Le Café Frascati was a Parisian café founded in 1789. It became defunct in 1857.
History The café was founded in 1789 on the corner of the Boulevard Montmartre and the Rue de Richelieu under the name of Jardins de Frascati. It was purchased in 1792 by a Neapolitan gelatiere named Garchi,André Castelot, L'Histoire à table, Plon, Paris, 1972, . who changed the name to the Café Frascati.Frequented primarily by men and woman of light morals, the establishment was at once a gambling hall, a restaurant and a patisserie renowned for its ices. It was a pleasant place, also possessing a garden.
Several proprietors followed Garchi. In 1846, the Café Frascati was acquired by Borel, the proprietor of the Rocher de Cancale; the café was demolished the next year.
Description An English traveler describes the premises in 1802: "The entry hall resembled that of the house of some great lord; the ground floor was divided in elegant salons, splendidly lit and adorned with mirrors. These salons opened onto a garden filled with illuminated orange trees and acacias, with grottos, temples, and fairy alleyways; the joyful effect of the colored lamps, along with the general vivacity make one think of the stories of the Thousand and One Nights."
Around the same time, another Englishman wrote:
In literature The Café Frascati is chiefly remembered thanks to the literature of the 19th century, where it is very often mentioned.
Alexandre Dumas describes it in Georges:Folio Gallimard, 567, Paris, 2002, . it is there that the rich mulatto comes to bet wildly, dazzle the Parisian elite, and brave their racism.
In Balzac's La Comédie humaine, the Café Frascati is mentioned 12 times, and the Café Frascati in Rome two times, in Sarrasine. In La Fausse Maîtresse, it is depicted as a place where one goes to see and be seen; in Illusions perdues, it is a hell of gaming and debauchery, but also a place of high gastronomic repute where the lorette Florine comes to order dishes for her great dinners. It is also mentioned in La Fille aux yeux d'or, Les Employés ou la Femme supérieure, Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes.
La religieuse According to Gaëlle Jan, writing on the website plurielle.fr, it was the Café Frascati that in 1856 created the religieuse, a chocolate or coffee pastry still baked today..
Bibliography
Luc Bihl-Willette, Des tavernes aux bistrots. Une histoire des cafés, Paris, L'Âge d'Homme, 1997 . André Castelot, L'Histoire à table, Paris, Plon-Perrin, 1972, . ; réédition 1985 . Rabier, Soirées de Frascati, ou Mémoires de feu le Cher de Saint-Fulchrand, Paris, Constant-Chantpie, 1828, Texte en ligne. René Héron de Villefosse, Histoire et géographie gourmandes de Paris, Éditions de Paris, 1956, .
References