Business & Tech

Classic Cuisine Comes to Wildwood

The new Letty Lou's Cafe at the corner of Clayton and Strecker serves American favorites with old-fashioned service.

There's a new place in Wildwood to get breakfast, home-cooked family meals, and catered delectables that stem from family recipes. Letty Lou's Cafe was named after Lisa Bax's grandmother and mother. In addition to their namesakes, Bax carried their tried-and-true food approaches into the business side of the restaurant, too.

Bax, a Wildwood resident, signed the lease for the building located at 505 Strecker Rd. in April. The restaurant opened June 15, and breakfast hours of 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. were added as of July 1.

"We serve good food with consistency," she said. "It's American classic cuisine that's reasonably priced and offered with dependable service."

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Bax said her grandparents cemented their relationship partially over her grandmother's corned beef and hash speciality. "She came from Ireland when she was 13 years old. My grandfather used to wait for her outside of the factory she worked in New York, so he could walk her home. She made great reuben sandwiches, and we fix her recipe for lunch and dinners."

Dedication to the restaurant runs in the family. Bax' son, Chris, also works at Letty Lou's. He is a graduate. At 20 years old, he said he has been cooking since he was 15. "Up until now, I had done just about every position in restaurants, except ownership," he said.

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The Bax duo indicated they wanted to provide great family meals for people on the go. "Our food portions are good, and we'd like people to feel really comfortable coming back, like it's their cafe, too," said Lisa.

The menu includes standby favorites, such as burgers, salads, soups, sandwiches, wraps and kids' meals. Lisa said their goal was to offer no entree at greater than $8 each.

Entrees include baked mostaccoili, fried chicken, pulled pork and baked ham. Lisa said these family meals can be ordered by 4 p.m. and picked up curbside, if they are given at least an hour's notice.

Side dishes emphasize typical American classics, including homemade chips, slaw and green beans.

With an overall depressed economy, Lisa realized the timing of opening a restaurant may be tricky. "But I thought we've got to take the chance, when the former restaurant building became available. I don't want to regret not trying for the rest of my life," she said.

Lisa's mother-in-law, Joan Bax, of Villa Ridge, MO, joins in by making customized desserts. She's best known for her "strawberry yuck" dessert.

One of the cafe's more interesting appetizers is their loaded Irish pretzels, which are stuffed with various meats and cheeses.

The family was won several chili cookoffs and salsa contests, especially the people's choice categories. Their salsa won the contest sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation of Eastern Missouri and Metro East at Westport, and was sent three times to the world championship contest.

Letty Lou's offers a 10 percent discount for all police, firefighters and military representatives and their families.


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