CHOW

Hungry for Russian caviar, or pate de foie gras, or one of 15 lobster dishes? Then pull up a menu. Price is no object. The caviar is only 35 cents, the pate 45. Is this Food Heaven? No, the Rare Book Room of the downtown Los Angeles Public Library, where a collection of local menus reflects the city’s changing palate. Not surprisingly, bills o’ fare well into the ‘30s and ‘40s present a plenitude of then-local seafood and a paucity of items now de rigueur on any menu. Chicken, for example, was scarce, and it wasn’t cheap. Early Angelenos were also not into desserts--after-dinner tastes leaned more toward cheeses. Wines were neither plentiful nor regional, but the price was right--in 1912, a bottle of G. H. Mumms Extra Dry was $5. The avocado debuted in 1929 at the Hotel Alexandria, selling for a whopping $1, right up there with Russian caviar. A 1938 Tick Tock Tea Room showed an early health-conciousness with a fresh vegetable plate that still topped its chart 30 years later.

A trek through L.A. menus is also a good barometer of the buck--note how when the ‘80s hit, prices begin to skyrocket. Musso & Frank’s broiled chicken, which opened the decade at $6.15, closed it at twice the price. And, at the other end of the food chain, dinner at Knott’s Berry Farm Fried Chicken Restaurant was $2.25 in 1955 and is now $9.45.

Inflation is, at least, democratic.