With all the fast food shoved at us these days, to discover a place with great food and an old-time atmosphere is an awesome find. John and I met up with our dear friend Jacob Murray one Sunday morning. We wanted to have a nice breakfast, and there was only one place in town open. It was called Flesor’s Candy Kitchen, and it was located in Tuscola, IL. And the “only” place turned out to be the best place.
Walking up outside, the space was inviting, and when we walked inside, it was like taking a trip back in time. The key word was old. An old soda fountain, beautiful old woodwork, old tables, old candy cases filled with yummy looking chocolates (so many to choose from), old shelves behind the cases with assorted boxes of goodies to go, and a gorgeous old tile floor! It was nice to be waited on promptly, get our drinks, and not have to ask for refills the entire time we were there. Everything on the menu looked so good! After ordering, when we got our food, we were not disappointed.
While we waited for our meal, there were so many cool things to look at. It looked like this old building that housed the Candy Kitchen had been well taken care of. There were old latches on the doors and some of the lights hanging from the ceiling did not match exactly, but they all looked like they could have been there since the building was built. The dark woodwork was a testament to how quality craftsmanship can last over a century. Our food was perfect, and we all enjoyed a breakfast that could not have been better if we made it at home. It would have been worth twice the price. We’ve become used to being overcharged for food on the road, so the bill was a pleasant surprise, as well – just $30 for three awesome breakfasts, and we each had something to drink, too.
I made a comment about how busy it was that morning to the cashier, and she told me both of their rooms had been full. We found out that Devon was one of the two sisters that now owned this fine establishment. She showed us the second room, filled with tables and chairs, and the most beautiful floor to ceiling bookcase, filled to the brim with books. She said, “Take one, that’s why they are here. Anyone can take one.” I took a cookbook and Jacob took a novel. We can’t thank Devon enough for her tour and the history of this very special place she shared with us.
We learned that her grandfather Gus Flesor had come here from Greece and, as I later learned, many immigrants became confectioners, and there were many shops just like this in the Midwest back in the early 1900s. In that second room there was an old popcorn machine that had sat on the sidewalk back in the day. The old cash register sitting there had probably rang up sales for purchases of sweets for many decades. The old pictures on the wall show their beloved grandfather and what it looked like there in the early days, back in 1901, when the business was first established.
Then Devon took us back in the kitchen, where they make the candy, and shared memories of her grandfather and her father working there. There were big copper pots, filled with chocolate, just waiting for the caramels to be dipped. Devon had grown up here in this small town in the business of making candy, ice cream, and serving good food. In the 70s, she told us, the downtown area died like most other small town main streets around America. The malls, fast food joints, and big box stores took over, so she left her town to get an education. Eventually, she became an instructor at Eastern Illinois University.
In the 70s, Devon’s father’s store, that had once been her grandfather’s, was closed and sold, as were the soda fountain and candy cases. The building sat empty for 30 years before Devon and Ann decided to come home, buy the building, and reopen the business. Lucky for them, the original soda fountain and candy cases were never removed – they had just been sitting there for 30 years, as well. Maybe it was all just waiting to be put back together and, once again, become a local gathering place, as it had been for so many years.
At the end of our tour, we bought a package of assorted chocolates to go, and Devon showed us a book that her sister Ann wrote about her grandfather’s journey to here, and how so many shops just like this one had come to be in Midwest Illinois. John bought Jacob and I each a book, and I had no idea just how much I was going to learn. The research that Ann did to tell the story of her grandfather, along with so many other Greek immigrants that came here who, against the odds, worked very hard, apprenticed, and then started their own business, is absolutely phenomenal!
Their first stop here was Ellis Island in New York, and from there many ended up traveling to Chicago and St Louis, then filtering out to the small towns in the Midwest. Some of the men, including her grandfather, would go west in the summer to work on the railroad to earn enough money to come back and open their own business. Many would learn to become confectioners by apprenticing under men who already had established shops.
Gus learned the confectionery business from Peter Vriner, who had taught many of the central Illinois Greek confectioners to not only make candy, but how to set up their businesses, as well. Gus also used the book Rigby’s Reliable Candy Teacher as a guide. There are still notations in their grandfather’s copy that they use today in their own candy making operation. Most first-generation recipes were either handed down, shared orally, or copied from other recipe books. The confectionery tools and ingredients have not changed in over one hundred years, and Rigby’s book remains an invaluable source for confectioners today.
The building was originally bought for $25,000, but they took $1,200 off because the basement needed to be excavated. This is important because the basement is where the candy was made until the 1970s. This seemed to be a fairly common practice among Greek candy makers. The girl’s father Paul can remember Saturday nights when families would bring in produce to barter. They would have dinner, take in a movie, and enjoy an ice cream soda on the corner of Main and Sale. Gus would roll the combination popcorn popper and peanut roaster (pictured) out on the sidewalk, and then goodness was dispensed in a bag, for just a nickel each.
I applaud these women for coming back and breathing new life into the business that was their grandfather’s life work. I’m sure their grandfather has to be smiling, to see what they are doing, in the place he once called home. Ann recently retired, and Devon and her husband Bob bought out her share of the business. “We plan to die behind the soda fountain,” she said. You can visit them online at www.flesorskitchen.com and see for yourself all the wonderful sweets and food they have to offer. And if you are passing through, it would be worth your while to stop in and enjoy a meal and some ice cream. They are open 6 days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
