In this column we will deal with Diamond Jim’s dinner, but first a little more about the man. A grande dame invited Jim to dinner and after he consumed more food than any four other guests she remarked, “You must be very proud of your appetite, Mr. Brady, how do you even know when your appetite is satiated?” Why, Ma’am, I’ll tell you, whenever I sit down to a meal, I always make a point to leave just four inches between my stomach and the edge of the table. And then, when I can feel’em rubbin’ together pretty hard, I know I’ve had enough.”

Jim could throw a party as well as attend them. Once he gave a party in honor of his racehorse, Gold Heel, and he invited fifty friends to dine on the roof of the Hoffman House in N.Y. There over five hundred bottles of champagne, unnumbered beefsteaks and assorted delicacies were consumed. He also gave diamond brooches to the ladies and diamond-studded watches for the men. That party set Jim back $160,000 dollars.

For dinner Diamond Jim would start with three dozen Lynnhaven oysters, each were six inches long. These would be followed by six crabs, two portions of green turtle soup, seven large lobsters, two portions of terrapin, two whole ducks, a steak, vegetables, two platters of cake and pastry and finish up with a two pound box of chocolates. The restaurateur George Rector said of Diamond Jim, “He was the best twenty-five customers I ever had.” Let’s cook.