Heyday of the Former Pendarvis House Restaurant

The courtyard behind Pendarvis
House provided a pleasant
setting for outdoor service.

"One-fourteen Shake Rag," read the sign above the door that ultimately would welcome diners from every state in the Union and many foreign countries. Robert Neal and Edgar Hellum never planned to go into the restaurant business; they just wanted to preserve some houses they saw as an important piece of Wisconsin history. But in the fall of 1935, to support themselves and their work, they began serving tea for fifty cents — a simple tea service complemented by bread and butter, plum preserves and scalded cream, and saffron cake.

First the locals came, later the women's club, then a writer for the newspaper in Madison. Word began to spread. The reluctant proprietors of Pendarvis House soon branched out, selling cakes and preserves by mail order. During that first winter Bob Neal learned how to make authentic Cornish pasty, consisting of a homemade crust encasing a sizeable, but simple, mixture of beef, potatoes, onions, and salt. "It was peasant food," Edgar Hellum would recall later.

When they began serving pasties — complemented by relishes, pickles, and salad — business began to boom. Besides a Wisconsin clientele, the little restaurant began receiving visitors from other states, some famous names among them. Duncan Hines paid a visit and included Pendarvis House in his book, Adventures in Good Eating. Top magazines began mentioning the simple but authentic ethnic fare, and Saturday Evening Post named Pendarvis one of the seven finest restaurants in the country.

What began as modest enterprise remained just that, despite its immense popularity. Unwilling to surrender to the lure of commercialism, Neal and Hellum stayed the course. "We stuck to the basic thing, and we stayed out of competition," said Hellum. "That's the only reason why we worked as a restaurant. What we served you couldn't buy anyplace else." In 1970 Neal and Hellum retired, closing the doors of the Pendarvis House Restaurant and ending a colorful chapter in Mineral Point History.