The Knife and Fork Inn

"You can keep your damn knife and folk." Martin Casey. The family went out to dinner one night while we were staying at a house down the shore for a week. The restaurant was the Knife and Fork Inn in Atlantic City. We stayed at a lot of different places back in the 1960's and that year we were probably at Margate or Ventnor. We didn't stay near Atlantic City very much. This incident most likely happened in 1961 or 1962. I believe I was about 10 years old.

That restaurant was (and still is) an upscale fancy restaurant. We arrived there with the whole family. Mom and Dad and the six children along with Mom-Mom and Mart. I vividly remember the place and walking in with the family and asking for a table for ten. This was down the shore in the summer and lots of families went out for dinner. The host would not seat the family without the two male adults wearing jackets. They offered to give Dad and Mart one each from a coat rack near the door. I think Dad was OK with it because he wanted to get the family seated and fed but Mart was upset. Somehow the decision was made to leave and go somewhere else. Maybe Mom and Mom-Mom were looking at the menu prices but whatever the reason we all walked out and Mart said as he passed the host...  "you can keep your damn knife and fork".  He probably had some more to say but held back.

For the rest of my life I remembered that incident and that knife and fork thing. I never did get to eat at the Knife and Fork Inn which is a landmark in Atlantic City. It has been operating as a restaurant since 1911 and is still going strong in 2021.