bjgreen
Image: Morning Press, January 17, 1916
By Betsy J. Green
The big news on the restaurant scene here in January 1916 was the world premiere of the newly invented “Abadie Cuisine Roulante,” created by Lucien Abadie, the French owner of the Delmonico Restaurant.
Made of tin, about four feet wide, two feet deep, and three feet high, Abadie’s wheeled metal cart was designed to bring “choicely prepared foods, peculiar to this restaurant … to the table of each patron, thus enabling each to make their choice and with immediate delivery.”
It was predicted that the cart could serve close to 200 people an hour.
Betsy’s Way Back When book — 1919 — is now available in local bookstores and at Amazon.com. This is the sixth book in her series of the history of Santa Barbara, one year at a time. Learn more at
