Table Wear: Dressing For Dinner
Are Short Pants Allowed?
While planning my itinerary for a recent trip down south I spent a lot of time online, perusing the menus and reviews of famous southern fine dining establishments. To my surprise, a reoccurring theme appeared again and again on comment threads concearning wether or not short pants were allowed to be worn in these restaurants. Short pants? Shorts... at dinner?? I certainly hope not. It baffled me. I’m perfectly aware that it can be unseasonably warm whenever you visit the south, but unless you’re dining at a beachside crab shack, you’d better pull out your linen trousers or seersucker suit.
I appreciate a restaurant dress code, though honestly it seems unfortunate that such rules are even necessary. Don’t you want to look your best for yourself and fellow patrons?
New Orleans’ beloved Garden District institution Commander’s Palace (since 1893!) is well known for its turtle soup and twenty five cent martinis. But if you want to visit Commanders’ and partake in their renowned classics, you’re going to need to be wearing pants. The New Orleans’ landmark holds a perfectly reasonable dress code policy:
Jackets are preferred for gentlemen
Collared shirts and closed-toed shoes required for gentlemen
No shorts, flip-flops, t-shirts, sweat shirts or sweat pants
Jeans are discouraged; ripped jeans are not allowed
A friend of mine works in a clothing boutique near the restaurant, and reports that her store receives a surprising number of tourists seeking last minute outfit adjustments in order to be allowed admittance to their Commander’s Palace reservation. She’s making a killing on long pants!
Make no mistake, though, Commander’s Palace is far from strict or stuffy. Their Sunday Jazz Brunch is downright raucous, and on my last visit they were flexible enough to allow me to substitute cosmopolitans for their famous twenty five cent martinis. I had three. If you’re going to indulge, do it with style!
New Orlean’s French Quarter favorites Galatoire’s and Brennan’s have nearly identical dress codes in place, though at Galitore’s jackets are also required. They’re happy to loan you one if you arrive improperly attired. Galatoire’s keeps a closet of presentable blazers in every size for the ill prepared, and more than a couple of times patrons have worn the loaners home.
Restaurant dress codes are not just a vestige of the old south. At NYC’s famous 21 Club you could dine in the booth where Bogart proposed to Bacall, but not without a blazer. In 2009 the restaurant famously went tie optional, bending to the casualization of their clientele’s business attire. Men may have stopped wearing ties and three piece suits to the office, but you still needed a jacket to do lunch at 21.
Further downtown, Delmonico’s (considered the first fine dining establishment in the country) kindly requests that gentleman refrain from wearing hats, shorts, sleeveless shirts and flip flops in the main dining room. No jacket or tie required, but then, Delmonico’s has always been progressive. In 1868 they were the very first establishment in the U.S. to allow unescorted women to dine in public. Women could meet together for lunch without male companions: it was the birthplace of the Ladies Who Lunch!
Some dress codes truly are outdated. Prior to the 1950’s, women were often not permitted to wear pants in restutants. During the peak of Marlena Dietrich’s fame, in 1933, she was turned away from Hollywood hotspot The Brown Derby for arriving in trousers. Maddness! Have you SEEN Marlena Dietrich in a tuxedo?! It seems impossible to imagine such a rule today.
In the heyday of New York’s legendary Stork Club, they required ladies to be clad in long gloves and gowns. Even stricter: unescorted women were not allowed to enter the club after 6:00 p.m; presumably a deterrent for working prostitutes. As recently as 2019 some Upper Eastside restaurants forbade women from dining alone at the bar, hoping to deter high class hookers looking for clients. Wild!
Are restaurant dress codes as outdated as policies outlawing unescorted women? Carne Mare, an opulent new steak and seafood resturant in NYC’s Seaport district, does not have a dress code. They serve a $215 porterhouse and Brooklyn Bridge views: no long pants required.
Meanwhile, notoriously fashionable Chef Angie Mar embraces a traditional dress code at her new West Village venture, Les Tres Chevaux. The menu is unapologetically classic French, and the loaner jackets on hand for the underdressed are appropriately Yves Saint Laurent. Town and Country wrote a fantastic article about the restaurant’s recent opening.
Les Trois Chevaux: How Angie Mar Made it Fun to Dress Up For Dinner Again
There is caviar-and-croissants on the menu, and jackets are absolutely required. Welcome to the fanciest new place in New York.
The Layman Chef is a weekly newsletter and podcast by Emily Karcher about food, culture, and cooking.
Outspoken author and legendary dandy Tom Wolfe weighed in on dress codes in the 2011 Wall Street Journal article: As Fine-Dining Dress Codes Fade Away, It's Jacket (Not) Required
"The death of dressing accordingly isn't the end of civilization," said Mr. Wolfe, who is now 80 and universally identified by his white three-piece suits. "But it is the end of courage—men being afraid to be caught in fancy clothes, or even a jacket."
Dress-code mandates or not, Mr. Wolfe continued, the benefits to formal dressing outweigh the negatives. "You'll look terrific, and miles above those slobs. And you'll get more respect. Formal dress really has social impact. You'll be treated with greater deference than the 45-year-old guy dressed like a rock drummer."
Dressing up post pandemic feels celebratory and life affirming. I was delighted at a recent visit to The MET Opera to see so many women in gowns and men in tuxedos (on a Tuesday night, none the less!).
Weddings are also happening again, and couples are having fun setting dress codes for their special day. I’ve been invited to formal and fabulous and creative black tie weddings, and loved seeing how guests interpreted the suggested sartorial guidelines. Is a leather jacket ever formal? What’s actually appropriate now? Post pandemic dressing seems to be less about firm Do and Don’t rules, and more about dressing for yourself, while respecting your hosts and fellow guests.
David Coggins, best selling author of the fantastic books Men And Style and Men And Manors makes the case for dining with pan-ash.
“Show a sense of occasion!” He admonishes in Men And Style. “When you stride into Eleven Madison Park, why not wear your most devastating pinstripe suit?...”
“Unless you are known by one name... a dress code is not to be tested lightly. You may think you’re getting away with something, but who wins in the scenario where you are the most casual man in the room? Certainly not your date.
So take it upon yourself to be the man who makes an impression, honors the house style, and sets a higher standard.”
Here Here!
What are your thoughts on restaurant dress codes? I’d love to hear if you’re dressing up for dining out. Comments are below!
I'm all for dress codes everywhere. Slobs actually have the nerve to give Jack and I grief for always being dressed.