Metropolitan Opera - Grand Tier Restaurant
The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883. The Academy of Music opera house did had a limited number of private boxes for the growing number of rich families in New York City. "Old money" families didn’t want to admit New York's newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. The frustrated families elected officers and established a new company.They built a new theater at 39th and Broadway that include three tiers of private boxes. The first Met subscribers included members of the Morgan, Roosevelt, and Vanderbilt families, all of whom had been excluded from the Academy. The new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22, 1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically.
There must have been bars in the house, but it is unclear if there is a restaurant. The restaurant that eventually served the opera house was owned by Louis Sherry. Louis Sherry began his professional life in restaurants in New Jersey and New York in the 1870s, working as a waiter, then steward and head waiter at establishments such as the Hotel Brunswick. In 1881 he started a confectionery and catering business at Sixth Avenue and 38th Street where he supplied ice cream, cakes, and deluxe dinner party staples such as lobster, salmon, deviled crab, chicken salad, and terrapin. He soon opened a restaurant at the casino at Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island. His businesses grew, and he moved to Fifth Avenue at 37th Street, and when that became too small he commissioned Stanford White to design a multi-story restaurant with ballrooms and residential suites opposite Delmonico’s.
The Ballroom at Sherry's restaurant in 1898
He first had a success at the Metropolitan Opera by catering their Kirmess in 1885. A Kirmess was a traditional Dutch festival and this one was to support the charity fund of the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital. Each day Sherry served nearly 6,000 attendees lunch, table d’hote dinner and a late supper. Based on this and other successes Sherry who had opened a restaurant on 37th and 5th Avenue in 1890 upgraded opening a new restaurant in 1898 on 5th avenue and 44th street, greatly impressing even his rival Delmonico’s.
Eventually he opened a restaurant at the Metropolitan opera. It was a place for high society and celebrities alike. This was the restaurant at the Old Met until the company moved to Lincoln Center and opened the Grand Tier Restaurant. Pictures of people at the opera in the Sherry Bar and Restaurant include, Liz Taylor and Eddie Fisher, Marlene Dietrich, Mr and Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Giovanni Martinelli and Mrs August Belmont together with Rise Stevens, General David Sarnoff and Heavyweight Champion Gene Tunney.
The Sherry Restaurant created meals especially for the operas that were being performed, and for special occasions like opening nights. I contacted the current president of Louis Sherry about menus from the restaurant and he was very helpful. Louis Sherry always sold chocolates in beautifully decorated tin boxes and that seems to be their major business at this time. You can see their chocolates at https://www.louis-sherry.com/ . The box I remember as a child was the pink one on the left, but now they have many new designs,
In addition, the Metropolitan Opera Archives were very helpful with menus, taking the time to look through their media and send me some examples. The archives can be viewed here. https://www.metopera.org/Discover/Archives/ You will see images of memorabilia, history and the database of all the Met performances with the their casts. Louis Sherry pointed me in the direction of The Museum of the City of New York where they have several of the menus as well as other images. Here, from the museum, is the menu for the opening night of the 1954-1955 season.
As you can see the dish’s names were related to opera, i.e. Potage Mimi and Paillettes Bohemienne in honor of La Boheme, and The Filet de Boeuf after Rhadames and the Haricots Verts Aida. On opera night the menus would be related to the opera being presented as in this Faust Menu.
The meal includes, Coquille de Fruite de Mer Faust, Mignon de Boeuf Mephistopheles, and Turban de Vanille aux fraises refraichis Marguerite.
In 1954 Sherry also started featuring dishes honoring singers with the company. The first, as described in an article in the New York Times, was Pompano a la Siepi, in honor of Cesare Siepi, the great bass. This was supposedly a dish which his mother made from a fish which tasted just like pompano. The black and white picture of the dish is from the New York Times. Click here for the recipe.
In 1966 the Met moved to Lincoln Center. They opened with two restaurants, The Top of the Met in the balcony overlooking the plaza, and the Grand Tier restaurant. The Top of the Met closed in the 1970s as it was not popular, but the Grand Tier still serves food before and during the opera. In addition there are Intermission bars on almost every level including the Grand Tier. These bars serve champagne, coffee, sandwiches and candy. They are often the savior of those coming directly from work where you can get a smoked salmon sandwich or a cup of coffee perhaps to get you through the night. Intermissions are fairly long to enable full courses to be served.
A full pre-theatre dinner is offered 2 hours before the performance. A prix fixe of three courses is offered as well as a la carte. You can pre-order food and drink for intermissions which will be ready for you when you reach your table. Click here for a sample menu. It may include:
Smoked Salmon
Veal Tortellini
Baked Alaska