Presumably eating in a place that had printed menu was a middle/upper class thing which would be a pretty small proportion of the population.

So it’s probably not exactly fair comparing with more casual modern restaurants.

> printed menu was a middle/upper class

Distinctly and many of the menu's I looked at were from private events.

But mutton was fairly common then and has fallen out of fashion in the US.

Venison went from "common" (1800) to rare (by 1900 we at all of them). Early restrictions on hunting were around deer.

The same with Turtle soup and mock turtle soup. Interestingly the mock version was made with calf's head. Apparently this was a texture thing (Im guessing high gelatin content in the head).

The interface into the data is, well, shameful. It would be nice if one could pull up hotel menus (rather than private events) by year. From browsing Boston menus it was interesting to see the early ones (for dining not event) be limited and the later ones (1907) look more like a cheese cake factory or diner (a bit of everything). Im guessing this has to do with the availability of industiral refrigeration (made not harvested ice) coming into use.