What were restaurants like in the "Wild West"? What did they serve? Where did they source their employees and food? Did they have hosts and dishwashers? {1880-1910} | AskHistorians Archive Observer

What were restaurants like in the "Wild West"? What did they serve? Where did they source their employees and food? Did they have hosts and dishwashers? {1880-1910}

by DestroyAllCoffee

The only book I can find on the era is "Taste of Tombstone" by Sherry Monahan. I'm looking for any insight and resources that you all have into how restaurants operated in that OK Corral environment. Thanks!

Holy_Shit_HeckHounds

This answer does NOT cover "Wild West" restaurants, but covers the general state of eating out in 19th Century America and how it evolved. The thread has excellent answers by u/VivaLaVodkaa and u/lord-mayor-of-reddit which hopefully can provide a bit of context until someone can give a more specific answer.