What Christmas Was Really Like In The Wild West

Posted by Reinaldo Massengill on Saturday, May 4, 2024

In the early days of the west, those with enough money to eat out were lucky to find a restaurant serving Christmas dinner, let alone a palatable menu. In 1855, California's Shasta Courier listed the Christmas menu at St. Charles' as consisting of mostly homemade goods like mock turtle soup and oysters, a variety of meats including boiled mutton, tongue, stuffed pig, and oyster pie, vegetables, and simple cobblers and pies. By 1886 in Carson City, Nevada, however, eating out at Christmas was all the rage. The Morning Appeal reported that three different restaurants "will spread extra," with each place vying for the best menu in town.

The elite La Veta Hotel in the gold country of Gunnison, Colorado certainly had one of the best menus in the west during 1889. North Pole West shows the menu offering several wines, salads, nine meat dishes ranging from rabbit and trout to duck and antelope, a variety of vegetable and fruit dishes, and a slew of desserts. Simpler fare was served at El Paso, Texas' Cafe Francis in 1898. The El Paso Daily Herald printed the menu which included green turtle consommé, a choice of antelope, calf tongue, fricassee of brain, rock cod, suckling pig, or turkey; relishes, a simple salad with mayonnaise dressing, standard vegetables, and choice of desserts. Alas, newspapers are scant as to what proprietors of these places charged for the holiday meal.

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