[jg6544]

Up until the Depression, American restaurant menus in larger cities were fairly daring - lots of French preparations and terms. Then everything went bland. I don't know whether it was the economy or the coming of age of the "home ec" state of mind that held that food should be nourishing, not good to eat. From then until the 1960s, menus were dull as dishwater everywhere but in a few restaurants in some of the largest cities. Once people began to be interested in cooking again (God bless Julia Child!), it began to be more interesting to go out to eat. Nowadays, there's at least one decent restaurant in every town of any size at all in the country.