Negro League Cafe

You'll Find Good Music, Good Food and a Bit of History at Chicago's Negro League Cafe $$

by Kelly Pucci, Freelance Writer

November 2005

Here is entrepreneur Don Curry’s recipe for cooking up a wildly successful restaurant: Combine the saga of forgotten baseball players with live jazz concerts, add unlimited amounts of food and voila - The Negro League Café. Celebrating its first anniversary this summer, Mr. Curry’s sleek and contemporary restaurant continues to revitalize Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. Back in the day, this South Side neighborhood located just 10 minutes away from The Loop was home to musician Louis Armstrong, activist Ida B. Wells and gospel pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey.

The café’s smooth, contemporary design, rich chocolate-colored banquettes and mellow yellow walls pop with reminders of Negro League baseball players. A larger-than-life mural of players and American folk art style paintings by father and son artists John D. and John A. Wolfe portraying players such as Satchel Paige and Double Duty Radcliffe line the walls.

A number of former Negro League players who reside in Chicago can be spotted dining at the café: Hank Presswood, Al Spearman and Bob Wiggins among others. If players are not on hand to regale diners with firsthand accounts of life on the road, the Café’s wait staff educates customers about Negro League history. Undaunted by exclusion from all-white professional teams, black players formed their own leagues, barnstorming around the country from the late 1880s until 1947 when Negro League player Jackie Robinson officially broke the color barrier as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. While Robinson and Satchel Paige thrived in the major leagues, other players were not so fortunate and careers ended abruptly. To ease their hardship a pension fund benefiting surviving Negro League players receives a portion of the Café’s gross profits.

Live jazz concerts at the Negro League Café range from amateur to professional and from smooth jazz to red hot wailing. On Tuesday evenings local musicians Theodis Rodgers, Jr. and Aki Antonia host open mic jam sessions until 11 pm. On Saturday nights the pros take over. Recent shows have included the award-winning sextet Chicago Horns, guitarist Buddy Fambro Quartet and singer Maggie Brown.

With the exception of predictable sandwiches and burgers named in honor of players, the cuisine is decidedly soul food. An all you-can-eat Barnstorming Buffet ($17.99) includes: chicken, fried, barbecued or baked, collard greens or green beans cooked with smoked turkey, fried corn, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, rice, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, banana pudding and peach cobbler. The inexpensive kids’ menu ($4-6) features: catfish nuggets, or hot dogs or chicken breast served with fries or greens.

If You Go

Negro League Cafe

301 East 43rd Street

Chicago, Illinois

773-536-7000 (phone)

www.thenegroleaguecafe.info

Hours of Operation

Tuesday & Wednesday

11 am - 11 pm

Thursday - Saturday

11 am - 2 am

Sunday

1 pm - 8pm

*Special performances are scheduled throughout the summer