Is any New York City institution more legendary than the Waldorf-Astoria hotel? Its illustrious history dates all the way back to 1893, and though the original hotel was torn down and subsequently rebuilt post-Prohibition, its legacy endures. It’s seen many changes over the years, of course. At the time of writing, its newest restaurant, Lex Yard, is up and running under the leadership of chef Michael Anthony. The menu at Lex Yard is sophisticated and modern, including dishes like Long Island royal red shrimp, Baeri caviar, and chilled cucumber soup. You’ll also find a mainstay dish, one with ubiquitous reach that finds its roots firmly planted at the Waldorf-Astoria itself: the famous Waldorf salad.
Its name will tie the salad to the hotel for as long as it sticks around, but there’s a plethora of other popular dishes (as well as some cocktails) that also got their start at the Waldorf. Take eggs Benedict, for example — the classic, elevated breakfast staple. Sure, its true origin is up for debate, but there’s compelling evidence to suggest it first came to life at the Waldorf. Even some surprising concoctions, such as fried ice cream, were invented by one of the hotel’s many renowned chefs. We spoke with historian David Freeland, author of “American Hotel: The Waldorf-Astoria and the Making of a Century,” to hear the origin stories (as well as some fun lore) behind some of the Waldorf’s most iconic inventions.
The Waldorf salad was created for high society
What better place to start than the obvious? The Waldorf salad is inextricably intertwined with the hotel’s identity and dates all the way back to its opening night on March 13, 1893. The head chef at the time, Oscar Tschirky (also called “Oscar of the Waldorf” due to his hard-to-pronounce last name), threw together the salad from an assortment of somewhat random ingredients for the hotel’s opening dinner. Alva Vanderbilt, a prominent figurehead in high society at the time, was in charge of the festivities. Naturally, the dinner was attended by numerous New York City socialites, who were the first to try what would become one of the hotel’s most famous creations.
Perhaps the most surprising tidbit about the salad’s original recipe is that it was remarkably simple — it only contained apples, celery, mayonnaise, and lettuce. Tschirky didn’t appreciate that later iterations included walnuts in the mix. Though the ingredients are fairly random, David Freeland had the following to say about the salad’s conception: “I think it’s important to look at it in the context of dining at the time. The 1890s was an era of extremely lavish dining in New York City, and the dinners held at the Waldorf had many courses. … And each of those courses is accompanied by a different alcohol. So I would say just generally, there was a need to create dishes or salads that would accompany the courses.”
Thousand Island dressing was created in an act of hero worship
Some may call it cheating to include Thousand Island dressing on this list because the condiment technically wasn’t created at the hotel; it was, however, at least popularized there by Oscar Tschirky. The actual origin of the dressing is also somewhat contested, though David Freeland is comfortable crediting the creation to Tschirky; alternatively, it may have been invented by Sophia LaLonde while on a trip with her husband to the 1,000 Islands, after which it would have been made famous by Tschirky.
Either way, it appears that Tschirky brought the dressing to George Boldt, the hotel’s first manager and somewhat of a hero figure to Tschirky. Freeland said, “[I]t seems as if what happened with Thousand Island dressing is that’s something that Oscar created for Boldt during one of his trips upstate and probably out of admiration for his boss. … And I think it was safe to say that Boldt’s reaction was favorable.” Boldt and Tschirky seem to have had a close relationship, and Boldt was comfortable depending on Tschirky when it came to many of the hotel’s operations; nevertheless, we can surmise that Boldt’s positive reception of the dressing helped give it the longevity it enjoys to this day.
The Waldorf cocktail was originally much more potent
If you’ve never had a Waldorf cocktail, it’s worth adding to your roster of drinks to try the next time you’re enjoying a night out. If you want to have a particularly fun night, you might ask your bartender for the original recipe. Though the modern Waldorf cocktail is fairly similar to a Manhattan, the drink as initially created was a more potent affair. A classic Waldorf typically contains a dash of absinthe or an absinthe rinse, along with a few dashes of bitters, 2 ounces whiskey, and ¾ ounce sweet vermouth. David Freeland gave us the original recipe of bartender Johnny Solon, who invented the cocktail: a dash of Manhattan bitters along with equal parts whiskey, absinthe, and Italian vermouth frappe. Certainly not a beverage for the faint of heart.
Surprisingly enough, unlike the salad, the Waldorf cocktail wasn’t necessarily popular at the original bar. This may have been due to the shocking number of drinks available; according to Freeland, “It [is] said that the top bartenders at the Waldorf Astoria Bar … knew how to make 271 different cocktails. … Now, that’s not even including the mixed drinks.” It’s understandable, then, that the Waldorf cocktail may not have stood out among the plethora of other options available. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have gained much notoriety since, which Freeland finds intriguing. He says, “It’s interesting, when you read about the history of cocktails at the Waldorf Astoria Bar, that’s not one of them that assumes a lot of prominence.”
The origins of the Rob Roy are somewhat contested
As it goes with history, the origins of the Rob Roy are also somewhat contested, and taking a look at the context of the time can help us understand why. The cocktail sprang up at around the same time as the Waldorf-Astoria’s bar, which was added to the hotel along with its Astoria addition in 1897. At the time, the Tenderloin district (in which the Waldorf-Astoria was located) was something of a high-class nightlife destination. Or, as David Freeland puts it, “The Tenderloin was a place of expensive vice … So the Waldorf was part of a larger environment in which there were many bars. And that probably does help to explain, at any rate, why there are so many different or competing origin stories to some of these drinks.”
Nevertheless, Freeland feels comfortable relying on the testimony of Albert Stevens Crockett, a contemporary newspaper writer and author of “The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book.” Crockett was something of an expert on the bar at the Waldorf-Astoria, and he credits it with creating the Rob Roy; a pretty reliable source, in our opinion. As far as the original recipe for the cocktail, it went as follows: a dash of orange bitters added to equal parts scotch and Italian vermouth. Stir and strain.
Eggs Benedict played a surprising role in a scandal involving Elizabeth Taylor
If you’re a fan of traditional eggs Benedict who also happens to be something of a history buff, you may know that both the Waldorf-Astoria and Delmonico’s vie for the title of having invented this classic breakfast dish. We may be able to shed some light on the dispute — in fact, David Freeland suggests that it may have been invented by both (or neither, depending on how you look at it). The story goes that one Lemuel Benedict ordered its separate components (eggs, bacon, toast, and hollandaise) when dining at the Waldorf and assembled it at his table in hopes it would ease a hangover. Delmonico’s story is similar — so, who’s to say Benedict didn’t indulge in his own concoction at both spots?
One thing we do know is that eggs Benedict played a fun role in a scandal involving Elizabeth Taylor, which made the papers in 1959. We’ll let Freeland regale you with the tale: “Newspaper articles noted that Elizabeth Taylor had ordered it from room service during her honeymoon at the Waldorf with Eddie Fisher, the singer. … He had only just divorced Debbie Reynolds, and it was a little bit of a scandal. So the press was just following every move of Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher at the time. … They holed themselves [up] in their room at the Waldorf and ordered eggs Benedict.” Regardless of the actual origin of the now-famous dish (or whether Taylor and Fisher’s romance played a role in its rise to fame), it was certainly popularized at the Waldorf.
The recipe for red velvet cake may have been popularized out of spite
The full history of red velvet cake isn’t necessarily the most well documented, and recipes for the dessert sprang up in a few places simultaneously in the 1930s; the Waldorf may have been the most famous and may also get credit for having popularized the recipe. As far as how the recipe made it beyond the Waldorf, a popular urban legend poses an answer, and though it’s more likely fiction than fact, it’s a fun tale nonetheless. Here is how David Freeland knows it: “So the story goes that a guest in the ’50s or ’60s was enjoying red velvet cake at the Waldorf and liked it so much that she asked the chef for the recipe. So the recipe came back from the chef along with a bill for $300. … The guest paid the bill, but was so angry at being charged for a recipe that she shared it out of spite to the public.”
The Waldorf itself has always denied the story, and Freeland doubts it ever would have charged for such a recipe. Still, red velvet cake grew in popularity (probably likely spurred on by the timely invention of red food dye), and by the ’70s, the Waldorf’s chef was actively trying not to promote it. According to Freeland, there was a pushback against the dye at the time; he says that Red No. 2 “symbolized toxicity in the American diet,” and that it fell in popularity around this time.
Fried ice cream was created by the Waldorf’s first American head chef
If you only know fried ice cream as a popular Renaissance festival food, you may be as surprised as we were to discover that the yummy treat was actually invented at the Waldorf-Astoria. Eugene Scanlan had spent much of his career at the hotel, having started in the kitchen at 18 years old before eventually returning as the hotel’s executive chef in 1961. Sometime between then and his promotion to a managerial position in 1974, he invented a dessert that would somehow cement its legacy in midsummer medieval fairs across the nation: fried ice cream.
Also of note is that Scanlan was the Waldorf’s first American head chef — all the predecessors had been French. It’s not a stretch to say that fried ice cream seems a distinctly American creation (would any other culture find it necessary to pair fried food and sweet desserts?), and though it’s unknown how exactly the idea struck Scanlan, David Freeland says the idea seemed to appeal to the Waldorf’s patrons of the time, many of whom weren’t locals. We may never know whether it was lauded for its novelty, somewhat foreign appeal to nonlocal visitors, or simply because it was so darn good, but we can credit Scanlan for blessing us with the unique dessert.
The Bronx cocktail was named after the zoo
Surely you’ve heard of the Bronx cocktail, even if you haven’t tried it yet. The combination of vermouth, gin, and orange peel (or orange juice) is credited to Johnny Solon, the aforementioned creator of the Waldorf cocktail. It was reportedly one of the first cocktails to use oranges, but that’s not even the most interesting thing about it. As the story goes, the Bronx cocktail didn’t get its name from the famous borough — rather, Solon is said to have named it after the Bronx Zoo.
As David Freeland recounted, “[Johnny Solon] had recently been to the Bronx Zoo. And he was asked to make a cocktail, and he made a quick kind of mental connection between the strange animals he saw at the zoo and some of the visions that bar patrons would describe to him after having consumed too many cocktails. … So he just said, well, let’s just call it the Bronx cocktail.” The next time you’re at a bar, order a Bronx cocktail (or two … or five), and look forward to whatever animalistic visions may ensue.
