While the rich, thin cakes are being gilded a golden brown upon the hot griddle, a sauce such as only a French master can prepare is being brewed at the table. In a tiny chafing dish, butter is melted and mixed with Grand Marnier cordial, or, if it is preferred, Chartreuse, Kirsch or Grenadine. Then just a suggestion of spice and a fragrant incense arises from the chafing dish as the steaming cakes arrive. The delicious nectar is poured over the cakes with a liberal hand, they are deftly folded in quarters by the servitor and the feast is ready. [Illustration] _"To eat understandingly and to drink understandingly are two arts that may not be learned from the day to the morrow."_ --_Alexander Dumas_ _Potatoes Montgolfier_ This dish is happily christened in honor of the inventor of the balloon, as the story of its origin attests. A dining car chef one day was frying potatoes in deep fat just as the train rolled into a station. As it happened the chef was a dual personality--master of the sauce pans and porter, all in one. So he took the half-cooked potatoes out of the hot lard, donned his porter's uniform, seized the ever-ready whiskbroom and darted into the chair car. When he returned the potatoes were put back in the pan. Imagine the amazement of this peripatetic cook when he saw the bewitched pommes de terre swell out for all the world like a balloon when the gas is turned on. Thus was a new dainty added to the world's culinary repertoire. A note of distinction is added to this dish by the ingenuity of the Congress chef. While the potatoes are attaining a generous rotundity, a dainty nest of thin potato ribbons is woven and in this they are carried to the dining room and served. [Illustration] _"The turnpike road to people's hearts I find Lies through their mouths Or I mistake mankind."_ --_Dr. Wolcot_ _Tetits Pots de Creme_ _(Vanilla Moka Mexicain)_ This delightful entremet--a special forte of the Congress chef--fulfills to perfection the mission of the dessert, which is to comfort the stomach by delicate reflex flattery through the palate. It is a refreshing wave of gastronomic coolness, giving pleasure to the taste without the cloying sense of fullness. Let those whose fortune it is to know the charms of this dainty pay silent tribute to that French chef to whom the world is indebted for the delights of creamy sweets. The cream is served from a large bowl. Beside each guest's plate is a tiny glass of Kermis, a sweet French cordial. A few drops of the Kermis poured over the cream gives it a delightful flavor and the spoonfuls fall upon the tongue as buoyantly as snowflakes. Well may those who bring their dinner to an end with this delicacy echo the sweet lines of the poet: _"The last taste of sweets is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past."_ [Illustration: Congress Hotel Home of a Thousand Homes]