Forget Shake Shack burgers and momofuku’s spicy pork sausage. Back in the day (the day being the 19th century, in this case), turtle soup was the hot ticket item on the menu and oyster houses were as omnipresent and affordable as Gray’s Papayas.

Earlier this year, the New York Public Library began digitizing and transcribing more than 25,000 menus collected between 1899 and 1923 by menu archivist Miss Frank E. Buttolph for its, “What’s on the Menu?” project.

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