The Bismark, a downtown restaurant once frequented by Nat King Cole and Harry Truman, will soon be given a new life.
This November, Brandy and LeAnn Frazier and their husbands, Kevin and Michael, plan to reopen the restaurant at 410 N. Tucker.
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First opened in 1923, The Bismark Café “was known for turtle soup and cloaked booths where politicians, businessmen, reporters, and mobsters would huddle over a meal or drinks,” according to the Preservation Research Office. The café closed in 1972. Dapper Dan’s opened there four years later, at one time serving residents of the nearby Jefferson Arms. After Dapper Dan’s closed, in 2008, Me’Shon’s Bar & Grill later occupied the space. Finally, in 2011, the restaurant changed its name to The Bismark—but announced the next year that it was closing.
Now, the Fraziers hope to revive the spirit of the original café. They plan to keep the century-old bar, but update other aspects of the restaurant, including a more modern bathroom, kitchen, duct work, and paint.
Like the original Bismark, the menu will primarily focus on traditional American-style food, with entrées starting around $8. The owners even plan to pay homage to the café’s one-time menu with a happy hour matching the 1920s prices.
“If it works out, we might do it more than once,” says Michael, who works in the automotive industry but has long talked about opening a restaurant with his family. “We saw an opportunity and said, ‘Let’s go for it.’”
