Marshall Field's (restaurant)

Culled from: Drury, John. Dining in Chicago, New York: The John Day Company, 1931, pp. 228-229.

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

MARSHALL FIELD'S, State Street, between Randolph and Washington

Most widely known and elegant of the shopper's tea rooms on State Street is the Narcissus Fountain Room, on the seventh floor of the world-famed Marshall Field & Company department store. In decoration, atmosphere, service, and foods, it is on a par with any dining room of a first-class Michigan Avenue or Gold Coast hotel. Chamber music is featured here between 3 P.M. and 5 P.M., and a special menu replete with sandwiches, salads, beverages, and desserts is offered the tired shopper. Half an hour spent in such surroundings, and with the stimulation of a light and most carefully prepared snack, and you are refreshed and ready again for another round of shopping. An excellent $L00 table d'hote luncheon is also offered here and there is a la carte service at all hours. The special afternoon tea luncheon is 50 cents.

Six tea and grill rooms occupy the entire seventh floor of this great Chicago mercantile establishment. In the Walnut Grill, beautifully decorated in Circassian walnut, breakfast is offered, both club and a la carte, from 9 A.M. until 11 A.M. Table d'hote luncheons are also featured here at $1.25 and $1.50 the plate. Here, too, you may find the special afternoon tea luncheon, as in the Narcissus Fountain Room. There is no music in the Walnut Grill.

The Colonial Tea Room and the Mission Grill are for the convenience of the shopper whose time is limited. A menu is offered which can be quickly and attractively served. Table d'hote luncheons are served in both rooms at 75 and 85 cents, and $1.00 the plate. Oldest of the tea rooms is the Colonial Room, on the Wabash Avenue side, and this is the only room in which smoking is not permitted. The atmosphere is conservative and many feminine members of the pioneer first families of the city foregather here for luncheon or afternoon tea. Prices are the same as in the other rooms. The Wedgewood Room, decorated in the Adam period and replete with bric-a-brac of the famous potter's design, is reserved for private parties or banquets.

The famed potato flour muffin, originated many years ago in the Marshall Field kitchens, may be obtained in all of the tea rooms and grills. Nowhere else can you get a muffin like this; it is an epicurean thrill of the highest order. Another original feature of the Marshall Field tea rooms is the child's luncheon — a balanced menu for children under twelve, served on gaily decorated china in the Walnut, Narcissus and Crystal Rooms. There are combination plate luncheons (reduced portions) for 50, 65 and 75 cents.

For the Men's Grill, you must go across Washington Street to the sixth floor of the Marshall Field's Store for Men. It is a beautiful and impressive room, with a Tiffany fountain at its center. There are many circular, leather-upholstered booths, which afford pleasant nooks for business luncheon-conferences. Luncheon may be had here from 75 cents to $1.50, or a la carte. It is usually crowded at noon with prominent business executives, physicians, and other professional men from surrounding office buildings.