blue plate special

[Sam Clements]

Proquest has a cite from the Atlanta Constitution which can take it back to
1919, but the interesting thing is the writer says,

   "All the above menus are very easily prepared and once the housewife
learns to use this service successfully she will, like the Great Northern
railroad, see the economy of it, for when the food is prepared and served
from the kitchen right on the service plate, it spells economy.  For you
know that it is from the platter service known as the Blue Plate Special of
the Great Northern railroad that the cafeteria sprung."

Sam Clements
----- Original Message -----
From: "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2005 10:34 PM
Subject: blue plate special


> from issue 17 (spring 2005) of Cabinet: A Quarterly of Art and
> Culture, "Ingestion / Don't slice the ham too thin" by Jeffrey
> Kastner, on the Harvey Houses:
> -----
> p. 10: ... in 1876, the first Harvey House restaurant opened in the
> Santa Fe depot in Topeka, Kansas,
>
> p. 11:  From the first, Harvey insisted on linen tablecloths and fine
> table settings (the faux Wedgewood design and color of Harvey's
> dinnerware is said to have given rise to the phrase "blue plate
> special").
> -----