Madison's Wonder Bar Steakhouse has mob history, ghosts
The 85-year-old Wonderbar Steakhouse in
Madison was a mob hangout for many years. It was built by Roger "The
Terrible" Touhy and run by his brother Eddie, who disappeared in the
1950s.
Brian E. Clark
The 85-year-old Wonderbar
Steakhouse in Madison was a mob hangout for many years. It was built by Roger
"The Terrible" Touhy and run by his brother Eddie, who disappeared in
the 1950s.
By Brian E. Clark, Special to
the Journal Sentinel
In the late 1920s, Chicago
gangster and Al Capone rival Roger "The Terrible" Touhy was making
bucketloads of money from his bootlegging and gambling operations on the
northwest side of Chicago. Some sources say he was making an impressive $1
million a year by 1926.
To help out his bartender
brother, Eddie, as well as launder illicit earnings and get booze into
Wisconsin, the Irish-American mob boss and his sibling built a small,
castle-like restaurant — complete with turrets — on a dirt road on the
outskirts of Madison.
They dubbed the place on E.
Olin Ave. Eddie's Wonder Bar, and it gained a reputation as a gangster hangout
that served good meals and drinks. In addition to locals, it also entertained
the likes of John Dillinger, Capone, Baby Face Nelson and other gangsters. In
the '70s, it was a gathering place for politicians and University of
Wisconsin-Madison heavyweights such as football hero and former athletic
director Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch.
The Wonder Bar Steakhouse
continues to serve patrons today. And while the area has grown up around it,
the ivy clad brick building — complete with the original back bar — looks much
as it did in the 1930s. Moreover, it serves steaks popular 80 years ago,
including porterhouse, sirloin and T-bone cuts. (The latter two sold for $1 and
75 cents respectively, according to a 1934 menu.)
Better still, for those who
believe in such things, the restaurant is said to have ghosts.
Shawn Bortz, Wonder Bar chef
for the past six years, said the restaurant has had other names in years past,
including the Cigar Box, M.O.B. and The Bar Next Door. In the old days, it was
often under surveillance by the FBI and had removable sections in the turrets
through which the mobsters could poke their Tommy guns. No shootouts were
recorded at the place.
"The gangsters came here
to escape the 'heat' on their way up north and to stash money," he said.
"They also gambled and did other things, both legal and illegal. And while
no one was ever said to be killed here, the story is that Eddie, who
disappeared in the 1950s, may be buried behind the second-floor fireplace. We
also think some nasty stuff might have taken place in the basement —
'corrections' and that sort of thing."
Bortz said the Wonder Bar also
had a tunnel that ran toward Lake Monona that was used to smuggle booze and
help the racketeers escape from "G-men and other cops who were on their
tail." The Touhy brothers were the sons of an honest Chicago cop who had
six boys, Bortz said. Many of them became involved in organized crime, and some
were killed by Capone hit-men.
The 93-seat restaurant has dark
paneling, which manager Rick Shuffle said may be original. A portrait of a
voluptuous and scantily clad redhead hangs over the downstairs fireplace,
perhaps a niece of the Touhy brothers, Shuffle said.
The painting is 60 years old,
and the young woman, who looks to be about 25, is said to haunt the restaurant.
Equally popular is the 1938
police booking photograph of a young Frank Sinatra. It was taken in his
hometown of Hoboken, N.J. The ticket shows he was arrested for
"seduction," which means he was busted while having an affair with a
married woman, Shuffle said.
Bar manager Jason Kiley said
the specter of a man wearing a 1930s-era Fedora hat and a trenchcoat has been
seen standing at the top of the stairs, as well as a young girl. They're not
certain about her connection to the place.
Bortz said he's heard the young
girl laugh. And once, when he was alone in the basement, he said, he heard a
heavy door slam near him, causing him to flee upstairs.
Bortz said his menu focuses on
steaks and seafood. His favorite meal is the cowboy steak, a 23-ounce cut with
the bone in it. Another popular dish is the Chilean sea bass with a banana
curry served with sweet potato shoestrings. In season, he said, the halibut
served with a garlic panko crust is a winner.
Cooking at the Wonder Bar is
something of a family affair, too, Bortz said. His mother, Elizabeth Bortz,
prepares all of the restaurant's desserts. Bortz said she makes a mean
cheesecake, chocolate torte and creme brulee.
Though Eddie disappeared in the
mid-1950s, Roger lived until 1959. He was convicted — wrongly, Kiley said — of
kidnapping John "Jake the Barber" Factor, a sibling of cosmetics
mogul Max Factor. Roger was sentenced to 99 years in prison in 1934 but escaped
from the Stateville Correctional Center in 1942. He was arrested by FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover several months later in Chicago after robbing an
armored car of $14,000. He was sentenced to an additional 199 years at
Stateville for the escape and robbery.
He was finally released on
parole in 1959, 25 years after he was first incarcerated. It's not known if he
ever made it back to the Wonder Bar. He was shot and killed 22 days after he
got out of prison on the doorstep of his sister's Windy City home.
Though Capone had been dead for
12 years, his "associates" were blamed for the hit. On his way to a
hospital, the dying man told a reporter from a Chicago newspaper: "I've
been expecting it. The bastards never forget!"
Getting there: The Wonder Bar
Steakhouse is at 222 E. Olin Ave. off John Nolen Blvd. near the Alliant Energy
Center. Madison is roughly 80 miles west of Milwaukee via Interstate 94 and
Highway 12.
More information: Call (608)
256-9430 or see the restaurant website at wonderbarmadison.com.