Order Up! invites Monroe County residents to restaurant reminiscence for 1 more week
Do you remember a special Bloomington restaurant that isn't there anymore?
Take a trip down memory lane by visiting the Monroe County History Center's Order Up! exhibit featuring more than 30 Bloomington-area restaurants of yore. But don't wait, the showcase is open now through Nov. 5.
From Howe's Café, which opened in 1901 at 121 N. College Ave., to Ladyman's Café and Boxman's Restaurant, the display features photos, menus and recipes for people to view and take home.
The exhibit has been popular, according to Curator Hilary Fleck, but not all inclusive. "We couldn't possibly include them all, this time," she recently told an audience of about 90 people eating lunch at the American Legion Post 18. The history center already is planning another exhibit of more beloved former restaurants in 2025.
Remembering The Village Inn
As Steven Day sat listening at a table, he remembered his time at the Village Inn in Ellettsville. Although it's in a different location now, Day said he ate breakfast there before he came to the Order Up! talk.
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"I started out as a dishwasher," he said. That was in 1976 when he was 16 years old. He worked in the evenings after school.
"In 1979 I started frying the chicken," he continued. "Everyone who worked there at that time was like family."
That included Day's grandmother, Ida Day, who baked the pies. She began working at the Village Inn for Wayne and Betty Cooper. By the time her grandson began work, Ina Lentz was the owner. Day was treated as family, being allowed to spend nights in the upstairs apartment and eat the food since he was "kind-of homeless."
Day worked at the restaurant until 1985. He recalled the all-you-can-eat chicken special on Thursdays. He remembered the way it was dipped in batter, rolled in flour and spices and plunged into one of two long cast-iron pans filled with hot oil.
"We had people lined up outside around the building waiting for a seat," Day recalled. "We had the upstairs dining area full and the downstairs banquet room full."
Day also worked for about three years at East Fork Restaurant, which was included in the exhibit, and MCL Cafeteria, which was not.
Memories of Pancho's Villa
Liza Pavelich smiled as people began talking about Pancho's Villa, the restaurant her father, Danny Pavelich, owned and operated from 1967 to 1987. Danny was from East Chicago, a place filled with people of different cultures. When he came to Bloomington, he began making tacos for his roommates who had never had Mexican fare. That led him to quit college and open a restaurant.
Liza, born in 1972, grew up with her dad running one of the first Mexican restaurants in Bloomington. "Everybody knew my dad and everybody loved Pancho's," she recalled. "People still, when they find out who I am, they talk about my dad."
If Danny Pavelich were alive today, Liza believes he'd be part of the local food truck community, finding new ways to offer food and a little bit of joy to anyone he met.
Home cooks can bring back some of those flavors with Liza's cookbook on the Remembering Pancho's Villa - Bloomington, IN Facebook page.
Exhibit ending soon
Order Up! Restaurants of Monroe County will close on Nov. 5. Hours for the center, at 202 E. Sixth St., are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children age 6-17 and free for kids 5 and younger.
Some of the restaurants included: Howe's Café (opened in 1901); Coyle's Café (opened in 1909); Hotel Graham; Ladyman's Café; Bender's Café; Boxman's Restaurant; Dew Drop Inn; the Village Inn; May's Café; the Penguin, which became Chocolate Moose; Bruce's Café; Nick's English Hut; Café Pizzeria; The Gables; Grove's Restaurant; B.G. Pollard Lodge and "The Hole"; The Tao Restaurant; Rudy's Bakery and Deli; Taylor's Coffee Cup; The Fireside Inn; The Jordan Grill; Ryan's Café; The Hideaway; East Fork Restaurant; and Stardust Café.
Have a favorite restaurant from the past that should be considered for the 2025 exhibit? Email Hilary Fleck at curator@monroehistory.org or call 812-332-2517.
Contact Carol Kugler at ckugler@heraldt.com, 812-331-4359 or @ckugler on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: History center's Order Up! exhibit on Bloomington restaurants ends soon
