NEW YORK GRILL-ROOMS 
By E. N. Vallandigham 
'VTEW YORK, which in some respects is 
^ ^ the most modern of cities, has an almost 
pathetic way of trying to mimic the antique. 
Busy men and women, just escaped for an 
hour or so from the down-town struggle, like 
to dine in dim and cobweb-hung barrooms 
which imitate the old taverns of England. 
Here and there, the sombre, commonplace 
house-fronts of the residence streets are 
broken by the interposition of some bit of 
architecture calling itself Colonial or Old 
English. The clubs have occasionally shown 
the same spirit in their interior arrangements 
and decoration. Grill-rooms have been made 
special features of several clubs, and are for 
the most extremely popular. Few clubs have 
gone to the length of making the grill-room 
in all respects the thing that the name implies, 
a place where one may actually see one’s chop 
or steak grilled on the glowing fire before one’s 
eyes, but the grill-rooms of several clubs have 
the cosy charm associated with the name, 
and in the case of others the old-fashioned 
union of dining-room and kitchen has been 
accomplished. 
By far the most popular room of the Reform 
Club, at the north¬ 
east corner of 
Fifth Avenue and 
Twenty-seventh 
Street, is the de¬ 
lightful low-ceil- 
inged apartment 
of the basement 
known as the grill¬ 
room. The apart¬ 
ment is not large; 
and its appoint¬ 
ments are simple 
but in excellent 
taste. All the 
woodwork and the 
furniture are in old 
oak. The chimney 
breast in glazed 
brick of dark color 
has a pleasant fire¬ 
place, above which 
is what our ancestors sometimes called, a 
“cubby-hole,” filled with tankards and mugs. 
A deep window with a window seat occupies 
a third of the south wall. The room is never 
bright but always cheerful. It is especially 
agreeable for a late winter morning breakfast, 
when the sun shines in through the colored 
glass of the south window, and a fire of cannel 
coal or hickory wood gleams and sparkles 
on the hearth. Men prefer to dine here to 
dining for half the price at the table d’hote in 
the great dining-room above stairs. The 
grill-room, however, is specially crowded at 
the luncheon hour. New Yorkers are blamed 
for bolting their midday meal, but here men 
sit over luncheon for an hour and a half or 
more; and the room is a pleasant hum of 
conversation on every subject save business. 
The Round Table of the Reform Club 
grill-room is a genuine institution. Here 
gather daily a few congenial spirits who pass 
an hour or more in talk and story-telling 
over chops and ale and wine. Some of the 
best stories to be heard in New York are told 
at the Round Table, and every habitue of 
the table takes care that any interesting guest 
who m h e may 
bring to the club 
shall find a seat 
there. Oddly 
enough, not one 
of those who fre¬ 
quent the Round 
I able asserts an 
exclusive right to 
his seat, but as if 
by tacit consent of 
the other habitues 
of the grill-room 
that particular ta¬ 
ble is left to the 
little group of men 
who for the last 
five years have oc¬ 
cupied it. From 
time to time a new 
man is asked in, 
and the table, 
GRILL- AND TAP-ROOM—GROLIER CLUB 
265 
