Before restaurants had printed menus, dishes and prices were written on chalkboards or recited by waiters. It is believed that in 1834, Delmonico’s in New York became the first restaurant in the United States to hand out printed menus. Over the course of the 19th century, restaurants began to add more and more options to their menus, making the old chalkboards insufficient and the offerings too numerous to recite. Thus, printed menus became...Continue Reading