Andy & Sophie, Now Retired, Hope Andy & Sophie's Makes Comeback

JOLIET, IL —Neighborhood corner bars, there's something special about them.

When I grew up in the 1000 block of Joliet's Gardner Street in the 1980s, I had Shortley's Corner on my paper route. Practically everyday I delivered their newspaper, Shortley's offered me a cup of pop from behind the bar as a token of gratitude even though I was just a kid.

The Shortleys did not have to do this, but they were just nice, kind-hearted people.

Twenty years ago, in 2000, I moved to Green Bay, Wis., and made a neighborhood bar called The Pump Room my home away from the downtown Green Bay newspaper where I worked nights. I spent so much time at The Pump Room that on the verge of my move to Omaha, Nebraska, less than four years later, the owners of The Pump Room gave me one of their softball team T-shirts as a special going away present.

I still have my Pump Room shirt to this day.

Like the blue-collar city of Green Bay, Joliet also has a number of neighborhood taverns, but some of Joliet's most legendary neighborhood taverns are not doing well these days.

Malnar's Tap on Clement Street remains a blight on the Cunningham Neighborhood after the place went up in flames on Feb. 1. The fire occurred shortly after the place was acquired by a new owner. Eight months later, Malnar's Tap still looks spooky and frightening, just as it did hours after the Joliet Fire Department put out the blaze.

Ferak Column: Joliet Needs To Clean Up Malnar's Fire Mess Now

Just a few blocks down the hill from Malnar's Tap, sits another Joliet landmark, Andy & Sophies.

Andy and Sophie Wrobel ran their neighborhood bar at the corner of Moran and Hickory Streets for 45 years, from 1974 until 2019. Last year, Patrick Walsh, an out of town lawyer in private practice, bought the property and acquired the liquor license. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Andy & Sophie's was shut down in March and has not reopened.

On Tuesday, curious to check out the status of Andy & Sophie's for myself, I pulled into the tavern's parking lot and was the only car here.

I walked up to the door for Andy & Sophie's at 931 Hickory St. It was locked. Nobody was inside. It was right about that moment that I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

A shiny red pickup truck pulled up on Hickory Street and parked across the street from the bar. A couple minutes later, an older man opened the door.

No, no, no, this can't be, I thought. That looks like Andy.

It was Andy.

And although I could not see her at first, Sophie was in the passenger seat of the red truck.

But what were Andy and Sophie Wrobel doing visiting Andy & Sophie's Bar?

After all, they sold the property and passed the torch last August, in 2019.

Turns out, they own the rental property directly across the street. They had someone out spraying the property Tuesday to ward off insects.

In any event, I caught up with Andy and Sophie to see how they were doing.

Andy said they live in Orland Park, where they have a condo. Andy also had an envelope with him that contained several glossy black-and-white photos from the early 1900s of his bar. He pulled them out and showed them to me proudly.

He and Sophie both told me that they miss their customers; they developed so many tight -knit friendships with their Joliet-area regulars.

And they were proud of what Andy & Sophie's symbolized for Joliet.

Andy & Sophie's was known for dishing up quality home-cooked food. It was a place to stop for lunch.

Food you could not get at your typical fast-food drive-thru on West Jefferson Street.

Corned beef and cabbage rolls. Polish sausage and sauerkraut. Meatloaf.

"I miss my customers," Andy told me Tuesday afternoon.

"We miss the customers, and we thank everybody, all the customers, we miss you all," Sophie wanted me to convey to my Joliet Patch readers.

The Wrobels told me they do not second guess their decision to retire in 2019.

They were fortunate, in a way, to retire before the coronavirus crisis impacted the state's thousands of bars and restaurants.

Andy said he is now 73 years old while Sophie said she is 72. She is recovering from shoulder surgery.

"It was time," Andy said. "It was time to go."

During our Tuesday afternoon interview, Andy urged me to stand on the wooden bench outside his old bar. He insisted if I did so, I could get a better view of the remodeling work being done by Walsh, the new owner.

Reluctantly, I told Andy I would not stand on the wooden bench because I was sure it would crack in half, either from my weight or my clumsiness.

Instead, I did a couple of standing leaps from the Hickory Street sidewalk. Afterward, I assured Andy that it's looking good, the interior remodeling work, that is.

All in all, it's not the same for Joliet with Andy & Sophie's indefinitely closed and the front door of this well-known neighborhood tavern locked.

It has to be hard on the Wrobles, knowing how they poured their heart and soul into making Andy & Sophie's a friendly and welcoming neighborhood watering hole only to see the place empty, a year later.

"I usually prepare 55 dinners, and most have the half-dinner portion, so it's over 100 people, and then we are sold-out," Sophie told Patch contributor Jeff Jacob in an article published April 17, 2019. "A lot of times we run out by 11:45. We do have soup and sandwiches until 8:00, but you have to get in early for the special, especially for corned beef or cabbage rolls."

Since the pandemic, I'm proud to say that I've chronicled numerous small-business success stories in Joliet, one of the shining examples being my reporting about the transformation of Louis' Family Restaurant on Joliet's West Jefferson Street.

I don't know what the future holds for Andy and Sophie, but I hope the next chapter has a happy ending for them and for Joliet. I hope this out-of-town attorney, Patrick Walsh, who owns the property now, has a passion and drive to see Andy & Sophie's succeed for many years into the future.