{"id":78596,"date":"2014-10-27T15:34:41","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T19:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=78596"},"modified":"2014-10-27T16:20:45","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T20:20:45","slug":"the-little-shrimp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/27\/the-little-shrimp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Little Shrimp"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"littleshrimp\"<\/a>

A postcard of the Little Shrimp.<\/p><\/div>\n

One imagines that lots of Dylan Thomas devotees are marking his centenary by making a pilgrimage to the White Horse Tavern, where the dissolute poet famously downed those last fatal eighteen whiskeys. For their sake, we hope the White Horse is not thronged with frat boys, although I guess they have as much right to pay their respects as anyone. More, maybe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Naturally, any Thomas-themed New York walking tour\u2014and there are several, guided and otherwise\u2014includes the White Horse, the sites of his other watering holes, and perhaps St. Vincent\u2019s hospital, where he died. Personally, I prefer to focus on a happier landmark from Thomas\u2019s New York days: the Little Shrimp. This restaurant\u2014a favorite of the poet\u2019s when he was in residence at the Hotel Chelsea\u2014is where, in 1952, the young, audacious\u00a0Barbara Cohen and Marianne Rooney approached Thomas about making recordings for their new line of spoken-word records. The result was Caedmon Records\u2014the source of many of Thomas\u2019s iconic recordings\u2014and the classic record\u00a0A Child\u2019s Christmas in Wales<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that Dylan and his wife, Caitlin, should have chosen the Little Shrimp for their date with Cohen et al: the restaurant was located in the hotel. It billed itself as \u201cone of America\u2019s Larger and Better Sea Food Houses. Luncheon \u2013 Cocktails \u2013 Dinner.\u201d The menu included, to modern eyes, a dazzling\u2014if conservative\u2014array of broiled and sauced fare. Meanwhile, the 1949 edition of Lawton Mackall\u2019s Knife and Fork in New York<\/em>\u00a0describes the restaurant (in its \u201cShelly and Finny Fare\u201d chapter) as a<\/p>\n

\n

spick-and-span seafoodery, and not so little at that, but far from overwhelming as regards prices, particularly for lunch. Charcoal broiling skill is devoted not only to a fresh-fish repertory but also to steaks and chops. Bar <\/em>[emphasis mine]. Open seven days a week.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(And, yes, this was<\/em> a lunch meeting.)<\/p>\n

In A Child\u2019s Christmas in Wales<\/em>, Thomas recalls \u201chardboileds, toffee, fudge and allsorts, crunches, cracknels, humbugs, glaciers, marzipan, and butterwelsh,\u201d turkey and flaming puddings. In Under Milk Wood<\/em>, he describes\u00a0kipper breakfasts, bubble and squeak, and\u00a0lamb kidneys, and in his letters home, he reported on the mammoth scale of American steaks. Clearly he was not wholly indifferent to food. But who knows how much Thomas cared (by 1952) about the skill of the broilers or the freshness of the seafood?<\/p>\n

It would be nice to be able to memorialize this luncheon, but alas! The Little Shrimp is long gone, along with Captain of the Sea and the Old Salt Clam House. Hotel Chelsea has gone corporate; St. Vincent\u2019s has been transformed into condos; Chumley\u2019s bar has not (yet) recovered from its partial collapse. But all is not lost: El Quijote, the circa-1930 lobster palace in the same building, is still going\u2014well, if not strong<\/em>, as strong as ever. (And as of June, the new owners have sworn not to change it.) Did Thomas go there? Probably; everyone did. The menu of paellas and old-fashioned tapas doesn\u2019t look like it has changed much, either. Try to sit in one of the banquettes up front\u2014it\u2019s not as fun to be stuck in the Dulcinea or Cervantes rooms. Or, you can just sit at the bar. After all, that\u2019s probably what Thomas did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One imagines that lots of Dylan Thomas devotees are marking his centenary by making a pilgrimage to the White Horse Tavern, where the dissolute poet famously downed those last fatal eighteen whiskeys. For their sake, we hope the White Horse is not thronged with frat boys, although I guess they have as much right to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[12782,1922,2453,15807,15809,15808,15806,4172],"class_list":["post-78596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-centenary","tag-chelsea","tag-dylan-thomas","tag-hotel-chelsea","tag-st-vincents","tag-the-little-shrimp","tag-walking-tour","tag-white-horse-tavern"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDylan Thomas\u2019s Favorite Restaurant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the poet\u2019s centenary, Sadie Stein reflects on the Little Shrimp restaurant, a favorite of the poet\u2019s when he was in residence at the Hotel Chelsea.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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