Little Cafe, 12601 Gratiot in Detroit
Once described in The Detroit News as “solid German fare in a setting right of Heidi,” the Little Cafe was considered the go-to place for such cuisine in the city. The menu offered prime rib, chicken paprikash, beef rouladen, roast duckling and longtime owner and cook Anna Born’s famous apple strudel. The menu was a collection of her family recipes brought over from her native Essen, Germany.
“The tall, erect, sweet-faced proprietor,” Detroit News restaurant critic Molly Abraham wrote of Mrs. Born in a 1970 review of Little Cafe, “who might be called stately if she weren’t such a perfect grandmother figure, walking about the room making sure all her kinder are being taken care of.”
Along with lunch and dinner, the Little Cafe would entice customers at off-peak hours with early bird specials and “German hour,” 5-6:30 p.m. weekdays with two-for-one drinks and a strolling accordionist.
The Little Cafe got a renovation in the late 1960s that added a beamed ceiling and pastel-tinted wine goblets, but it was still described as comfortable and inexpensive. Among the decor of note was a collection of beer steins and an old cuckoo clock.
The cozy spot lasted around 50 years from the 1930s until its closure in the mid 1980s. It later became Muchachos Mexican restaurant. The address is now an Auto Zone car parts store.
mbaetens@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Restaurant Flashback: Little Cafe
Reporting by Melody Baetens, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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