My work these days mostly involves looking through bunches of old stuff, which is interesting, but slow, because the past is a damn mess. And because I get hung up on old food stuff. Like this shot of Union Street in the late 'teens. (Click the link for the full photo. And dig on the straw boater hats.)
At the back of the photo is a cafe sign for Faucon's Cafe. Xavier Faucon was a French restaurateur and reportedly an extraordinarily gifted cook. People were already trying to get his salad recipe when he retired in 1926.
The salad ingredients were simple enough: iceberg lettuce, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, and sometimes a tomato (though that may be a contemporary innovation).
It was reportedly the dressing that made the salad. In a farewell interview with Faucon, a reported noted that an acquaintance once followed Faucon all day in the restaurant but wasn't able to determine the salad's secret. By 1964, a clever Junior League member had managed to either prise the recipe from Faucon's descendants or imitate the dressing; it appears in the old Nashville Seasons cookbook.
So far as I know, there are still three places in town that serve a Faucon salad: J. Alexander's, Jimmy Kelly and Belle Meade Country Club. Nowadays it's served with a good blue cheese dressing, while the Nashville Seasons recipe included minced green bell pepper, pickled onions and hard-boiled eggs plus Roquefort cheese all mixed into a homemade mayo. Which is to blue cheese what tiramisu is to a Twinkie. Still, it's a great salad, especially if the kitchen minces fresh parsley to top it, which Faucon did.
Faucon told his interviewer that he was tired of restauranting, and hadn't really made much money at it. Sound familiar? Hang on, restaurant people, and just keep making good food. And perhaps your great-grandchildren will be talking about your salad in 90 years.
