Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290027
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Just before World War II, fresh out of business college, I went to work in a bank," one anonymous contributor wrote.
A "debonair bachelor" ordered sweetbreads for her at dinner. Although she had no idea what they were, she found them delicious. Lo, this many years later, the writer said she would like the chance to savor the hotel's finely prepared sweetbreads again. She made no further mention of the bachelor.
Peanut soup, cornish hens and an array of delicious vegetables and desserts are most fondly remembered by Diane Kingery of Kin-Vale Farm in Rocky Mount.
Kingery, who lives on a dairy farm, remembers attending the 77th annual convention of the National Holstein-Freison Association of America at the hotel in 1962. And she hasn't forgotten the time that the state Holstein sale was held in the hotel's parking garage using red velvet chairs from the ballroom. That, wrote Kingery, was the year attendees "danced to the Freddie Lee Orchestra in the grand old hotel."
Sylvia Altizer said the promise of lunch at Hotel Roanoke was a great incentive for her daughter, Diane, to stick with her piano lessons from age 6 through high school. Yearly competitions, sponsored by the Thursday Morning Music Club, always culminated in a recital at the hotel.
"Chicken salad nestled in half a pineapple was always her selection," Altizer said of her daughter. "I must confess, it was her teacher's and mine, too." Altizer said the salad was always preceded by an order of peanut soup.
Diane is now pursuing a master's degree in music at Radford University. She will be playing at a wedding reception at the Hotel in September.
Sue Collins of Roanoke still has a hotel menu that was given to her during a Girl Scout outing intended to teach how to dine out while staying within a budget. Collins' menu, dated April 10, 1944, was autographed by maitre d' J. E. Brown.
For her meal on that memorable occasion, Collins selected pineapple juice, 15 cents; french fried potatoes, 20 cents; half of spring chicken Southern style, 75 cents; a fresh vegetable, 40 cents; and chocolate ice cream, 20 cents. The grand total was $1.70. She noted that at those prices, keeping within a budget today would be - well - a piece of cake.
Bob Auman, manager of public relations in Roanoke for the hotel's former owner, Norfolk Southern Corp., said he firmly believes that half of the attendees at the annual shareholders' meetings at the hotel were there not for dividends but for the delectable Smithfield ham biscuits.
Jerry Powell of Pulaski remembers the hotel's Trout Amandine, "made like no one else could with just the right amount of lemon and herbs."
Katherine Smith of Roanoke found the steak Diane unforgettable.
Ruth and Anthony DeLeo of Vinton remember the crab imperial as "perfectly prepared, and moist," and also favored the clams casino and oysters Rockefeller.
And if Charles and Gladys Nininger had their way, they'd order peanut soup, Caesar salad with steak Diane - both prepared at the table - accompanied by an ample supply of medium-priced brut champagne.
Executive chef Wayne Knowles and director of food and beverage service Phil Davis recently responded to this newspaper's readers' wish list. They said that the hotel's new menu will be able to fulfill some readers' food fantasies, including the peanut soup, spoon bread and oysters Rockefeller.
An updated steak Diane, using a mesquite-grilled fillet served with steak Diane sauce, will replace the original because the hotel's layout makes it difficult to flame foods tableside. A fresh Virginia speckled pink trout will replace the trout Amandine.
There will be no chicken salad in pineapple, but Davis said that a new Shenandoah apple smoked turkey salad will "knock your socks off."
Knowles said he would not present a Cornish hen because he does not like foods that must be precooked and held. However, there will be several other poultry choices on the menu.
Crab imperial, clams casino and sweetbreads will not be offered.
For those who wish to re-create the memories on their own, we include the following recipes, which, unless otherwise noted, are from "From the Famous Regency Room of the Hotel Roanoke Our Most Requested Recipes 1882-1982," a Norfolk Southern Corp. cookbook commemorating the hotel's 100th anniversary, in 1982.
Recipes for:
HOTEL ROANOKE HAM BISCUITS
STUFFED SWEETBREADS
SPOONBREAD
STEAK DIANE
HOTEL ROANOKE PEANUT SOUP
OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER
by CNB