Cadieux Cafe: Is it the BOMB?!?!

stinkbug · October-22-09, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick

Cadieux is nice....not in the best location though.

Seriously?? Cadieux/Mack isn't exactly deep hood. So it's not fucking West Bloomfield, but where do you hang out? Jesus Christ, just because someplace has "Detroit" in its address, and the suburbanites get their panties in a bunch.

Oh yeah, I love Cadieux Cafe.

**oladub** · October-23-09, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

Oladub - the Silver Leaf Cafe was at 10214 Mack, corner of Hurlbut.

Thnaks, I hadn't heard of the Siver Leaf. It will be noted it on the back of a couple of photos.

**stonechipped** · October-23-09, 06:50 AM

Couple of things here as long as we are in or around the Cadieux Cafe....
You Buffalo's out there what is your family's story on how we got our ethnic tag or nicname?
And what about the little house's on the east side with the long big front yards, that are built right on top of the alley? Someone told me once that these homes were built by Belgian Americans?

**sumas** · October-23-09, 07:22 AM

Was up at the CC last week for the end of the EEV tour. The neighborhood is quite safe but shit can happen anywhere. We walked over so don't know about security but did notice they expanded the parking lot. We have lots of friends who are musicians and have seen/heard some great music there over the years. Haven't ate there in a long while, my husband loved their mussels and I always got their mushroom appetizer and spinach mashed potatos. Good stuff. Feather bowling is now almost extinct in the USA and Canada. Give them your patronage and keep some of our history alive. If you cruise Cadieux slowly you will see some vestiges of Belgian customs. A big house in front and a small house in back on the same lot.

**sumas** · October-23-09, 07:26 AM

Sadly, Belgians were not highly thought of in Detroit in the 1800 and early 1900's. They were called muskrat French.

**slick** · October-23-09, 12:41 PM

to stonechip, et al:

Story I heard on Buffalo moniker

1. They came from Buffalo NY.

2. From a buffalo, name of Driesche,
back when the buffalo nickel was in circulation, they were so tight with the money they would leave the impession of the buffalo in the palm of their hand.

I prefer #2.

**oladub** · October-23-09, 01:50 PM

slick, "Belgians are tightwads. They don't just pick up stray pennies. They file the edges and sell the scrap metal." That would be a second vote for number 2. Going back to stonechipped's question regarding alley houses. Belgians built many of the alley houses. That is to say, houses that were built very close to the garage if there was an alley or at the back of the lot. This allowed the much larger front yard to be used as a mini-farm so the space didn't go to waste. Often, they first built and moved into a two floor garage. When they saved enough money to build a house, because they didn't trust bankers enough to take loans, they moved into the house and the old smaller house became a garage with workshop and the second floor was sometimes used to raise pigeons. Here is a photo showing how the front yards of Belgian alley houses were used. I am referring to immigrant Belgians as their grandchildren are pretty much Americanized.

Attachment 3639
Things to note:

The narrow walkway goes from the front steps to the public sidewalk. It does not have to be wider because that would cost more and is not necessary. The clothesline is run next to the walk so feet do not have to get dirty when hanging the wash. The poles for the clothsline are made from self threaded 2" pipe left over from a job. The rest of the yard is used for intensive gardening. Belgians don't believe in being hungry any more than they trust bankers. Foch Jr. High in background.

**old guy** · October-23-09, 02:56 PM

Great explanation of the yard Oladub. And the frugality was amazing. There's a lot to be said for the way people used to utilize their property. I'm starting to notice a resurgence of it and hope it catches on. I grew up near an old Italian neighborhood and was always impressed with the amount of produce they grew in a small yard.

**stonechipped** · October-23-09, 03:52 PM

Never heard the nickel story although it is very true, my Grandmother was frugal to say the least. She had a pair of pants from K-Mart's for 30 years and just kept changing the elastic in the waist when it wore out.
Another theory where the name came from was, many years ago they used to have a bison pen over on Belle Isle, and the Belgian people were very taken with the way the animals looked. They used to picnic there every Sunday the one and only day off for most of them. And the Poles, Germans, Italians, labled us Buffalo's...
That is the story I got from my Grandfather, and he drank a lot of Stroh's in his day, so who knows.
Loved the explanation of the front yards, so it is true, the long front yards was a Buffalo thing.

**467riverfix** · October-23-09, 05:14 PM

Cadieux Cafe has always been one of those unique Detroit gems. Feather bowling and a wide variety of mussels. Reminds me that I should make another trip.

**pgn421** · October-23-09, 06:21 PM

Another old Belgian fav, was the Guilford Bar, on Harper.
It had an archery range in it. The William Tell archery club, shot out of there. Get a beer and bow!

**stonechipped** · October-23-09, 06:56 PM

Good plug for the Guilford P...Grandmas favorite hangout...shell of beer would last her about 4 hours..

**KENSINGTONY** · October-26-09, 10:11 AM

Thanks for the explanation of the long front yards.I always wondered why some of the houses in the neighborhoods east of Cadieux were that way.

**chardoan** · July-03-10, 02:41 PM

Thought I read somewhere Oladub had more pictures of "Old Man Lannoo". My mother who is 93 was just telling us that there was a street named after her grandfather [[first we ever heard of it). I guess her long term memory is real good. Any way that is what lead me to this post about Cadieux Cafe which is where she spent a lot of time. We would sure love to see more of those pictures and any other information about him. Can't wait to see more!

**oladub** · July-03-10, 06:24 PM

chardoan, I would be glad to oblige but think we should take this offline because this is family for privacy and because this thread is about the Cadieux cafe.. If I could figure out how to edit my profile, I could contact you but I can't so I need an e-mail address for you. Welcome to DY.

I only knew of one son [[AL) and two grand-daughters [[J and MA). The grand-daughters both had children. ML, his daughter in law, would be about 93 if still alive. As far as I know, Lannoo St. was named after the Old Man who came from the old country. Sorry, but I don't know his first name. He was always referred to as " Old Man Lannoo." I am related through marriage. Perhaps, you are J or MA or a child of J or MA for this to make sense. In which case, I have photos to send you but no address to send them to. I don't know ML's daughters' married names. The Old Man built houses and owned farmland. His first farm was, I think where Montgomery Wards was on Gratiot near Six Mile. He sold that and bought farmland around Mack and Seven Mile where St. John's Hospital and the 7-Mack shopping Center were later built. That's where Lannoo Street is.

Portrait taken about 1960.Attachment 6659

**kathy2trips** · July-05-10, 10:47 PM

Oh, yeah! Mr. Lannoo!

Yes, I love the Cadieux Cafe and you should go at least once and check it out. Detroit should be an advocate for it's European roots; so few cities do and it's to their detriment. I'm sorry to hear their food isn't up to snuff. They could really do a lot of fun things in that area. I'm not Belgian, but we had 2 or 3 marry into our Italian family [[along with Irish, Sicilians and Poles). I know from experience, real Belgian home cooking is real good!

I've been to La Frite Belgian Bistro on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. The food is good and...a little bit of Belgium in TX, but no feather bowling, unfortunately.

**Detroitej72** · July-05-10, 11:08 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick

Cadieux is nice....not in the best location though.

Ignore this post by a typical,[[paranoid)ex-Detroitier who is now a suburbanite.

Cadieux Café is in a fine, working class neighborhood, and there is nothing to fear by eating there.

I say this as someone who has actually lived in that "hood" for many years, and throughout Detroit Proper, the area is safe and quite charming.

**fryar** · July-06-10, 12:11 AM

I wonder if Patrick meant something along the lines of that not being an area where you would end up just discovering it by chance in the course of bar hopping throughout the neighborhood. I don't really know that area, and am generally pretty downtown-centric, so maybe there's a great little strip there, for all I know, but upon stumbling over this thread, I went from cool, I'll have to check it out, to whoa, that's out there. It seems like a nice sit-down bar with good food and good drink that would do well anywhere...[[here I go, suggesting they move to Woodward

).

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about the Belgian Detroit lifestyle of years past and checking out those old-time photos and comments about growing vegetables in your yard and the narrow walkway and such. Shows you how much Detroit, as whole, once had to offer.

**kathy2trips** · July-06-10, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by KENSINGTONY

Thanks for the explanation of the long front yards.I always wondered why some of the houses in the neighborhoods east of Cadieux were that way.

Oh, wow...if you look on a bird's eye view map, you can actually see it how different the houses are laid out. This must have been during a time when Detroit wasn't so strict on building specs. How nice to have the freedom to build your house the way you want that's not a million miles from nowhere..but in an actual city.