Louis Sherry owned one of the finest restaurant in New York City during the Gilded Age, when Sherry’s would compete with Delmonico’s across the street to impress millionaires and others of the city’s upper crust. Sometimes this involved stunts that would make the newspapers as well as the gossip circuit. None was more spectacular than the time Sherry served a dinner party on horseback. In his grand white ballroom, on the second floor. A classic tale of conspicuous consumption.
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In 1903, millionaire C.K.G. Billings, a horse racing enthusiast, built an elegant new stable and wanted to celebrate its grand opening with his closest friends. Thirty-six guests, all men, showed up in formalwear at Sherry’s on the appointed night, and were led to the ballroom, which contained 36 horses! Each horse was outfitted with a silver tray attached to the saddle as a dining table for each guest, with champagne in the saddle bags. The dinner included caviar, turtle soup, rack of lamb, and flaming peaches. The horses must have stayed calm during the serving of the flaming peaches, because no mention of panic made it into the papers, although the term “freak dinners” was used. Read about the banquet on horseback at The Bowery Boys. -via Strange Company
Source: neatorama