: Thompson . Ruth . Hanges . Louis . Eating Around San Francisco . 1937 . 45 .
46. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
47. Book: Woon, Basil . San Francisco and The Golden Empire . 1935 . 97 .
48. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 107 .
49. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 114 .
50. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 108 .
51. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 115 .
52. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 115 .
53. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 115 .
54. Book: O'Brien, Robert . This Is San Francisco . 1948 . 109 .
55. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 116 .
56. Book: Peters, Erica J. . San Francisco: A Food Biography . 2013 . 118 .
57. Book: Borrman, Laura Smith . Iconic San Francisco: Dishes, Drinks, and Desserts . 2018 . 111 .
58. Book: Borrman, Laura Smith . Iconic San Francisco: Dishes, Drinks, and Desserts . 2018 . 111 .
59. Book: Borrman, Laura Smith . Iconic San Francisco: Dishes, Drinks, and Desserts . 2018 . 111 .
60. Book: Morris, M. Patricia . The Old Poodle Dog: State Library Acquires a Manuscript Collection for Famed San Francisco Restaurant, California State Library Foundation Bulletin . 2006 . 9–11 .