The Garrick (restaurant)

Culled from: Drury, John. Dining in Chicago, New York: The John Day Company, 1931, pp. 121-122.

Note: The Newberry Library holds the personal papers of author John Drury.

THE GARRICK, 68 West Randolph Street

Ask your father, or even your grandfather, about the Garrick, formerly the Union. They'll have many a story to tell of this once popular barroom of the old Union Hotel, famed no less for its luxurious appointments than for its wet goods, and, particularly, for its beer. The ornate mahogany "arch" of the barroom, located in a corner of the present restaurant, is not the only part of it to survive, for the original ceiling also remains — highly decorative, criss-crossed with intricately-carved oak beams, and painted in between with gay and colorful pictures of horns of plenty, cherubs holding bunches of grapes, and all the other motifs that decorators used in the Mauve Decade. The Garrick now is a restaurant, maintaining an open-all-night policy, and having its own share of the Randolph Street crowds before and after the theatre.

The Garrick recently took on more grandeur, opening up an elaborate French Room on the second floor. This room not so many years ago was the Deauville Cafe, operated by the late Ike Bloom, once a power in the old 22nd Street night life district. Recently, Mr. Roeder, proprietor of the Garrick, took it over and redecorated it in the French style. It is now a pleasant, intimate room, done in soft rose colors, where you may dance to the music of a small orchestra. The Garrick provides good table d'hote dinners for $1.25 and $1.50. Live baby lobsters are a specialty here.

Maitre d'hotel: Mr. Roeder