Moon's Lake House
Moon's Lake House was a restaurant on Saratoga Lake in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is reputed by urban legend to have been the birthplace of the potato chip, or Saratoga chip.
The restaurant was built by Cary Moon in 1853 a bluff overlooking the lake, and soon after it "displace[d] all other destinations as the late-afternoon goal of Saratoga Springs' daily carriage parade."[1]:p.95 Initially Catherine "Aunt Kate" Weeks and her brother George Crum shared the cooking duties. Crum later left to start his own restaurant in Malta at the south end of the lake.
The Lake House burned in 1893, but was rebuilt. There are conflicting reports, but apparently Moon continued to operate it until his death in 1895.
In 1907 the Lake House was sold to Edward J. Heffernan. In 1908 it burned a second time and was again rebuilt. In 1926 the restaurant burned a third time. In the 1930s the property was sold to local personality Louis A. "Doc" Farone, the owner of Riley's and Newman's lake houses and an associate of underworld figure Meyer Lansky. Farone built a smaller restaurant on the property and rented it to a series of managers.
In 1981 the restaurant reopened as "Moon's", changed hands and finally burned a fourth and final time in 1983.[2] A private house was later constructed on the site.
In 2006 Tilman Achtnich filmed a special on the potato chip Die Kartoffelchips des Mister Crum (The Potato Chips of Mister Crum) for the German television network SWR. Scenes included the site of Moon's, now only foundations, and Crum's restaurant in Malta.[3]
References
- ↑ Waller, George (1966). Saratoga Saga of an Impious Era. New York: Bonanza Books.
- ↑ "Moon's Lake House Destroyed by Fire". Schenectady Gazette. February 9, 1983. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ↑ "IMDb: Die Kartoffelchips des Mr. Crum". Retrieved October 1, 2012.