The Front Porch

Recipes and More from the Quintessential 1970s Restaurant

Following on from my last newsletter on The Underground Gourmet Cookbook, I profile one of the restaurants featured in that cookbook. The Front Porch grew into a mini-empire from humble beginnings, influencing menus and restaurant decors far beyond New York City. It is also still deeply loved and remembered—a long-gone site of continuing culinary nostalgia and food remembrances.

“Scenario: Two fresh, dewy-eyed, rosy-cheeked girls come to New York City. The younger, Liz, is from a farm near Dayton, Ohio; the other, Cleves, is a member of one of North Carolina's distinguished families, her father a famous New Deal figure. Their new life in the Big City finds the girls behind a counter in Bloomingdale's, where they meet and become close friends. As their friendship blossoms, their talents take them in separate occupational directions. Liz becomes a designer of men's shirts. Cleves pursues a career as an interior designer. Despite a certain measure of achievement, they experience a persistent longing for some other, more personally rewarding activity. One day, in walking through Greenwich Village, where they now live, they see that the local drugstore, an old-fashioned apothecary, is about to go out of business. Their cloud of doubt lifts. They know immediately what they must do. They will open a restaurant on the premises of the old drugstore. Cleves will bake her fabulous breads and cakes. Liz will make those spectacular soups and stews, just like mother used to make.” - New York Magazine, July 19, 1971