San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel was built by the trustees of the estate of Charles Crocker, one of "The Big Four" railroad magnates who had constructed the western portion of the transcontinental railway. It was built as an investment for Crocker's two young grandchildren, Templeton Crocker and Jenny Crocker. It was originally meant to be called The Crocker Hotel, but instead it took the name of one of the earliest California Gold Rush hotels, the St. Francis. Opened on March 21, 1904, it quickly became one of the city’s most prestigious addresses.

During America’s Jazz Age in the 1920s, the hotel was a fashionable place to stay for celebrities and Hollywood film actors. Guests included film stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford along with novelist Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Ringling Brothers, and dancer Isadora Duncan.

Part of the attraction of the famous St. Francis hotel was its legendary chef, Victor Hirtzler, who learned his craft in Strasbourg, France and from there he worked for royal courts across Europe. He claimed to have created a dish for King Carlos I of Portugal, called La Mousse Faisan Lucullus, a delicious mousse of Bavarian pheasant's breast and truffles with a sauce made of cognac, Madeira and champagne. According to the story, the dish was so expensive, and the King requested it so frequently, that he bankrupted Portugal twice and was assassinated in 1908. This led Hirtzler to move to New York, becoming the Chef of the equally famous Waldorf Hotel, but he was eventually persuaded by the manager of the St. Francis to move to San Francisco.

In 1916, Hirtzler’s controversial culinary influence didn’t stop there. In 1916, the Crocker family, fervent Republicans, hosted a dinner at the hotel for Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate for President of the United States, who was locked in a close race with incumbent Woodrow Wilson. Twenty minutes before the banquet began, the waiters, who were members of the culinary workers union, went on strike. Hughes wondered if the banquet should be canceled, but Hirtzler insisted upon it going ahead, and served the meal himself. When the Union learned that Hughes had crossed a picket line and eaten the dinner, they distributed thousands of leaflets denouncing him as anti-union. On election night, Hughes went to bed believing he had won the election. The next morning he awoke and learned that he had lost California by only 3,673 votes, and by losing California had lost the election to Wilson. The margin of his defeat was less than the turnout of union voters in San Francisco. By saving the dinner, Hirtzler had lost the election for Hughes.

Three years later, Victor Hirtzler would publish The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book, a collection of a year’s worth of menus served to the guests of the hotel. According to Feeding America from Michigan State University, "A typical dinner menu would offer a choice of fourteen cheeses, twenty clam or oyster dishes, eleven soups, twenty-four relishes, seventeen kinds of fish, and fifty-eight entrées from hamburger to Bohemian ham." And that breakfasts at the hotel included 203 different preparations of eggs, such as "Eggs Moscow" stuffed with caviar.

I have named my book The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book in compliment to the house which has given me in so generous measure the opportunity to produce and reproduce, always with the object of reflecting a cuisine that is the best possible.

Victor Hirtzler

Scrambled Eggs with Morels

Morels are a species of mushroom rarely found in the United States. They come principally from Europe in cans, or dried. When fresh ones are used, sauté in butter and mix with the scrambled eggs. When in can, drain off the water, put in sauce pan with a piece of butter, season with salt and pepper, simmer for ten minutes, and add to the eggs. When dried, soak them in cold water over night, wash, and then proceed in the same manner as with the canned ones.

Eggs à la Russe

Spread a piece of toast with fresh caviar, put an egg fried in oil on top, and put anchovy sauce around the edge on the platter.

Omelette Louis XIV

Chop the white meat of a boiled fowl very fine, mix with one truffle cut in small dices and one-half cup of well-seasoned cream sauce. Place in the center of a plain omelet, turn on a platter, and pour some cream sauce around the edge.

Eggs fried in oil

Fry the eggs one at a time. Have a very small frying pan with plenty of very hot olive oil in it. Drop a fresh egg in it, and turn with a wooden spoon. If any other kind of spoon is used the egg will stick to it. When of a good yellow color, take out and place on a towel, so the oil can drain off, and season with salt. The eggs should be soft inside, like a poached egg.

Eggs Lackmée

Put four poached eggs on toast. Chop some boiled chicken very fine, add one cup of cream sauce, one-half cup of cream, put on the stove and bring to the boiling point, season with salt and a little Cayenne pepper, and pour over the eggs.

Vogeleier Omelet

Cut a roll in very thin slices, put in omelet pan with two ounces of butter, and fry until crisp. Add eight beaten eggs, with salt, pepper, and plenty of chives, and make into an omelet.

Eggs Henri IV

Breaded poached eggs fried in swimming lard. Place on a piece of toast spread with purée de foie gras, and cover with sauce Périgordine.

Sauce Périgordine. To one cup of brown gravy add one spoonful of chopped truffles reduced in sherry wine. Season with salt and Cayenne pepper.

Eggs Sarah Bernhardt

Cut six hard-boiled eggs in two, remove the yolks, mash them up and mix with a little salt, pepper, celery salt, one spoonful of fresh bread crumbs, one spoonful of chopped chicken meat, and the yolk of one raw egg. Stuff the halved whites of eggs with this, put on a buttered dish and place in the oven for four minutes. Dress on a silver platter, and cover with sauce Périgueux.

Sauce Périgueux. Chop a small can of truffles and put in a casserole with one glass of Madeira, and reduce until nearly dry. Then add one pint of brown gravy and season with salt and Cayenne pepper.

Poached Eggs Rothschild

Put a spoonful of purée of game on a plate, a poached egg on top, and cover with sauce Périgueux.

Purée of game. After serving roast venison, duck, quail, bear, reindeer, hare, or other game, take the remainder, remove the meat from the bones and mash very fine in a mortar, add just enough thick brown gravy to make a paste, and pass through a fine sieve. Season with salt and pepper, heat well, and use as a garnish.

Sauce Périgueux. Chop a small can of truffles and put in a casserole with one glass of Madeira, and reduce until nearly dry. Then add one pint of brown gravy and season with salt and Cayenne pepper.

Eggs à la Colonel

Cut two tomatoes in half, squeeze out the juice, bread them, and fry. Put a poached egg on top of each piece, and cover with sauce Madère with fresh mushrooms.

Sauce Madère. Put in sauce pan one glass of sherry wine and reduce over fire one-half. Add one and one-half cups of brown gravy, boil for a few minutes, and add a little good Madeira before serving.

Poached Eggs Vanderbilt

Make a purée of fresh mushrooms and spread over toast. Lay a poached egg on top, and cover with sauce Madère.

Sauce Madère. Put in sauce pan one glass of sherry wine and reduce over fire one-half. Add one and one-half cups of brown gravy, boil for a few minutes, and add a little good Madeira before serving.

Scrambled Eggs with Truffles

Cut a truffle in small dices and put in sauce pan, on the range, with one ounce of butter. When hot add six beaten eggs, a little salt and pepper, one spoonful of cream, and then scramble in the usual manner. Dish up and lay six slices of heated truffles on top.

Eggs Gastronome

Boil six eggs until hard, remove the shells, and cut in two lengthwise. Chop up the yolks and put in a bowl. Chop very fine one can of French mushrooms, and add to the yolks, season with salt and pepper, add the raw yolk of one egg, one-half cup of fresh bread crumbs and a little chopped parsley, and mix well. Fill the hard-boiled whites with this filling, put on a platter, cover with brown gravy and bake in oven.

Eggs Princesse

Put some purée of fresh mushrooms in the bottom of small croustades, lay a poached egg on top, and cover with sauce Périgueux.

Eggs Voltaire

In the bottom of a buttered cocotte or egg dish place a spoonful of chicken hash, on top break a raw egg, and season. Cover with cream sauce and grated cheese. Bake until the tops are brown.

Further Reading