Mouqin Restaurant

The Mouquin Restaurant & Wine Co., New York

In the fall of 1908, after leaving his job at the Columbia Yacht Club, Vanzetti worked as a dishwasher at the Mouquin Restaurant on 6th Avenue and 28th Street. As one of three New York City Mouquin Restaurants, the establishment's official name was Cafe Bordeaux, but the restaurant's patrons referred to it as the "Mouquin uptown."  After just eight months, Vanzetti left the restaurant and its horrible working conditions.

"[T]he pantry was horrible. There was not a single window in it. When the electric light, for some reason was out, it was totally dark, so that one couldn't move without running into things. The vapor of the boiling water where the plates, pans and silver were washed formed great drops of water on the ceiling, took up all the dust and grime there, then fell slowly one by one upon my head, as I worked below. During working hours the heat was terrific. The table leavings amassed in barrels near the pantry gave out nauseating exhalations. The sinks had no direct sewage connection. Instead, the water was permitted to overrun to the floor. In the center of the room there was a drain. Every night the pipe was clogged and the greasy water rose higher and higher and we trudged in the slime." ~Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Evening Dinner Menu held by The Mouquin Restaurant & Wine Co., New York

"We worked twelve hours one day and fourteen the next, with five hours' off every other Sunday. Damp food hardly fit for dogs and five or six dollars a week was the pay. After eight months I left the place for fear of contracting consumption." ~Bartolomeo Vanzetti