The Berghoff (restaurant)

Last updated

The Berghoff
Berghoff1.JPG
The Berghoff Restaurant, Chicago
The Berghoff (restaurant)
USA Illinois location map.svg
Red pog.svg
The Berghoff
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
The Berghoff (restaurant) (the United States)
Restaurant information
Established1898
Street address17 West Adams Street
City Chicago Loop
State Illinois
Country United States
Coordinates 41°52′45.5″N87°37′42.2″W / 41.879306°N 87.628389°W / 41.879306; -87.628389

The Berghoff restaurant, at 17 West Adams Street, near the center of the Chicago Loop, was opened in 1898 by Herman Joseph Berghoff and has become a Chicago landmark. [1] In 1999, The Berghoff won a James Beard Foundation Award in the "America's Classics" category, which honors legendary family-owned restaurants across the country. [2]

Contents

The restaurant opened in 1898 as a saloon, but during Prohibition, when serving alcohol was illegal, it became known for its characteristic German food, such as sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, creamed spinach, and apple strudel. The Berghoff was also known for its waiters, who were professionals, with formal cloth aprons, and remembered orders with no need to write them down. The restaurant followed a European system under which waiters purchased food from the kitchen via a token system and resold it to the customer. For much of its history, the Berghoff maintained a separate men's only bar. The segregation ended in 1969, when seven members of the National Organization for Women, followed a little later by the organization's head, Gloria Steinem, stood at the bar and demanded service. [3] [4]

History

1800s

Herman Berghoff immigrated to America from Dortmund, Germany, in 1870. Herman and his three brothers, Henry, Hubert, and Gustav, started brewing Berghoff's Beer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1887. Herman wanted to expand the market for the family's beer and to do so he sold beer at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. [1]

The popularity of the beer inspired Herman to open a cafe to showcase Berghoff's Dortmunder-style beer which it sold for a nickel. Sandwiches were offered for free. The bar remained open even through the prohibition period by selling the legal near beer, which contained less than 0.5% alcohol, as well as a new line of Bergo soda pops, and expanded into a full-service restaurant. Berghoff root beer, a product of Bergo soda pops, is still popular today. [5] After prohibition was repealed in 1933, The Berghoff was issued Chicago's Liquor License No. 1, a designation that has been honored by the city every year since. [6]

1900s

The founding Herman Berghoff died unexpectedly at home on December 31, 1934. The restaurant was run by two of Herman's seven children, Lewis Windthorst and Clement Anthony, who had both joined their father in the business prior to his death. Under their helm, Berghoff's grew into three restaurants under one roof: the original bar, a large two-room restaurant, and a more casual downstairs cafe, called the Annex, which was opened in 1939.

Lewis and Clement were active in the restaurant until about 1960. To succeed themselves, they brought in siblings from each family, one being third-generation Herman Berghoff (Lewis's son). Management styles differed and, in 1973, Herman withdrew and moved with his wife and four children to Stevensville, Michigan. However, in 1983 Herman was asked to return by the remaining Berghoff partners. He offered to buy them out, and became the sole owner and runner of the restaurant (with his wife Jan Berghoff) in 1986.

2000s

The Berghoff closed on February 28, 2006, with the retirement of owners Herman and Jan Berghoff, then reopened on April 19, 2006, under the direction of their daughter, Carlyn. [7] Some speculated that one purpose of this brief closure was to transition away from the use of unionized waiters. [8] The restaurant's basement cafe reopened on April 18, 2006, during weekday lunch hours only, and was run by Carlyn Berghoff, Herman and Jan's daughter and the great-granddaughter of the founding Herman Joseph Berghoff. She also reopened the Berghoff's bar on May 23, 2006, under the new name "17/West at The Berghoff." At one point, Carlyn Berghoff converted the dining room of the restaurant into a private banquet hall called "The Century Room," however, after a year under new ownership, The Berghoff re-launched their full-service restaurant. The Berghoff Cafe at O'Hare Airport also remained open. Carlyn Berghoff also operated a catering company within the restaurant, resulting in the official name of the enterprise: Berghoff Catering & Restaurant Group.

2010s

In 2016, Carlyn Berghoff, CEO of Berghoff Catering & Restaurant Group, transitioned out of the restaurant by selling her assets to Berghoff Restaurant Company of Delaware, which is owned and operated by her brother, Pete Berghoff. July 1, 2016, marked the first day that Berghoff Restaurant Company of Delaware began managing operations at 17 West Adams. Currently, the Berghoff Company operates the full-service restaurant, public bar, cafe, and an on-site micro-brewery.

2020s

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor of Illinois issued an executive order that effective on March 16, 2020 [9] prohibited restaurants from serving dine-in patrons. After more than a year of remaining closed, The Berghoff reopened on July 12, 2021. [10]

Berghoff Beer

After surviving Prohibition by selling near beer, root beer and other sodas, Berghoff Brewery of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, was sold to the Falstaff company in 1954. The Joseph Huber Brewing Company then began brewing the Berghoff Beers in 1960 under contract with Berghoff Restaurant. The original Berghoff beer brand was purchased by General Beverage Distributors in 1994, owned by the Minkoff Family. In 2006, the Minkoff family sold its brewery and began using the Minhas Craft Brewery in Monroe, Wisconsin to brew Berghoff beer. In 2013, the label was relaunched by Ben Minkoff and brewed by the Stevens Point Brewery, located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin with year-round labels including Straight Up Hefeweizen, Dortwunder Lager, Sir Dunkle Dark Lager, and Reppin' Red Ale. [11] [12] [13]

As part of a $2.2 million expansion project that started in 2018, Berghoff once again brews its own beer that is sold at the restaurant - this time onsite as a microbrewery named the Adams Street Brewery. [14] [15] [13]

In the film The Dark Knight , Gotham City police arrested gangsters in The Berghoff. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craft beer</span> Brewery that produces small amounts of beer

Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer, than larger "macro" breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, new flavours, and varied brewing techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Huber Brewing Company</span> Wisconsin Company

The Joseph Huber Brewing Company was founded in 1845 in Monroe, Wisconsin. Originally called The Blumer Brewery, it adopted the Huber name in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Crown Brewing Corporation</span> Closed American brewery

Old Crown Brewing Corporation was an American brewery, founded as The French Brewery in 1862 by Charles L. Centlivre in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two Brothers Brewing</span> Brewery in Warrenville, Illinois

Two Brothers Brewing Company is an independently owned Illinois-based microbrewery founded by brothers Jim and Jason Ebel in 1996. The brothers brought their knowledge of different brewing styles to the Chicago craft brew market after living in Europe and experiencing the variety of beers available there. Jim and Jason started the business using bulk milk tanks converted into fermenters that were donated to them by their grandfather who was a retired dairy farmer. Two Brothers Brewing has now been in business for over 20 years and has opened multiple locations throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as one in Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosch Brewing Company</span> Brewery in the United States

The Bosch Brewing Company was a small brewery on the Keweenaw Peninsula, in the western part of the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan, United States. The company operated under different names from 1874 to 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in Finland</span>

Finland has a long history of beer dating back to the Middle Ages. The oldest still-existing commercial brewery in Finland and the other Nordic countries is Sinebrychoff, founded in 1819. The Finnish Beer Day is celebrated on 13 October to commemorate the founding of the Sinebrychoff brewery and the birth of Finnish beer. The largest Finnish brewers are Hartwall, Olvi and Sinebrychoff. Most of the beers brewed in Finland are pale lagers. As of 2022, Finland's standing is 23rd in per capita consumption of beer: Finnish people consume 70.2 litres of beer annually per capita, while the total annual consumption is 393 million litres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fitger's Brewing Company</span>

Fitger's Brewing Company was a beer manufacturer in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, from 1881 to 1972. The surviving brewery complex stretches for 720 feet (220 m) along the Lake Superior shoreline and East Superior Street, one of Duluth's main roads. The majority of the ten-building complex was constructed between 1886 and 1911. Fitger's, as it is now known, has undergone adaptive reuse as an indoor mall with shops, restaurants, nightclubs, a hotel, and a museum on the brewery's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Cow Casino and Brewery</span> Locals casino and brewery in Nevada, US

Holy Cow! Casino and Brewery was a locals casino and microbrewery on South Las Vegas Boulevard, north of the Las Vegas Strip, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The property began in 1955 as Foxy's Deli, which operated until its closure in 1975. A year later, the building was reopened as a casino named Foxy's Firehouse, which later closed in 1988. Tom "Big Dog" Wiesner purchased the building and reopened it as the Holy Cow casino in 1992. Wiesner added a microbrewery the following year, making the Holy Cow the first brewery to open in Las Vegas. Wiesner persuaded the state to change its laws that had prohibited breweries from operating in Las Vegas.

30th Street is a major north–south road in San Diego, California on the east side of Balboa Park. It connects several of the densest urban communities of Central San Diego and has a high rate of pedestrian activity. In recent years, 30th Street has become known nationally for its prominent craft beer culture.

The Walter Brewing Company had several locations founded by brothers, one in Pueblo, Colorado in 1898 by Martin Walter, with addition of a Trinidad, CO location, The Walter Brewing Co. in Eau Claire founded in 1889 by Johannes Walter following a catastrophic fire in his first Spencer, WI facility and a move to Eau Claire, Appleton Brewing Company by George Walter, West Bend Lithia by Martin Walter, and Walter Bros of Menasha, WI.

Shipyard Brewing Company is a brewery and soft drink manufacturer in Portland, Maine, USA, and founded in 1994. Shipyard is the largest brewer in Maine. Shipyard is the fourth largest microbrewery in New England after Boston Beer Company, Harpoon Brewery, and Magic Hat Brewing Company.

Hibernia Brewing Ltd. was an American brewery company, the successor firm to the Walter Brewing Company, located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Under the leadership of Michael Healy, president and chief stockholder of Hibernia, the brewery introduced several specialty brews considered innovative for their time and became one of the first producers in the American Midwest of what now are considered to be craft beers and ales. At its peak, Hibernia produced over 30,000 barrels of beer per year, employed about 50 workers, and had a market range that included Minneapolis–Saint Paul, St. Louis, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska, with success also in Denver and Boulder, Colorado to the west and south; and Chicago, Milwaukee, and suburban Cleveland, Ohio to the east. The brewery quickly earned a reputation for quality products, aided by the receipt of a second place award for its Hibernia Dunkel Weizen in the Great American Beer Festival of 1985. However, the release of underpasteurized beer to new markets was an economic disaster. Although the brewmaster and assistant brewmaster were fired immediately and insurance covered the recall, it was impossible to get the consumer to give them a second chance. This combined with increasing competition from the growing number of companies passing themselves off as brewers, when in fact they were sales/marketing entities that outsourced the manufacturing of their beers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in Milwaukee</span> Beer culture in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has one major brewery and dozens of microbreweries, and is home to several iconic beer brands from a variety of brewers. It has had an association with beer throughout its history, with the brewing industry getting its start prior to its official founding as a city and was nationally recognized as such by the end of the 19th century. This heritage can be found explicitly in its Major League Baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, and on recognizable beer brands such as Old Milwaukee and Milwaukee's Best. This recognition of Milwaukee as a brewing hub dates back to the early 20th century, and boasted the world's largest brewing capacity as late as 1981. The city is nationally recognized with the nickname "Brew City" due to its nearly two centuries of brewing heritage from multiple past major brewers including Miller Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, and Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. Today, through the ownership of MillerCoors, the city's largest brewery produces 10 million barrels of beer annually.

The William Gerst Brewing Company was a beer-maker located in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally named the Nashville Brewing Company, which opened in 1859, the operation was purchased in 1890 and operated as the William Gerst Brewing Company. The Nashville Brewing Company was occasionally renamed, with other company names including the Nashville Brewery, Stifel & Pfeiffer Brewery, South Nashville Lager Beer Brewery, and Moerlein-Gerst Brewing Company. I 1893 it became the William Gerst Brewing Company, in a facility completely rebuilt on the same property, which remained in operation until the company closed in 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry C. Berghoff</span> Mayor of Fort Wayne

Henry Carl Berghoff was an American politician, lawyer, and businessman who cofounded the Herman Berghoff Brewing Company and served as the 19th Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana from May 9, 1901, to January 10, 1906.

References

  1. 1 2 Ledermann, Robert P. (2004). "The Berghoff Restaurant". Chicago's State Street Christmas parade. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 81–87. ISBN   978-0-7385-3273-8. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  2. ↑ Waxman, Naomi (April 27, 2017). "All of Chicago's Past James Beard Award Winners". Eater Chicago . Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  3. ↑ Borzo (2018).
  4. ↑ Warner, Scott (2017). "The Berghoff". The Chicago Food Encyclopedia. University of Illinois Press. ISBN   9780252099779. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  5. ↑ Cremin, Dennis H.; Penn, Elan (2006). Chicago: a pictorial celebration. Sterling. p. 150. ISBN   1-4027-2387-3. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  6. ↑ Backwell, Elizabeth Canning (2010). Frommer's Chicago 2011. Frommers. p. 106. ISBN   978-0-470-64373-0. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Landmark Chicago German restaurant reopens". UPI. April 19, 2006.
  8. ↑ Borzo, Greg (2018). Lost Restaurants of Chicago. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. ISBN   9781439665923. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  9. ↑ Exec. Order No. 2020-07  (March 16, 2020)  Governor of Illinois
  10. ↑ "Historic Berghoff Restaurant Reopens After Pandemic Closure". CBS News. Chicago. July 12, 2021. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  11. ↑ Shepard, Robin (2001). Wisconsin's best breweries and brewpubs: searching for the perfect pint. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 170. ISBN   978-0-299-17444-6.
  12. ↑ Notte, Jason (December 10, 2014). "5 More Beer Brands Brought Back From the Dead by Craft Brewers". TheStreet. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  13. 1 2 "125-Year-Old Berghoff Brewing Brand Makes Its Return". Brewbound. April 17, 2013. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  14. ↑ Trotter, Greg (February 28, 2018). "Berghoff to add microbrewery to iconic Loop restaurant". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Adams Street Brewery, aka the Berghoff Bar: Our review". Crain's Chicago Business. April 4, 2019. Archived from the original on April 6, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  16. ↑ "'THE DARK KNIGHT' – Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune . May 30, 2022. Archived from the original on May 30, 2022.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.