Monday, September 20, 2010

I'd Like to Sell the World a Coke


Browsing through the menu collection's boxes of 1970s material, I came across some wonderful menus largely from restaurants outside New York. Among them was this bill of fare from Pub Renault on the Champs-Élysées, dated March 10, 1977. 

Pub Renault, which was the café located next door to the Renault showroom, opened in 1963 and was popular with tourists wandering the Champs-Élysées until it closed in 1999. As the New York Times reported upon the Pub's opening:
The amusing décor, well worth a visit, is based on photographic blow-ups and models of cars. The open car tables are lit by headlights and there are rear view mirrors on table stands for repairing make-up after snacks.  The fare is of cross-vintage, part American drugstore, part tearoom, with a few French fillips. In keeping with the automobile theme are the "chauffeur's hamburger" and an overwhelming sundae called "granddaddy's car."
I love the wonderful way advertisements are woven throughout the menu, and I'm especially loving the Coca-Cola ad below. I just want to run my fingers through the beautiful shag rug and eat Cheez Doodles. Very French, n'est-ce pas?

(click to enlarge)

4 comments:

Grade "A" Fancy said...

oh, I'll bet you'll find some cheez doodles if you run your fingers thru that shag rug!

That's a fascinating menu. What about those terrines? I tried the web translator and got starling, pheasant, blackbird, and thrush. Crazy!

Anonymous said...

Oh my word, you have a menu collection? Now I know what I'm doing if I ever go to New York!

johnwilpers said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mae Travels said...

I remember going to Pub Renault in 1976 with friends and our children. I had no memory of the items on the menus you showed: only the ice cream concoctions, which seemed much more American to us than what we could get elsewhere in Paris at that time.

Thanks so much for refreshing my memories.