The Battle House Hotel in Mobile has a long and storied history. The facility originally opened in 1852, but that structure burned in 1905. Three years later the current Battle House opened on the same spot, one of the first steel frame structures built in Alabama. The name today is the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel and Spa.
Thus the menu below, from the collection of the New York Public Library and dated March 4, 1857, was used almost five years after James Battle and two half-nephews opened the original hotel on November 13, 1852. The location already had a history as Andrew Jackson's military headquarters during the War of 1812. Two other hotels built on the site had burned.
So just what victuals were being offered that day on the "Bill of Fare" at the Battle House? Well, down the left side we see listings of wines, sherries and champagnes. Among the wines is "Commander Nicholson's Sercial, black seal, bottle racked 1842". Sercial is the driest of wines from the Madeira Islands. Along the right side are more wines, brandies, port, burgundy, claret, and porter and ale. Presumably whiskies were available for the gentlemen who adjourned to a smoking room after the meal.
The menu lists a variety of meat dishes, including ham, tongue, and "Calf's head brain sauce". Yummy. Side dishes include baked oyster, boiled hominy, another calf's head, sirloin, beef currie [sic], turkey wings, breaded pork, and musette of mutton. Seafood included baked oysters and tripe al lyonnaise. There's several roasted meats, duck, puddings and pastries and barley soup. One important side dish was macaroni au gratin. And how about that baked sago pudding?
Room service was available at an extra charge. Lunch was served for just the ladies from 11 to 12 in the dining room. Children taking a seat at the table were charged full price. Dinner for children and nurses took place from 1 to 1:30.
F.H. Chamberlain and Company are listed as proprietors of the Battle House. Chamberlain, a Baldwin County landowner, had built the Grand Hotel in Point Clear in 1847.
Below I've included a giant image of the menu to make it more readable and a photo of the hotel from the 1940s.
Source:
Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "DAILY MENU [held by] BATTLE HOUSE [at] "MOBILE,AL." (HOTEL)" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1857.
Part of the Buttolph Collection of Menus
Battle House in the 1940s
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