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The Interviews: No More Sauerbraten, But How About a 60-Year-Old Menu?

By Sam Hudzik in Miscellaneous on Mar 8, 2006 2:45PM

This past Saturday, just four days after the historic Berghoff Restaurant served up the last helping of its famed sauerbraten and creamed spinach, hundreds of framed photos, signs and other memorabilia were auctioned off.

The Berghoffs' daughter plans to turn BerghoffAuction.jpgthe dining room into a banquet hall for her catering company, but the restaurant's exterior is expected to stay largely the same. A spokesman for Herman Berghoff told the Trib that he "will continue to be a good steward of the building." While Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown wrote a column last week "in hopes of publicly locking the Berghoffs" into "preserv[ing] the buildings," historic preservationists are not too worried.

About an hour before Saturday's auction began, Chicagoist worked our way through the crowd to interview some Berghoff bidders.

Property rights, Berghoff happy hours, Woodstock and more after the jump.

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Sharon Knudson was camped out behind a CBS-2 cameraman near the auctioneer's platform. The life-long resident of Joliet (and fan of the Berghoff's sauerbraten and creamed spinach) planned to bid for herself and her husband, who was at a bowling tournament. "I get to sit and have fun," she said.

Chicagoist: When was the first time you had a meal at the Berghoff?

Knudson: I would say, probably in the 1960s.

Chicagoist: And how many times do you think you've been back?

Knudson: Repeatedly. Probably 50 times or more. My daughter, who's 21, she and her little friends – SharonKnudson.jpgwe would ride the train to Chicago and go to the Art Institute and always stop here for lunch. Kind of a tradition.

Chicagoist: Does your daughter still live around here?

Knudson: She lives in the city. So now she's a city girl. She was here – even the last night she came.

Chicagoist: When was the last time you ate here?

Knudson: A week ago.

Chicagoist: What do you plan on bidding for today?

Knudson: Columbian Exposition items and a few Berghoff items. Menus from the 1940s and so forth.

Chicagoist: If you could say anything to the Berghoff family, what would it be?

Knudson: I hope that they will continue – even though they are going into the catering business – to consider opening this for receptions and so forth, because the building is historic. It's just a beautiful, beautiful old building. It'll never be reproduced. I fear what will happen is the federal building will put a lot of pressure on to eventually sell, and it will become a part of the federal building complex.

[Note: The Trib reported that the federal government "has no interest in buying the Berghoff even though it now owns adjacent property."]

Chicagoist: Do you think the Berghoff should have landmark status?

Knudson: I don't own the property, so I would love to see that. If I owned the property, I might not feel the same way.

Chicagoist: Do you see a trend in old Chicago businesses closing down?

Knudson: I think, unfortunately, yes. The land's become so valuable as the city continues to grow, and I think, unfortunately, some of these family-type owned businesses are going to succumb to progress. If we call it that.

Chicagoist: How long have you been here?

Knudson: Today, just about an hour. We came yesterday to preview. It wasn't crowded yesterday, so really we stayed about an hour and a half, made our lists, went and thought about it and came back. And meantime, we left here and went and bought a Woodstock poster.

Chicagoist: A Woodstock poster? This is a memorabilia weekend.

Knudson: Memorabilia weekend, re-living our youth. [laugh]

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Glenn Hansen, of Chicago's Old Irving Park neighborhood, was leaning against the dining room's back wall waiting for the auction to start. While he hadn't visited since 2001, Hansen remembered coming down to the Berghoff Cafe on Fridays after work for some Berghoff Beer.

Chicagoist: How many times do you think you've been to the restaurant and the bar?

Hansen: Total, probably about 15 or 20 times. I came with my parents once, and I came with my in-laws once, and I came GlennHansen.jpgmaybe once a month on a Friday after work with some buddies from the Board of Trade.

Chicagoist: If you could say one thing to the Berghoff family, what would it be?

Hansen: I appreciate you keeping it authentic all these years and not changing it until the end.

Chicagoist: And do you fear that it’s going to change now?

Hansen: I'm not sure what’s going to go on in here. I suppose if another restaurant came in and they tried to keep some of the murals on the wall I would come down and see if the food was good and the service was good.

Chicagoist: What did you order when you came here to eat?

Hansen: I wasn't as much of a corned beef fan as my in-laws were, but I usually would have some kind of a roast beef or something simple.

Chicagoist: What were looking to get from the auction?

Hansen: If I could get a cool Berghoff sign or – some of the authentic pictures from downtown are really cool.

Chicagoist: You have a list there?

Hansen: All kinds of things circled. Just seeing what we can afford.