YESTERYEAR: EVANS CAFE
BY PAT SIDES
When Henry and Ann Evans opened the doors to their new restaurant before dawn on October 23, 1943, the juke box was blasting the hit song “Pistol Packin’ Mama,†as workers from the Evansville shipyard filed in to grab an early breakfast.
Evans Café was one of the city’s most popular dining venues for decades, advertising itself as “Evansville’s Leading Family Restaurant†and attracting loyal customers from a 50-mile radius.
Located at 1010 South Kentucky Avenue, the restaurant soon developed a reputation for home-style cooking, which was served at affordable prices. Evans Café originally had only 28 seats, but eventually seating capacity exceeded 200.
After 1984, the café closed and re-opened several times under new owners.Â
Had many wonderful breakfasts and lunches at Evans through the years. It never came up to past standards after ’84, tho. Helen’s at St. Joe and Maryland was a great family restaurant, also.
The guycyhat owns the Cross-Eyed Cricket and Comfort by Cross-Eyed Cricket tried operating a restaurant in that location. It failed. The neighborhood has changed dramatically.
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