Ludwig's Club Cafe has closed
We regret to inform you that Ludwig's is no longer open for business.Building His Business
Restaurateur hopes new addition, beer and wine license will generate bigger crowds.
By Sharon PortaTimes Correspondent
HAMMOND - Business at Ludwig's Club Cafe, has never been as brisk as owner Hans Enderlin had hoped. But that hasn't stopped Enderlin from recently investing $250,000 in improvements and an addition to the restaurant.
The addition is a smoke-free, light filled, glass enclosed atrium at the front of the restaurant, which was originally built as an A&W Drive-in. The new section brings the restaurant closer to the busy thoroughfare, making it more noticable from the street. The addition has added 32 seats to the restaurant, and eight more employees will be joining the staff.
"The building looked like a drive-up and people didn't notice it," said Enderlin, "We planned this addition for seventeen months and we really want it to look spiffy." Enderlin calls the addition the Star Pavilion, and it features a mahogany veneered, 7 foot round table that was once the centerpiece in the lobby of the downtown Chicago Grand Hyatt Hotel. Crowning the table is a 100 year-old chandelier, overlooking a four tiered Venetian fountain.
"This addition gives the restaurant more flexibility," Enderlin said. "We have had inquiries from several groups that want to have meetings of their breakfast clubs here. The table and room lend themselves to great 'power luncheons', clique-ish get togethers or just an original rendezvous to break bread with each other."
While Enderlin is looking for the new look of the restaurant to boost business, he also thinks the aquisition of a long awaited beer and wine license will help the bottom line.
"We have so many Europeans customers here who want to have a glass of wine with dinner," he said. "We have a god variety of European food at very reasonable prices, and we are getting new customers every day."
That will help make up for the senior citizens who have died since Enderlin opened the restaurant in 1996. Back then, many elderly couples would come and eat twice a day at Ludwig's Cafe.
"I estimate that we have lost 100 of those customer over the past three years," he said. "They would eat here very frequently, but younger people don't want to eat every meal at the same restaurant. We are always getting new customers, and they'll come in a few times a month, but they don't eat here twice a day. With the addition, Enderlin plans to add a Kitchen Cabinet Table, which will feature extravagant meals from $50 to $250 per person, the type he used to feed celebrities like Barry Manilow and Donna Summers during his stint at Star Theater.
The regular menu offers a vast array of choices, including Wiener Schnitzel, paellas, goulash, coq au vin, stuffed cabbage, along with American favorites such as Porterhouse Steak.
"In the past three years, Ludwig's has distinguished itself uniquely in the marketplace as the dining out eatery with signature American, ethnic and European cuisine," Enderlin said. "We offer a good price value with consistently superior food.