Casper's Chili Celebrates 100 Years with Art Show & Street Party

Tuesday, November 3 2009 (12:01PM) | Posted by Kathryn Vicat-Dlabach (UDA) | Downtown

It’s a Party at Casper’s Chili! Come out and celebrate 100 years of Casper’s Chili! Friday Night, Art Walk, November 6th: Randy Bacon’s Monarch Gallery will feature Art Work by the late Charles Lederer, son of the founder of Casper’s Chili. Casper’s Chili will stay open until 9 PM during Art Walk.

The Casper’s Chili Street Party is on Saturday November 7th, from 10:30 am until 4:30 pm at 601 W. Walnut. Main Street between Walnut and College will be closed to vehicles. Please park in the parking garages and walk over.

In celebration of 100 years get Casper’s famous Chili or Coney Dogs for 100 cents each or a Buck! There will be musical performances by Tripwire, ABS band, King Clarentz, Dark Alleys, Boogie Men, Spokepants of the Flowering Skillet, Howard Gayles and G-Force!

The chili is officially on everybody's favorite Quonset-hut chili cafe, Casper's, reopens at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday after its annual three-month summer break. This season is a special one for Casper's lovers, owner Belinda Harriman and fry cook Etta Mae Buckner. It's Casper's 100th anniversary of dishing up the distinctive meat-and-no-tomato chili, fried-flat burgers, brown beans, ham and Coca-Cola.

Casper Lederer began serving chili as Casper's in 1909. Owner Belinda Harriman, said, beaming. "And we're still doing it the same way he did it 100 years later.” They use the same recipes and cook on the same Garland stove used in 1909, Harriman said.

Don't expect any signature anniversary special, though. Etta Mae has been cooking at Casper's for 43 years. She'll tell you straight that she doesn't like change and she knows her regulars don't, either. Just look at the front of the Quonset hut; painted back to shocking orange, "Autumn gala" after Harriman got so much grief last year when she painted the front "Light Mint".

Casper Lederer opened Casper's in 1909 in a storefront on Walnut Street, somewhere between the Little Theatre and South Avenue. A black-and-white photograph of Casper in front of the old location hangs in the current Casper's. He and his wife lived above the cafe, operated a fruit stand outside and served chili inside. In 1948, Casper's moved to a Quonset hut at Glenstone Avenue and Seminole Street.

In the '60s, the Lederers' son, Charles Lederer, had attained some artistic acclaim and traveled extensively. In 1966, Casper needed a hand and asked his son if he could help. Each man would oversee the cafe three days a week, with Sundays off. As the story goes, Charles told Casper, "I can help for a little while, but don't think I'm going to stay." But stay, Charles did. He also started the tradition of closing in the summer. His kitschy decorating style, his bald head, ponytail and handlebar mustache became as much an institution on Glenstone as Casper's chili.

The restaurant décor is certainly well, let’s face it tacky, but Harriman insists she has standards. "It's got to be tacky, but it's got to be high-class tacky," she said. "It's got to be Casper-ish." Harriman's husband first took her to eat at Casper’s in 1972. "I walked in and said, 'You've got to be kidding ...' But I saw the hustle and bustle and people from all walks of life -- people in suits, doctors, lawyers, as well as the others. I had a small bowl of chili and thought it was great. I was hooked."

She became a regular, and began working there in 1977 at Charles' encouragement. "I was having so much fun there, being around all these people," she said. "... Little miracles happen here all the time. Little stuff. Often, I just feel like Charles is here."

Perhaps the biggest miracle lies in the lost chili recipe. In 1985, the Glenstone property owner told Charles he had to vacate the leased building by summer, Harriman said. Charles was so upset that Harriman reassured him they would find a suitable site after their summer break. She found the Quonset hut on Walnut Street at Main Avenue downtown, but Charles dismissed it. People wouldn't go that far for lunch, he said. In the talks that ensued, Charles also told her where he kept the original chili recipe in his house.

In August, before they'd found a site, Charles Lederer committed suicide. Shocked but wanting to carry on the Casper's tradition, Harriman bought the restaurant from Charles' son Geoffrey, then bought the Quonset hut and filled it with Casper's memorabilia. One problem: Geoffrey couldn't find the chili recipe. With only weeks to go before opening day, she and Etta Mae furiously tried to replicate the chili recipe and pulled in five regulars for several nights running to taste test. The answer always came back, "No, that's not it." With one week to go before her November opening, Geoffrey called Harriman. He found the recipe, he told her, "But you're not going to believe it." The day before, Geoffrey and his mother, Katherine Lederer, cleaned out Charles' personal papers and bills and hoisted them to the trash. Overnight the wind toppled the trash bins and Charles' papers scattered. The Lederers went out the next morning to gather up stray trash and there, stuck under the windshield wiper of Charles' car, was a piece of paper. Geoffrey didn't think much of it until he saw the word, "Tablespoon." He told Harriman, "I guess that's Dad's way of saying he wants you to have that recipe." She and Etta Mae mixed up a batch and brought in the taste testers. "By golly, Belinda," one man said, "I think you got it." Triumphantly, she said, "Yes, I do ..."

That was November 1985, and Harriman and Etta Mae Buckner are still a team in the Quonset hut. It has a cramped kitchen, one dining room and seating for 29. "We try very hard to keep high quality here," Harriman said. "Charles did that and I'm not going to let him down."

Harriman convinced Etta Mae some time back that it was time to add a Frito pie to the menu. Etta Mae refused to make them for a year. "It's not Casper's," she'd protest. "After a year," Harriman said, "she gave in." They've also added the Casperito -- a flour tortilla shell with chili, cheese, sour cream, onion and lettuce.

"Those are the only two things we changed," the fry cook insists. Harriman said she thinks her regulars keep coming back to Casper's for the food -- "I think it's just the well-seasoned grill" -- but also the camaraderie. "I've got to where I can read people. If I see they're having a hard time, I'll sit down and talk to them awhile," she said. "Sometimes people say, 'I wasn't very hungry, but I knew you'd sit down and talk to me.' "

Regulars know to expect they may eat an elbow-length distance from a stranger seated at the same table on a busy day. At Christmas they know to expect the dough ornaments that the staff makes and hangs in memory of Charles, who started the tradition.They know the chili will taste the same every day.

And they know that Casper's shuts down on the last Friday in May and reopens the Tuesday after Labor Day, and that it's always a contest to see who can be the last customer in May and the first one in September.

Harriman expects a friendly rivalry will erupt outside the door at 10:29 a.m. Tuesday. "We care about people and they know it," she said. "We get people from all walks of life ... and I always hope everyone is treated the same."

Got a Casper's story?

In honor of Casper's 100th anniversary, owner Belinda Harriman is collecting customers' stories and memories about goings-on and the people who ate there over the years. If you have a favorite story to share, send it or drop it off at Casper's, 601 W. Walnut St., Springfield, MO 65806.