Beside his governmental and military abilities, all due to his organizational genius, [1] Napoleon continuously improved the quality of life of the ordinary citizens. During the Directory, the Consulate and the early Empire the working people and the middle class [2] of France paid about three-quarter less taxes than during the Ancien Regime. So, in spite of the Revolution and the destruction it brought, the standard of living in France had gone up considerably. It may not be known by many but the restaurant [3] as we know it today was a French invention of the 18th Century [4] that came to flower in the years after the Revolution of 1789. By then the old aristocratic households with their elaborate kitchen staffs had disappeared. Many of the talented cooks who had served these households found employment in the newly emerging culinary institutions that were known as restaurants. As a result, the food of these uniquely democratic establishments, where anyone could dine who could afford to pay the bill, improved immensely. And from that time to this, French restaurants have outshone all others in the world'. This is partly because of the genius of the French chefs and mostly because the French people apparently care about food quality, its preparation and service - more than anybody else in the world. [5] The first true restaurant is believed to have been opened on the rue des Poulies in Paris in 1765. Its owner was one Monsieur Boulanger (the word means baker, and some authorities claim that he was a baker whose real name has been forgotten.) Before Boulanger's days, there were inns and hostels where simple meals were served to overnight guests as well as cafes where drinks were dispensed. But Boulanger's place was the first public establishment, unassociated with traveling, where people went simply to eat a meal. His menu featured soups and dishes prepared with the finest poultry and the freshest of eggs. Boulanger evidently understood his business and all it's essentials. Diderot, the encyclopedist and philosopher, visited the eating emporium and reported: "I went to dine at the restaurateur's place in the rue des Poulies; one is treated well but has to pay dearly for that." Yet Boulanger's restaurant was modest by our modern standards. The first luxury restaurant in Paris was the First Taverne de Londres on the rue de Richelieu, run by a man named Beauvillier. [6] It opened in 1782 and reached its zenith in the Napoleonic era, when carriages of all nations drew up to its door. It was during the Napoleonic era that French restaurants really came into their own, even though Napoleon himself was not much of a eater. The Emperor dined absentmindedly and quickly, and drank little, usually a glass of Chambertin often diluted with water (what a shame to dilute a fine Chambertin!). He obviously had other things in his mind (Wellington was that way also). An observer reported that "Never did one manage to make him eat his dinner while it was hot, for once he had settled himself to work no one knew when he would leave it .. When dinner time arrived, chickens were placed on the spit for him at half-hourly intervals, and I have personally seen dozens of them so roasted before coming to the one finally presented to him." During the Napoleonic era, the best place to eat in the Palais Royal was a restaurant called Very. Grimod de la Reyniere, [7] the literary gastronome, frequented it and reported that it was "certainly the finest restaurant in the whole of France", probably all of Europe. Furnished by marble-topped tables and gilded candelabra, the Very was crowded with swashbuckling cavalrymen of Napoleon's army and their feminine companions. The menu of this popular establishment offered a dozen different soups, 15 entrees of beef, 20 of lamb and 30 of game. Honore de Balzac, the great novelist, went there, and deeply appreciated it. In his novel La comiedie humaine, one of the first things the famous character, Lucien de Rubempre, did on his arrival in the capital from the province was to dine at Very. He ordered a bottle of Bordeaux, a plate of Ostend oysters, some fish, partridge, macaroni and fruit. The diner cost him 50 francs and Balzac makes the point that his hero could have lived a month on that amount back home in Angouleme. Balzac once invited his editor, Werdet, to dine at Very. The later reported that he was suffering from acute gastritis and ate very little, but that Balzac -- as monumental a trencherman as he was a writer -- put away a prodigious meal: 100 Ostend oysters, a dozen lamb cutlets, a duckling with turnips, a pair of roast partridges, a sole a la normande, (sole with oysters, mussels, shrimp tails and mushrooms), as well as hors d'oeuvres,, fruits, associated wines, coffee and liqueurs. When the meal was finally over Balzac whispered to Werdet, "Have you any money?" The editor leaned forward and pretended to be picking up something on the floor as he slipped Balzac a five-franc coin. Balzac summoned the waiter, took the check and scrawled something across the bottom. Then he handled the waiter the check and gave him the five-franc coin as a tip. With that he rose majestically and left the restaurant with his guest. Werdet asked Balzac what he had written across the bottom of the check and was told: "What I wrote my friend, you will find out tomorrow." The next morning a man from Very appeared at Werdet's office with the check, which came to the impressive sum of 62 francs and 50 centimes. Balzac inscription at the bottom informed the restaurant that the editor would be glad to pay the check if it were presented at his office.... In the years after Napoleon's downfall and exile to St. Helena in 1815, the best place to go in Paris for a fine meal was the Rocher de Cancale, on the rue Montorgueil, not far from the Palais Royal. But that is another story. In the present day, one can still find in Paris some famous restaurants that date back to the Revolution and the Napoleonic era. One of them is Le Procope, 13 rue de l'Ancienne Comedie, in the Quartier Latin, where my husband and friends had, an extraordinary meal as recently as last June. [8] Le Procope is a fine historical restaurant where dining is a very pleasant affair with an interesting menu that states: "For over 300 years, in this very room, perhaps at the spot you are presently sitting, ate Voltaire, Beaumarchais, Marat, Danton, Robespierre, Ben Franklin, Verlaine, Gambetta and a citizen called Bonaparte. As they were, please be welcomed at the Procope." Concerning the price, that depends of your definition of expensive or inexpensive and on the shape of your food budget. If you have a McDonald's pocket book, I suggest limiting your visit to passing in the front of the establishment. However, in my opinion, if you want to treat yourself to dinner in such a historical place, and you don't get too extravagant, the prices are in line with that of a classy American restaurant. There is a gourmet menu priced at about $50.00 which includes a drink, appetizer (choice of 4), entree (choice of 4, a Brie de Meaux (a good French meal always includes a cheese), desert (choice of 3), and 1/2 a bottle of wine. The service 15% is included. The "a la carte" menu in more expensive. As an appetizer, the spectacular plateau de Fruits de mer is expensive ($33.00) but, if you can afford it, highly recommended (it consists of oysters on the half-shelf, clams, shrimps, crabs etc.,on ice). The stuff guinea fowl leg is especially delicious and reasonably priced ($17.00). So are many other dishes. The house wine is very good and quite affordable. ENDNOTES [1] Let us not forget that Napoleon revolutionized the court system and promoted social justice by introducing the Code Napoleon; so in advance of its time that it is still used today in France as well as in the State of Louisiana. He improved communications by covering France with a systems of canals, roads, etc. The bitter pill was to come much later starting in early 1813. [2] The middle class of France - the bourgeois - made the Revolution and gave it leaders, some famous some infamous, like Robespierre who originally was a lawyer. [3] To my great sorrow, in the USA, in spite of Julia Child's effort, a veil of mystery still surrounds real French cooking which has still to be discovered by the majority of the American people. [4] Entree, Hors d'oeuvres as well Maitre d' of the American restaurant are a small tribute to the acknowledgement of that invention. Maitre d' comes from the contraction of the French word Maitre d'hotel ". [5] Which does not mean that other cuisines do not produce outstanding foods and restaurants. [6] He wrote a book which for years was a cooking bible. [7] I was not there, as my husband went with his friends to visit, they said, "battlefields". I did not know that their "battlefields" also included the battle of the bulge. Beside that, he had the audacity to exile me to Colorado for the duration. Life is simply not fair! It's still a man's world... Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 4 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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