Friday, February 26, 2016

Victorian Restaurants- Barker’s Coffee Room

Surrounded by small shops, the warm and inviting Barker’s Coffee Room draws patrons from all classes with an ear for news and gossip. After paying a five pence entry fee, patrons have access to reading materials, a seat by the fire, and a cup of hot coffee or tea. If you’re a regular and she likes you, the cup won’t be watered down.
The shop’s previous owner devoted himself to serving the finest beverages and educating his customers with refined reading materials. After his bankruptcy, Molly bought the place and set up a comfy parlor for working men and woman to talk, read, and relax.
Locals from all places in society gather to discuss the latest news, and share news of their own. Some patrons don't come to drink but instead use Bakers as an information brokerage office, buying and selling whatever knowledge they can. Policemen, criminals, lawyers, parsons, scientists and bankers all come to Barkers. The parlor is busiest mornings and afternoons, although some graveyard shift workers stop for coffee before their nightly labors.  

Molly Barker (Business-minded badgerfolk)
Initiative: 5  
Physical: 4  
Mental: 7  
Social: 6  
Health: 6
Traits: Nose for Business +3, Motherly +2
Combat: Get out of my Parlor!, Claws (4)

Nahum Potter (Ogre Doorman)
Initiative: 6
Physical: 8
Mental: 5
Social: 4
Health: 12
Traits: Good memory for faces +2, Out you go! +3
Combat: Punch (6)

Layout
In the dry warm confines of Barker’s Coffee Room, the smell of percolating coffee oozes through the air. Nahum the doorman greets each customer and collects their fee. The parlor is an open room lit by gaslights and a large fireplace. Patrons sit at short tables, small booths, and (most coveted of all) in comfy chairs by the fire. Small baskets here and there contain local, continental, and American periodicals or newspapers.
A few young ladies in simple dresses wander the room, carrying trays of cigars, requested reading, or steaming hot coffee. Patrons gather around the tables to talk business and gossip, while solitary figures read in peace.

In the back of the parlor a slatted door opens to the storage room and kitchen. Cigar boxes, coffee bean sacks, old papers tied with string, and numerous rattraps litter one side of the room. An iron gas stove dominates the other. Molly shuffles incessantly between pots of boiling water, and coffee percolators, as younger girls roast meat, pour coffee, and prepare meals.

A staircase near Nahum the doorman’s post leads to the apartments on the first floor, and an empty office area for rent. All rooms are modest, but tidy with large windows open to the street.

Menu
Decent Cigars 3d
Beef and Carrot stew 5d
Toast and Butter 1d
Coffee (1 cup) 2d
Tea (1 cup) 2d
Ham and Eggs 6d

Reading materials
American Traveler
Athenaeum
Daily News
Daily Telegraph
Examiner
Evening Star
Morning Chronicle
Parish Weekly Gazette
Police Gazette
Post
Times
United Service Gazette
World

Encounters
Molly and a group of temperance women gather weekly to enjoy coffee and talk about the troubles of the age. Some patrons avoid visiting during their meetings.

A plump halfling, named Ronald Millchase, habitually reads by the fireplace. Ronald has an amazing memory, and for a shilling will recite articles published in the past month on any requested subject. For ten shillings he will recite articles published in the past ten years, although it does give him a headache.

Barker’s Coffee Room is popular with students needing a place to study late into the night. Molly Baker sometimes makes leaves a fresh pot of coffee for trusted customers planning to spend the night in her parlor.

A worse class of coffee house
To make Barkers a more unseemly coffee house here are a few changes and extra details.
The cost to enter Barker’s is one pence, but the doorman may charge more if the customer looks prosperous. Broken chairs and worm eaten tables clutter the dimly lit parlor with month-old penny papers strewn around them.  Vagrants, having paid their pence, use the coffee house to get some sleep in a warm safe place. Molly makes the coffee out of any number of ingredients, but probably not coffee beans.


Friday, February 19, 2016

Victorian Restaurants- The Quartered Room


In the heart of the city, societies’ best gather nightly around the Quartered Room to dine exquisitely in fantastic surroundings. Although some find its décor and magical construction garish, hundreds of well dressed gentlemen and ladies flock to the Quartered Room each night, to dine and be seen. A meal in the Quartered Room is on the check list of every visitor to the city.
Alphonse Quesnay, a court thaumaturgist of King Louis XVI, fled the French Revolution and became a wealthy architect in England. Quesnay designed the Quartered Room and personally painted the mural on its famous ceiling shortly before his disappearance.

Chef Salomon Villon (Revered gnome chef)
Initiative: 5
Physical: 4
Mental: 8
Social: 6
Health: 8
Traits: King of the Kitchen +3, Eye for Quality +2
Combat: Throw whatever is at hand (3-6), Punch (2)

Hamish Mallory (Capable but apologetic human waiter) 
Initiative: 5
Physical: 4
Mental: 6
Social: 7
Health: 6
Traits: So Sorry, My Fault Entirely +2
Combat: Punch (3)

Layout
Both the west and east entrances open to small ante-rooms with green wallpaper and roaring fireplaces. Patrons sit in comfortable chairs and wait to be called by the clerk standing at the doorway.
Once called, the maitre d’hôtel leads patrons into the restaurant’s namesake: the quartered room, a hall full of glimmering glass, and gilt decorations. The quartered room is divided into four dining rooms of equal size by short walls six and half feet tall topped by one foot panels of frosted glass.

Different color palettes and designs decorate each quarter, but the white table clothes, red upholstered chairs and constantly moving waiters in black jackets are present in each division.
The northeast corner has grey fabrics and wallpapers trimmed with gilt and silver decorations. Delicately framed mirrors hang on the walls.
Dark green carpet and pale blue brocades decorate the southeast corner. A long painting of the Bosporus strait runs the length of one wall.
In the southwest corner a bronze bas relief of Apollo dimly reflects the glow of yellow wall hangings and brass fixtures.
Large potted plants of foreign origin decorate the northwest corner. An oriental design of roses dots across rich dark wooden panels.

Fifteen feet above patron’s heads, Quesnay’s grand mural covers the quartered room’s entire ceiling. A meticulously detailed angelic host flies magically across the heavens and brings light to the world in fantastic oranges, pinks and reds. Occasionally an angel may hover over a particular table and smile down on its occupants. The mural’s moving figures and glowing color provides illumination and splendor to the entire dining experience.

Three entrances in the quartered room’s southern wall open to the restaurant’s kitchen. Chef Salomon oversees the chaotic flurry of food preparation and sees every detail. Many dishes have been sent out only to have him swoop down and fix a missed detail before sending the meal back on its way.

Menu (The sample meal for the Quartered Room is based on menus found in “Dinners and Diners” by Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis, published in 1899.)

Sample meal
Caviar 2s
Potage consommé à la Villon 1s
Filets de sole aux délices 1s 6d
Suprêmes de volaille et légumes 4s
Carottes nouvelles à la crème 1s
Laitues braisées en cocotte 1s
Cailles à la Sainte Alliance 5s
Salade de chicorée frisée 6d
Crouties à la Villon 1s
Soufflé glacé à la mandarine 1s
Total: 16s

Wines (by the bottle) 
Burgundy 6s
Chablis 6s
Claret 5s
Iced Champagne 7s
Madeira 7s
Port 4s
Sherry 4s

Other Beverages 
Coffee (1 cup) 3d
Seltzer water (bottle) 6d
Scotch (bottle) 1s

Encounters
Two colonels, an admiral, and their wives sit at a table. The men are animatedly telling war stories, which the wives have apparently heard before. Some of their stories are unprintable.

A young woman, named Samantha Pollis, sits by herself in a booth, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. Her hand busily scratches patterns on the table cloth with a pen.

Members of Royal Societies and Academies often come to the Quartered Room to think, and work during the day. They claim the room’s arrangement helps them concentrate and think differently.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Victorian Restaurants- St. Gauden’s


A block away from prestigious banks, firms, and theaters, St. Gauden’s Restaurant is a busy hive of deal making, celebration, and romance every evening. A casual diner hoping for a meal has little chance of a seat after 6, unless Henri Lyons, the maitre d’hôtel, likes them enough to add a new table. At its busiest, St. Gauden’s can seat over 200 people. A glance across the restaurant reveals an ex-Lord Mayor, a popular music hall comedian, two Cabinet members, and a scandalous actress.
The wait staff are all respectable men well trained in their duties, ready to provide newspapers, cigars, recommendations, or any other small service to those in their charge. A few ex-military men, serving as doormen and head waiters, help keep customer relations smooth should trouble arise.

Alec Canary (Human waiter with a military past)
Initiative: 5
Physical: 6
Mental: 3
Social: 5
Health: 4
Traits: Prepared for violence +2)
Combat: Punch (4)

Henri Lyons (Constantly busy, but genteel, foxfolk maitre d’hôtel)
Initiative:
6
Physical: 5
Mental: 7
Social: 8
Health: 8
Traits: Knows everyone +3, Hard to fool +2,
Combat: “Stop that or I shall be forced to call for a Policeman!”  

Layout
A short entry way under a red awning leads past Henri Lyons welcoming customers into the beautiful two-story dining room. The ground floor is ringed with white clothed covered tables and booths upholstered in red leather. In the center is a dance floor clear of furniture with a floral tile design, which can only be truly appreciated from the balcony on the first floor. The entire room is well lit by unobtrusive gas lamps and a few sparkling chandlers. Panels of a light wood, and red cloth brocades tastefully embellish the restaurant’s walls.

Two carpeted spiral staircases lead up to the first floor, where a three sided balcony dividing the north, west and east walls, looks over the restaurant below. More tables and a small orchestra stand fill much of the carpeted floor leaving only thin lanes for waiters in short green jackets to push polished carts. From 6pm-9pm a seven piece ensemble plays tasteful music, loud enough for dancing, quiet enough for nearby conversations. Hinged wooden panels conceal pulley operated dumbwaiters.

Unobtrusive doors lead to a warren of private dining rooms, banquet halls, and closed booths. A private booth can be had with a small tip, but the banquet halls and dining rooms require a reservation.

Two wide doorways on the ground floor open to St. Gauden’s kitchens, full of cooks, and waiters franticly moving around open flames, empty trays, and shouting chefs. Two stone stairwells lead down to the underground pantries, and the wine cellar. A third door opens to the alleyway behind the restaurant.

Menu (The dinners for St. Gauden’s are based on a menu found in “London at Dinner, or Where to Dine”, published in 1858.)

Three Shilling Dinner (served 3 to 9)
Consommé served plain
White-bait
Cabbage and Potatoes
Veal Chops with Tomato Sauce
Pudding a la D’Orsay

Five Shilling Dinner (served from 4 to 9)
Tapioca Consommé a la Mussarde
Soles a la Maître d’Hôtel
Macaroni Timbales a la Milanais, served with Peas
Madeira Mushroom Brioche Sauteed Potatoes with Navy Beans
An assortment of Apples, Oranges, Nuts

Eight Shilling Dinner (served 6 to 9)
Consommé a la Crécy,
Salmon a l’Italienne and White-bait
Peppered Fillets of Beef in Chicken Jelly
Goslings
Potatoes and Peas
Lobster with Mayonnaise
Savarin Cake with Almond Jelly and Fresh Strawberries
An assortment of Apples, Oranges, Nuts

Absinthe (1 pint) 1s
Ale (1 pint) 6d
Brandy (1 pint) 6s
Fine wine (bottle) 7s
Iced Champagne (bottle) 7s
Iced Punch (1 pint) 6d
Lemonade (1 pint) 6d
Seltzer water (bottle) 6d
Stout (1 pint) 6d

Encounters 
The private dining rooms on the first floor are often used by the Guild for retirement parties, graduation banquets and other official functions. Sometimes magicians get up to mischief when they’ve had too much to drink.

A well respected theater critic, a famous stage director and a beloved actress all hate each other vehemently and frequently dine at St Gauden’s after a show. The scathing witticisms passed across the restaurant are the source of gossip all over town.

At lunchtime, a group of businessmen gather to gamble over news stories. Whether a bit of legislation will pass, how soon a murderer will be caught, and the identity of a woman caught in a love nest with a member of government have all been speculated on in the past.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Victorian Restaurants- The Dog and Bull Tavern


In the last Victoriana campaign I ran, one of my players played a halfling obsessed with eating new foods. He often stopped adventuring at meal times, and always asked what was eaten by nearby NPCs.
This helped him stay in character and immersed him deeper into the world, but I was often unprepared for his character’s food obsession. If you need some foodie answers or just quick locals for adventuring, you’re in luck. All February long, I will be posting adventure ready Victoriana restaurants.  

The Dog and Bull Tavern
A few streets over from the factories and workshops, the Dog and Bull tavern caters to tired working men at the end of a long day’s labor. Their clientele range from shift workers and foremen at the cotton mill, to constables hoping to warm up for a few minutes, to lawyers and merchants breaking for lunch. The glasses are clean, the food is good, and the atmosphere is relaxed. Dwarven publican Walter Waifbottle opened the tavern in 1810. His son, Tommy and Tommy’s orcish wife, Laura, run the Dog and Bull now, but Walter still serves drinks at the bar.
The Waifbottles are hardworking and easy going, however if trouble starts in their tavern they will quickly end it. Tommy keeps a shotgun under the bar and Laura may run the kitchen now, but she has a series of scars from her days as a bare-knuckle fighter. Tommy lost 5 shillings when she knocked out “Pixie” Marlin; it was love at first sight. Their three daughters (two dwarves, one orc) take after her.

Tommy Waifbottle (Friendly dwarven proprietor)
Initiative: 5
Physical: 5
Mental: 5
Social: 5
Health: 8
Traits: Pub gossip +2, This is a reputable establishment! +2
Combat: Punch (3), Shotgun (7)

Laura Waifbottle (Busy orc cook )
Initiative: 6
Physical: 6  
Mental: 4  
Social: 5  
Health: 10
Traits: Queen of her kitchen +2, Champion Boxer +3
Combat: Punch (5), Kitchen knife (3)

Layout
A sign featuring a dog pulling with its teeth the nose ring of a large bull hangs over the tavern’s entrance. Inside, a long L-shaped oak bar fills one side of the room. Shelves of bottles and a large painting illustrating a story from the aluminate bible line the wall behind it. Round tables and chairs for man-sized or dwarf-sized customers fill much of the floor space. Passages to the kitchen, the courtyard, and the saloon lead out from the barroom. The appealing smell of roasting joints and the sound of cheerful conversation come from all directions as the Waifbottle’s daughters serve patrons.

Past a mounted lions head, the short hallway leading to the kitchen is lined with the tavern’s four snugs, small booths with frosted glass windows closed off by a door, for those wanting to drink in private. Drinks and food brought to the snugs cost extra, but are worth it to a patron needing peace and quiet.

Another door leads out back, to a small courtyard between the Dog and Bull and the back of Hammel’s Pharmacy. The courtyard is empty aside from the water pump and an ogre-sized table and chairs, unless a party is underway. Then the courtyard is full of dancing and talking celebrants. Lanterns are hung and more tables are pulled from inside.

The curtained door to the saloon is always open, but after five pm, Laura Waifbottle’s brother, Elias, watches to make sure nobody gets in without paying the one shilling door charge. For the shilling, customers get a small cut of meat, a glass of beer, table service, access to the billiard tables, and the saloons’ entertainment for the evening. Song, jokes, and dances are performed nightly on a small stage next to an upright piano.

Menu (All cuts of meat are prepared at 1pm and hourly from 4-7pm)
Cut of beef or lamb and vegetables (carrots, turnips, peas and parsnips) 1s
Steak, bread and cheese 1s 4d
Beef and potato stew 9d
Choice of haddock, cod, or sole, with bread and cheese 1s 6d
Pork-pie 4d
Beer 2d
Gin 1d
Wine 4d
Ale 2d

Encounters
Charlie Ollscott, a horsefolk laborer, saw something awful today (a terrifying shadow in the sewer, a body half buried by the railroad tracks). He’s at the bar trying to forget with the help of alcohol.

A kindly old halfling named Archie Pendleburry runs book in the saloon. He will take bets on any sporting activity in town.

An upper-class gentleman dines with a young lady in one of the snugs every week. They use the kitchen entrance and never leave together.