CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — At the corner of Eugenie and Sedgwick Streets, a red, brick three-flat with a green-striped awning, an old Budweiser sign, and a name synonymous with Chicago history.
"This building was built back in 1881. This whole side of the block is now Twin Anchors but there used to be three different store fronts," said Mary Kay Tuzi, who co-owns the restaurant with her siblings Paul Tuzi and Gina Manrique.
Tuzi's parents Phillip and Laureen bought Twin Anchors back in 1978, but the bar and tavern has been a staple of the Old Town neighborhood since 1932.
"It was basically just a tavern back then,” Mary Kay Tuzi said. “It was originally owned by the Walters Family and Herb Eldean who was the harbor master at Monroe Harbor. The reason why they called it Twin Anchors even though it was never a seafood restaurant is because he wanted to give it a nautical theme."
Eldean purchased it from Lee Tante in 1931.
"It was called Tante Lee Soft Drinks then, and ‘soft drinks’ was a code word for alcohol during prohibition, but Herb owned it for a year until the end in 1932," Tuzi said.
Tuzi said her father was an insurance salesman for 35 years, but he always wanted to own his own business.
"So, when this opportunity came along he took it," she recalled. "He was the previous owners' insurance salesman.”
“It was the best decision he ever made," she smiled.
Tuzi started working at the restaurant when she was 16 and started bartending when she was 21.
"I've worked here my whole adult life," she laughed. "My father gave me an offer I couldn't refuse and I never left."
A small, two-room space, Twin Anchors is one Chicago's oldest restaurants — and it hasn't changed much over its 90-year history.
"We always keep it the same because we want people to come in and feel the history, we want people who haven't been here in a while to feel nostalgic, and say oh my god this is exactly how I remember it."
The restaurant is famous for its cozy environment, its celebrity guests and its iconic ribs.
"This is where the magic happens back in our small kitchen," Tuzi estimates they cook and serve 1,200 racks a week.
"We cook twice a day, seven days a week,” she said. “We have six ovens in the back. They cook at one temperature at three-and-a-half hours, and we reduce the temperature. That's when they get really tender. We cook them overnight."
The original sauce recipe is courtesy of the original owner, Mrs. Walters.
"Yes, it's her recipe,” Tuzi said. “We came up with our signature zesty in 1978 when my dad wanted to up the taste a bit."
Twin Anchors has been the backdrop to two movies, 1999's "Return to Me'' and 2008's “The Dark Knight."
"'Return to Me' was such a fabulous experience,” she said. “We are so proud to be a part of that movie."
John Belushi and Dan Akroyd came and ate in one of the booths in their Blues Brothers costumes. There's also a table in the back that was often reserved for one Frank Sinatra.
"He started coming in the ’50s and ’60s,” Tuzi said. “He would come in and sit in his booth. There's actually a phone jack that they installed so he could plug in a phone and take calls and not have to go to the public phone. He'd tip whoever was working his table $100."
Tuzi recalled a time when the singer was performing at the last ChicagoFest in 1982.
"Frank was the headliner,” she said. “We rented equipment, and we took it down to the old Navy Pier along with 60 slabs of ribs and cooked it up for Frank and his whole entourage, his whole orchestra. We got to meet him then."
A small door on the bottom half of the south wall tells its own story during the days of prohibition.
"We still have that secret door that they used to use to escape if the place got raided,” Tuzi said. “The door is built into the wall, people could get out that way and that would lead them up to the apartment above or to the street door to get out. That's the way people escaped the raid."
If the walls could talk, there would be endless stories — but most of all, tales of perseverance. Through The Great Depression, a world war, prohibition and a pandemic, Twin Anchors has survived and thrived.
Tuzi said even though her parents have long passed, their spirit is always present, watching over her and her siblings as they continue the restaurant's legacy. She says it's something that has become a labor of love.
"My mom always told us when we were together, she said, 'Twin Anchors is the goose that laid the golden egg. You have to take care and protect the goose,’” Tuzi said. “She was absolutely right. They'd be amazed with how the place has thrived through everything it's gone through over the years.”
Tuzi smiled: “They’d be very proud.”
In November, a month-long 90th birthday celebration with drink and dinner specials — and gratitude for their staff and patrons, who have made the restaurant their home for three generations.
"It just has that old world feel to it,” Tuzi said. “The nostalgia and the history is what really draws people's heart strings and keeps them as life long customers."
The Tuzis are only the third family to own the restaurant, but she said even though third generation ownership isn't guaranteed, they're committed to keeping it just the way it is.
"It's humbling how many people still want to come here,” she said. “People come here as much for the atmosphere and the history as they do for the food. We consider ourselves caretakers, but we will make sure Twin Anchors does not go away."
Twin Anchors is dedicating the entire month of November to celebrating its 90th anniversary with drink and dinner specials. Every Tuesday in November will feature a rib dinner priced at $19.32 — a nod to the founding year. There will be Tuesday drink specials, 90th anniversary merchandise for sale, a giveaway for the 90th guest each day, and more.
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