Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
History
Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1
Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
At the corner of the Rue de Choiseul is the well-known establishment
of Potel and Chabot, who keep what, in London--for want of a better
name, and probably in virtue of some tradition on the subject--is
called an "Italian warehouse." This firm, however, does not confine
itself to the lighter description of comestibles and dainties. In these
it deals largely enough; and among the tempting delicacies offered to
the passer-by are early vegetables, fruit, olives, ham, sausages of
rare manufacture, and game pies. But besides selling stray articles
to the chance epicure, the house of Potel and Chabot undertakes the
supply of dinners on a very large scale, and employs a number of chefs,
sous-chefs, scullions, roasters, pastry-cooks, and other functionaries
of the kitchen. It was the firm of Potel and Chabot which, in July,
1888, supplied in the Champ de Mars the banquet offered to 10,000 mayors
from all parts of France, furnishing it hot, so that many of the guests
declared they had never before been anywhere so well served. The dinner
was simple, but it is said to have been excellent. The ten thousand
guests had one glass and two plates apiece; 500 waiters flitted about
with the wines and the dishes.
The end of the Boulevard des Italiens is marked by a circular pavilion,
which has lost something of its original shape through the repairs
necessitated by the ravages of time; though it still bears a number of
sculptural ornaments which are much admired, including certain masks,
reputed to be masterpieces. It is called the Pavilion of Hanover, and
is so named from having been erected and adorned by the architect
Cheveautel for the Duc de Richelieu at the end of the garden attached to
his mansion, after the campaign of Hanover, in 1757, which he terminated
by securing the capitulation of Closterseven. Under the Directory
and the Consulate, in the first years of the Empire, the Pavilion of
Hanover and a portion of the grounds belonging formerly to the Duc de
Richelieu were the scene of public assemblies, balls, and concerts;
and it was here that Tortoni established his famous ice-shop and café
in partnership with another Italian, named Velloni. The latter is now
forgotten; but Tortoni, who continued the business on his own account,
is, in the world of cafés, an historical figure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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