Oscar Tschirky (1866 – November 6, 1950) was a Swiss-American restaurateur who was

maître d'hôtel The ''maître d'hôtel'' (; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the wa ...

Delmonico's Restaurant Delmonico's is the name of a series of restaurants that operated in New York City, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. The original version was widely recognized as the United States ...

and subsequently the

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He was widely known as "Oscar of the Waldorf" and published a large

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

Early life and education

Oscar Tschirky was born in 1866 in

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He left for the United States in 1883, settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

Working first as a

busboy In North America, a busser, more commonly known as a busboy or busgirl, is a person who works in the restaurant and catering industry clearing tables, taking dirty dishes to the dishwasher, setting tables, refilling and otherwise assisting the ...

, or commis waiter, in the Hoffman House shortly after his arrival in New York, he participated in the rise of exclusive restaurants. He became known as

and subsequently the

. He was widely known as "Oscar of the Waldorf".Oscar of the Waldorf
Library, Cornell University Because of his association with the restaurant, he capitalized on his association with food, although he had never worked as a chef. He published a large

. He is also pictured on a relish bottle displayed in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria, along with other photos of him at the major events during his tenure as maître d'hôtel. He is credited with having created the

Waldorf salad A Waldorf salad is a fruit and nut salad generally made of fresh apples, celery, walnuts, and grapes, dressed in mayonnaise, and traditionally served on a bed of lettuce as an appetizer or a light meal. The apples, celery, and grapes can all b ...

, and for aiding in the popularization of the

Thousand Island dressing Thousand Island dressing is an American salad dressing and condiment based on mayonnaise that can include olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, vinegar, cream, chili sauce, tomato purée, and ketchup or ...

. Tschirky is also credited with developing the preparation of

Eggs Benedict Eggs Benedict is a common American breakfast or brunch dish, consisting of two halves of an English muffin, each topped with Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. It was popularized in New York City. Origin and history There a ...

, although differing accounts make this hard to confirm. Tschirky had a farm in

New Paltz, New York New Paltz () is an incorporated U.S. town in Ulster County, New York. The population was 14,003 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county and is south of Kingston. New Paltz contains a village, also wit ...

, where he hosted picnics for friends and family as well as other chefs. In later years the property was purchased by the Philantropique Society and was operated as a retirement home for chefs. It later opened to the general public and was known as The Culinarians' Home.

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

holds the Oscar Tschirky papers and his noted collection of menus (

Cornell University School of Hotel Administration The Nolan School of Hotel Administration (SHA, more commonly known as the Hotel School) at Cornell University is a specialized business school in the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in ...

). Karl Schriftgiesser's biography of Tshirky, ''Oscar of the Waldorf'' (1943), rather, reads much like an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

. Most of Oscar Tschirky's recollections therein are devoted to the

and its founder, George C. Boldt, and his wife, Louise Kehrer Boldt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tschirky, Oscar 1866 births 1950 deaths American food writers American hoteliers People from La Chaux-de-Fonds People from New Paltz, New York Waldorf Astoria New York American restaurateurs Swiss emigrants to the United States