Pierre Interlude
“Pierre Interlude” was one of those unusual concessions that exclusively operated at world’s fairs. Today we might call it a “pop-up” restaurant. Owner Pierre Parker brought out his famous French onion soup every few years for fair-goers, then would return to being an antique dealer and/or gentleman of leisure. While he used his antiques to decorate his premises, restaurant patrons could also purchase the antiques to go.
Pierre had previously run a restaurant in California, but said that he found that following the fairs was more exciting. It was likely also more profitable to set up at events that attracted many hungry visitors, and likely easier to sell escargot to visitors who were interested in exploring other cultures. The menu included four main hot dishes (chicken, beef, meatballs, or shrimp) cooked in wine, with beans, mushroom, and rice on the side. Diners could also get hot or cold sandwiches. Soups were all-you-can-eat, with a side of garlic bread. Desserts were served en flambé.
Before Expo ‘74, Pierre presented his Interlude at Hemisfair in San Antonio (1968), Montreal (1967), New York (1964-1965), and Century 21 in Seattle (1962, his first fair). The Knoxville fair in 1982 appears to have been his last before retirement, and he is not mentioned in articles about the Vancouver fair in 1986.
From the Official Souvenir Guidebook:
Pierre Parker of Paris makes perhaps the most exclusive French onion soup in the world. Your only change to taste it, unless you happen to be a family friend, is to visit a world’s fair - for instance, Expo ‘74. On Nov. 4 Pierre will be out of business again until he reopens at Expo ‘75 in Okinawa the following July.
Pierre, a stocky, soft-spoken man of unmistakably Gallic charm, insists he learned the recipe for his famous soup from his mother - not in the U.S. Army, in which he served as a cook after World War II. “My whole family was in the restaurant business,” he said. “My mother did the cooking, and she taught me. My father was killed in the war, and when we move to California she opened a restaurant there, and I opened one in Laguna Beach in 1956.”
“Then in 1962 I opened a restaurant at Century 21, the Seattle World’s Fair. Since then, I work only at each world’s fair.”
And in between? ”Nossing,” Pierre says with a shrug he also must have learned from his mother. “I prepare for ze next world’s faire.”
Obviously, Pierre regards the threat of competition with something less than panic. A lesser chef might be daunted by the variety of international cuisine that will be offered visitors to the Spokane World’s Fair.
