Louie Marcuzzo’s Burger Lust

1016 S 10th Street, 1718 Vinton Street, Breakfast Joint, Cafe de Paris, Favorite Theater, Fritz Mueller, Italian Gardens, John Marcuzzo, Johny’s Lunch Room, Josephine Caniglia, Josephine Marcuzzo, Louie M’s Burger Luist, Louie Marcuzzo, Louis Marcuzzo, Luigi Marcuzzo, Midway Cafe, Vinton Historic District

March 23, 2024

Despite its name, Louie M’s Burger Lust offers much more than burgers. The story of Louie Marcuzzo’s restaurant goes back nearly a century.

The story of Louie M’s starts with his grandparents, Luigi Marcuzzo and Josephine Caniglia, who emigrated from Sicily. Upon their arrival, Luigi had a difficult time finding work in Omaha and ended up working in the coal mines in Pennsylvania for a time. While he reunited with his family afterward, he passed away at just 44 years old.

That left Josephine to raise their children on her own. She did whatever she had to in order to put food into mouths and clothes on backs. That included working as a janitor and even some bootlegging when that wasn’t enough. Undeterred, she represented herself in court after being arrested.

The former Italian Gardens at 1228 S 6th St in Little Italy. After it closed it became Cafe de Paris. Today it is a catering business.

Following the repeal of prohibition, she took a leap and opened her own restaurant called Italian Gardens. Prior to its opening, however, the building at 6th Street and Poppleton Avenue was bombed. To my knowledge, the bomber was never identified despite speculation that it was a competitor. Or maybe it was related to her prior bootlegging activities. While it delayed the 1934 opening, it didn’t stop it. The restaurant, run primarily by her sons, proved to be quite popular and remained open in Little Italy for decades. Later the building would become Cafe de Paris.

1955 photo looking west from 16th and Vinton. Midway Cafe (current day Louie M’s) is two blocks away on the right. Courtesy of Omaha World-Herald.

After helping her run Italian Gardens, one of her sons, John, opened a restaurant of his own called Johnny’s Lunch Room at 1016 S 10th Street. The Marcuzzo family had a knack for opening successful restaurants as this one also proved popular with the breakfast and lunch crowd who worked at the nearby rail yards. Having spent a lot of time in either Italian Gardens or Johnny’s, his son, Louie, grew up in the restaurant business. Despite the experience, after graduating college and serving in the Marine Corps, he was determined to follow a different path.

The outside of Louie M’s Burger Lust along Vinton St. It had been the home to the Midway Cafe for decades and the Favorite Theater before that.

Louie worked in engineering support, restaurant supply manufacturing and clothing before drawing on his years in the restaurant business when he opened a catering business in 1980. He opened the business in a once-thriving business and entertainment district just south and west of downtown along Vinton. The area was developed in the 1890s and settled mostly by German immigrants including Fritz Mueller, who built what would become the home of Louie M’s Catering at 1718 Vinton Street. Built in 1890, the building had housed the Favorite Theater. Its name, spelled out in mosaic tile, can still be found at the entrance. After it closed in 1915, it became the home to Midway Cafe.

Mosaic tile that once identified the building as the Favorite Theater.

Louie’s catering business started by supplying food to nearby daycares. At first, he only used the dining portion of the former cafe to have a cup of coffee with his friends. As the business evolved, it became a casual breakfast spot and then a full-fledged diner once the word about the tasty food being served out of its kitchen spread. At that point, Louie M’s Catering became Louie M’s Burger Lust.

Looking inside Louie M’s Burger Lust. It’s virtually unchanged from the time it was home to Midway Cafe. Photo courtesy of Bobby Y via Yelp.

With the exception of an addition that is accessed through a bricked archway, Louie M’s looks very similar to the Midway Cafe when it opened fifty years earlier. It has three pine booths along the wall, tables in the middle and eight bar stools along the lunch counter. It also features tin ceilings, a large skylight allowing for ample natural light and its original old wood floors. The walls feature an array of interesting, vintage decor including an advertisement from of its days as a movie theater, old movie posters, newspaper clippings and an autographed photo of Rocky Marciano.

The archway that leads to the new room inside Louie M’s. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Lynn via Google.

The restaurant whose name features its hand pattied 1/2 pound burgers is perhaps better known for its breakfast fare. The home-style food attracted its share of loyal customers and accolades including one from The Reader magazine which named it one of the best breakfast and burger joints in town.

Looking up at the skylight inside Louie M’s, booths from the Midway Cafe and old floors. Photo courtesy of Eliza H via Yelp.

Perhaps not unlike his grandparents who emigrated from Sicily over a century ago to start their own business, it seems fitting that Louie Marcuzzo finds himself surrounded by Latino entrepreneurs whose experiences parallel their own. His restaurant remains a longtime fixture of the neighborhood that he has helped transform into a thriving business district once again.

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