From Faith: In its Automation section online, The New York Times recently reported on Eatsa, a new, fully “automated” restaurant in San Francisco, where diners “never interact with a person.” The story says there are “unseen people who prepare the food,” but there are no waiters or even an order-taker behind a counter.” Sound familiar?
If the “futuristic” concept does ring a bell, to use another prehistoric term, that’s because the staff-less restaurant was done long ago. I know it was because I was there; my mother brought me regularly to a New York City restaurant called Horn and Hardart when I was just past counter height. The experience of it still thrills me when I remember it… all those little shiny chrome boxes on the walls with windows that allowed you to look inside. If you liked what you saw, say, a slice of pie, meatloaf, a bowl of mashed potatoes, a hamburger, or a green salad, you simply dropped your coins in the slot. Presto! The gleaming door unlocked itself, allowing you to open it and grab the plate inside. And on you went with your coins, picking and choosing among the windows until you were satisfied, your tray covered with small plates of individual items. It wasn’t great food; it was decent food delivered in a novel way. It was the novelty that made it fun. Horn and Hardarts is long gone, though it is possible, decades later, to bid on some of those H&H chrome boxes at antiques shows. Not long ago I saw three of the boxes mounted side-by-side on a lucky person’s kitchen wall. If it had been a row of vintage Jaguars, I couldn’t have wanted them more.
