Column: Buying a meal when the prices were super-low

Published 12:00 am Friday, July 22, 2005

One detail of past life which really arouses the interest of folks out here between the cornrows is based on the amazingly low prices folks paid for anything.

However, one added detail they tend to sometimes overlook is the prevailing wage scale of that same era. Maybe the big bottle of soda pop cost just a nickel years ago; yet the wage rate was also 50 cents an hour.

This most recent interest in the prices of another era was revived with an old menu for the Leader Restaurant of Albert Lea which was recently found by Kelly Callahan.

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However, this old printed menu created several logical questions. Just where was this particular local eating place, and when did it exist?

To get the answers, Kelly contacted Linda Evenson, librarian and expert researcher at the Freeborn County Historical Museum. Linda found the address for this particular eating place to be 328 S. Broadway Ave. Further checking resulted in the estimated dates of 1909 to 1913 for the existence of the Leader Restaurant. Those dates could possibly be extended for a year or two at either end.

The cover of this menu had two interesting messages.

One said the Leader’s lunch counter was open all night. This was rather unusual for an eating establishment on the town’s main street a century or so ago. About the only eating places open all night back then were near the railroad depots. This was because trains were passing through town during the night hours. The passengers, train crew members, and others needed a place to get a quick meal or refreshments.

The other message was, &uot;Ask about our commutation plan for regular boarders.&uot; There were several nearby rooming houses and small hotels. The permanent tenants needed a place to eat their meals. The rent payments may have also included meals at the Leader Restaurant.

With these details out of the way, let’s shift the focus to the food prices on this menu. After all, that’s supposed to be the theme of this column.

The lead item on the Leader’s menu was oysters. For just a quarter one could get a half-dozen of these raw shelled taste treats. For an extra nickel one could have a half-dozen oysters fried. And for just a dime one could get a hot oyster sandwich.

The meat entrees included a small steak for 20 cents, a hamburger steak or breaded pork chops for a quarter, and tenderloin steak for 30 cents. A Porterhouse double steak with mushrooms for $1.30 was the highest priced item on the Leader’s menu.

I might add that all the steaks and chops listed on this menu were served with bread and German fried potatoes.

Two eggs fried, boiled, scrambled or poached were just a dime. Omelets with additions or versions ranged in price from 20 to 30 cents.

Under the category of relishes were cabbage, shrimp, chicken, potato, tomato, lobster, salmon and combination salads at 15 cents to a quarter each. One more salad was listed as German style lettuce, and I have no idea as to how to describe this alleged delicacy.

Perhaps the oddest listed item on this menu was a caviar relish for 30 cents. One can wonder what kind of fish eggs were used for this entree.

Potatoes dominated the vegetable portion of this menu. There were Lyonaise, hash brown, French fried, German fried, and Saratoga chips. This last one is now better known as potato chips.

Sandwiches ranged in price from a nickel for a choice of ham, roast beef, pork and cheese, to 15 cents for caviar and 20 cents for a turkey special.

The cold dish list included pickled pig’s feet, beef tongue and sardines. Yum, yum.

Leader’s misnamed dairy dishes list had several versions of toast, plus wheat, corn, buckwheat and graham cakes. That’ right, they were corn cakes, not flakes. Those cakes were actually pancakes served with maple syrup.

Under the listing of beverages, one could have a cup of coffee, milk, chocolate or cocoa for a nickel, or a pot of the desired beverage for a dime.

Today, the items on this menu would barely meet the dietary requirements of the present food pyramid, triangle or whatever. In part this is due to the complete lack of fruit of any type on this old printed menu from this particular eating place.

Anyway, a person could easily eat three good meals a day at Albert Lea’s Leader Restaurant for a dollar or less nine decades ago.

(Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears each Friday.)