PEORIA MAGAZINE December 2022

M O M A N D P O P

THE BEST BISTRO (TOO MANY OF) YOU HAVEN’T BEEN TO

Garden Street Café dishes good eats at a great price, and it’s an anchor of Peoria’s South Side

BY PHIL LUCIANO

The Garden Street Café, 1317 W. Garden St. in Peoria, recently marked its 40th anniversary under the ownership of the Burr family. The diner is one of just a handful of restaurants on the south end

T he Garden Street Café might be the tastiest place you’ve never visited. “There’s a lot of people that say they’ve never even heard of it,” owner Richard Burr said with a slight grin. “And we’ve been here 40 years.” ‘PEOPLE SAY THEY’VE NEVER HEARD OF IT … WE’VE BEEN HERE 40 YEARS’

Forty years is an eternity in the restaurant industry. According to pre pandemic statistics cited by USA Today, the average lifespan of a restaurant is five years. By some estimates, up to 90 percent of new eateries fail within their first year. Yet Burr, a low-key fellow with an easy grin, recently marked his family’s fourth decade of ownership of the café, one of just a handful of restaurants remaining on Peoria’s South Side. “There’s not many places like this, like the mom-and-pop-type places, you know?” Burr said. His family got into the business by necessity. His father, Leroy Burr, had worked for the HiramWalker distillery right up until its shutdown in 1981. The next year, Leroy Burr and his wife, Sharon, bought a longtime diner at

1317. W. Garden St. Day by day, they learned the trade. Eventually, Richard Burr and two brothers started working there. He fondly remembers that era, when the neighborhood still boasted a thriving economy. “It was good,” Burr said. “It was really great when Szold’swas open – a lotmore restaurants, a lot more businesses too.” These days, though, Peoria’s south end can count just a few eateries outside the Warehouse District. The Garden Street Café remains a stalwart, open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Burr’s parents and brothers have passed on, leaving the diner in his hands. Six days a week, you can find him getting ready in the kitchen around 5 a.m.

– Richard Burr

What’s the recipe for the diner’s long simmering success? “You can come in and get a good meal at a cheap price, said Burr, 65. “And you don’t walk away hungry.”

52 DECEMBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE