Oh joy, another episode set in England.
Laffler takes his friend Costain to an exclusive dining club; so exclusive that it is down by the docks, hidden behind a plain door like that secret restaurant at Disneyworld with the topless Snow White waitresses. [1] The club has only 40 members and they come from as far away as Singapore to dine there.
There is no menu and only one meal is served each night. Sadly the titular Specialty of the House is not being served tonight. The waiter brings out a cart with the soup course. Costain takes a sip and finds it a little flat. He suggests it could use a little salt and is chastised as if he had put ketchup on a steak. [2] He is told no condiments are allowed, although, I would put that more in the seasoning category.
The main course comes. Laffler says it is fine but nothing compared to the titular Specialty of the House, Lamb Amirstan. They make plans to return the next night.
They have another fine meal, but Laffler is disappointed that they again are not offering the titular Specialty of the House. He tells Costain that the lamb dish is prepared only with lambs from a certain flock on the Ugandan border. This is the only restaurant in the world where it is available, although I suspect the Ugandan farmer sneaks a rack occasionally.
Costain finally meets the owner, Spirro. She modestly says she only supervises the kitchen. The only dish she actually prepares is the titular Specialty of the House, Lamb Armistan. She says the meat takes 3 days to marinate, that it should be ready for tomorrow night.
The next night, Laffler tries to prevent his friend from entering, but Spirro allows him in. They are sitting at the same table when the titular Specialty of the House is served.
All seems to be forgiven as Laffler leaves Costain in charge of his Import / Export business while he goes on vacation. Before going to the airport, Laffler has time for one last meal at Spirro’s. Costain will join him later after drawing up a memo about a bauxite shipment, trying to make the spell-check accept aluminium. Laffler spills the beans that he is becoming a lifetime Spirro’s member and has nominated Costain as a member.
Outside the club, Laffler finds the waiter fighting with another man. The man falls and cracks his noggin. Laffler wants to call the police, but the waiter says Spirro will take care of it. When Laffler learns the titular Specialty of the House is not being served that night, he demands to see Spirro. She consoles him by taking him into the kitchen. The other members are astounded as this has never happened before.
She shows him around the kitchen, then introduces him to the chef who is holding a butcher knife. When Costain arrives, she promises him that the titular Specialty of the House will be on the menu soon.
The story here is counted on to sweep you away, and it pretty much does. When you look closer there are a few problems. I just watched the episode, but I couldn’t pick Costain out of a line-up 5 minutes later. Robert Morley was fine as Laffler, but I always get the feeling with him that I’m supposed in awe of his awesomeness, and I never see it. Spirro was a man in the short story. IMDb Trivia says the character was changed to a woman to appeal to a wider audience. It also might have helped to not cast a woman that looked liked the love-child of Kathy Bates and Aunt Bee.
- In the plot, I see no reason for the scuffle involving the waiter. All it does is telegraph the twist if you give it any thought.
- There is no need for another body anyway. They already know Laffler is going to be next on the menu. Proof of that is that Costain is bringing Laffler’s picture for the lifetime member wall.
- And why is that, anyway? Is Costain in cahoots with Spirro?
- He did seem to settle into Laffler’s office pretty quickly. In England, does the temp who fills your position inherit your estate? That would still make more sense than that crazy entail on Downton Abbey.
- At the end, why is Spirro vague about when the next titular Special of the Day will be served? We know it takes 3 days to marinate the meat. Three days would have been a perfect answer to end the episode.
Still, it is a great episode. I appreciate the subversive subject matter just as I did on the previous cannibalism episode Arthur. In that episode, people were eating chickens that had been fed people. Here, the cannibalism is direct. As AHP edges closer to the sixties, it just gets weirder. Groovy!
Other Stuff:
- [1] Further research suggests I might have dreamed this.
- [2] I planned linking to an article about Trump giving the media vapors by eating ketchup on his steak. They were all asinine, just looking for a reason to spew hatred. Who gives a sh*t; dude likes ketchup. It’s not like he put it on a hot dog — now that is grounds for impeachment.
- AHP Deathwatch: Costain is still on the menu.
- The original short story won the Best First Story Award in the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine contest of 1948.
The love-child of Kathy Bates and Aunt Bee? Priceless!
I have to say I called the “twist” about five minutes in. When Laffler said something like, “That’s strange that (the puffy fellow on the end) suddenly resigned, he just got lifetime member status.” That and the secret restaurant, and the “special” dish. Also, why would she kill all of the new members, it seems like the original 39 just never have to die. I also got a vibe that Costain was in on it, especially with the phone call he had with Spirro. I do appreciate that the clues were there, so that if you were smart enough you could see the “big reveal” coming, but I do wish it would have been a little less predictable. Anyone should be able to guess the twist before the first commercial break.
You sound like a fool.
You do not know or understand the artistry of Hitchcock and I certainly don’t have the time to explain it.
Don’t tell me what I don’t know, you jackal! No, really, charlie is a pre-doosh.
I love this episode but I was confused by the members shocked faces when Spiro took Laffler into the kitchen.
Were they shocked that he’s going to be killed and soon to be the next SOTH? Or were they shocked he gets to see the kitchen?
How did they get the puffy one to the chef, the same way?
My feelings are in agreement with the other poster that Costain was definitely in on this.
I liked the 1980’s remake starring John Saxon. The plot was made a little clearer.
I just blew my own mind by realizing that “Lamb Armistan” can be anagrammed into “Martin Balsam”. Too bad they didn’t cast him as Laffler in this.
That is awesome! It can’t be coincidence.
I believe I may own the “skillet” use for serving the specialty of the house. Any ideas on how I would go about verifying this? Thank you.
Just ask the chef.
Use Google Lens
Mr. Costain is no longer on the menu, as I found out reading a TZ message board, as he also appeared on TZ:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/obituaries/kenneth-haigh-86-angry-young-man-of-british-stage-dies.html
Totally unrealistic. Marinated Morley tastes *nothing* like lamb.
Oh, you’ve dined at Spiro’s lately to KNOW, have you ? 😁
Specialty of the House is one of my favorite episodes of AHP. However, a few things I wonder about. Why is ONE ( living ) diner kept in the dark as to what the menu at Spiro’s really serves ( especially since he consistently eats there ? ). Why did Laffler’s employee, Constain, want to start eating there since he didn’t find the soup ( his first meal at Spiro’s ) that good ? Was Constain aware of what members of Spiro’s were and what the SOH was, ever ? ( just because he brought a photo isn’t nessacarily an indication. New Lifelong members could be represented with their photos on the wall ).
The original story hinted that the restaurant staff were based on a pulp fiction take of the Thuggee cult with cannibalism thrown in. The actual cult was an organization of robbers who preyed on caravans in India and who worshipped Kali, goddess of death and destruction.
So, the lack of salt is important because sharing salt creates a bond of brotherhood that would protect the restaurant guests (in the story, once the newcomer savors the soup, he realizes the flavor doesn’t require salt, which is why it doesn’t keep him from coming back). All the guests are kept ignorant of the restaurant’s true nature and all are eventual sacrifices.
Also in the story, the restaurant refuses female guests. When one enters, the staff ignore her till she leaves. This is because followers of Thuggee were not supposed to kill women.
The fight was different as well. One of the waiters is attacked by a mugger and has his life saved by the man marked to be the next sacrifice. The waiter tries to save his life by telling him not to go into the kitchen.
It seems, for this cult, a sacrifice needs to willingly come to the place of execution. Despite the warning, it is considered a rare honor to be allowed to see the cook at work–an honor he almost never bestows (most of the surviving diners don’t know it happens at all). So, in he goes.
Madame Spivey was perfect as Spirro. Commanding presence, slightly creepy without overdoing it, ambiguous sexuality. She was fascinating and a great choice for this role. I love this episode and have watched it numerous times, largely because of Madame Spivey.
I agree. I love Spivy in this (and I wish I’d been born early enough to visit her nightclub). I also like Kenneth Haigh, who was in Twilight Zone’s “The Last Flight.”
Same here. Going to her nightclub would have been a gas.
The part about the scuffle with the waiter was in the original story.
Could remake it today. Kathy Bates would be a perfect Spiro
Conversely, can you imagine Madame Spivy in Misery?