Ludwig's Club Cafe

Newly Discovered Gem of a Restaurant

Hardly noticed by the fastpaced traffic on Calumet Avenue and a bit tucked away, your eye catches the unobstructive 'Ludwig's Club Café.' Very ordinary, but once you enter, it is a world all it is a world all its own. You immediately feel the comfort of the atmosphere that radiates warmth and coziness with flair, truly a European taste, spaced with American ethnic nostalgia, just as the ads in the news- paper read. We dropped in because many of our friends kept talking about this place. The time we arrived must have been the transition period between breakfast and lunch. We hardly seated ourselves, as the sign on the door advocates open seating, and a female server approached us and suggested the breakfast buffet and commented that the buffet is very popular, but we also have the choice to order off the menu, which we glanced over and immediately noticed how reasonable the prices were. The server let us know if we are early birds (6-9a.m.), there are great $1.99 specials M-F We could not resist indulging ourselves with the breakfast buffet. For a great price of $2.95, one can't find values like this anywhere. The offering of scrambled eggs (a hodgepodge mixture of bacon, sausage, tomatoes, onions and peppers) bacon, ham, American fries, French toast, pancakes (some say they are the best in the area!), bisquits and gravy (which must be from a recipe handed down from generation as the character of flavor and bouquet was truly an epicurean delight). Moist creamy coffe cake, chocolate donuts, strawberries, grapes and applesauce rounded out our trip to the buffet. Our coffee must have been freshly brewed as the aroma filled the air. Looking around us, we detected a lot of regulars come here, almost with no exception we heard names mentioned as people came in, an etiquette we do not see in too many places anymore. The waitress presented us with a lunch and dinner menu, and it took us quite some time to study the collage of offerings fit for a king and prices that would not make one go broke in a month and have money left to spare if eating out every day. One of us ordered a signature ham 'n cheese sandwich with soup. What a bargain price, but the time it took to finally arrive was lengthy.

The goulash soup we chose was out of this world. We craved more, but our New Year's resolution to diet held us back. Our sandwich arrived on a platter with crisp fries, cole slaw and a pickle, and was of such a size that we could not devour it all, so we politely asked for a to-go container. The extra couple of minutes was truely worth the wait aas the sandwich reminded us of what we used to get on Grandma's farm. We observed the steady pace of people coming and going, and assumed that the location is not in an immediate office area but much more transient; and with today's fast pace, who has the time to find and go to a gem of a restaurant like Ludwig's which really is conveniently located once you know it's there!! During our meals, we took time to pursue the rest of the menu and determined we must revisit since there are so many items on the menu we crave and could find else except prices we couldn't afford but once a year! We heard comments that the bread pudding is as good as you'd find on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. This must be a meal for the pre-1970 price of about $4 soup or salad, a huge choice of entrees, desserts and coffee or tea. The owners must have compassion for the seniors. The kitchen must be staffed by culinary wizards to accomodate such an array of sterling choices. The goulash and spaetzle with red cabbage caught our eye for a revisit and probe they are as ethnic as my grandmother made or the roquefort beef medallion for a bargain price. Besides being slow at times with the service, the food, atmosphere and value made up more than enough for the deficiencies we noticed in service. Ludwig's Club Café is located 2 lights north of I-80/94 at 7206 Calumet Ave., open M-F 5:45a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Sunday 7:00a.m. to 3:00p.m. On Saturday and Sunday they feature an English breakfast brunch for $5.95: Eggs benedict, cheese blintzes, fruits and sweets. The cuisine is American ethnic and European. Prices range from $3.20 to $39.95 inclusive of four or five course meals. Goulash, spaetzle, red cabbage, wiener schnitzle, porterhouse steaks, stuffed pepper and cabbage are a few of the vast choices offered by its culinary hosts.