Restaurant memories.
Norbie Baker had been a real celebrity in his younger days, for he played the accordian
for and led a popular polka band. Although he no longer played the accordian, his
restaurant was frequented by many former acquaintances and admirers. The young people
who did not know of his former accomplishments came primarily because Norbie served
some of the best prime rib in the city. Norbie was a lumbering, deliberate, slow
moving man, and you could hardly conceive of his fingers moving rapidly over the
numerous keys and buttons of an accordian. Yet he was a true, warm-hearted fellow
who treated you as a person.
From 1967 to 1988, Norbie & Angie Baker owned and operated Norbie Baker's Publick
House, 9801 W. Dakota St., West Allis, specializing in prime rib dinners, Angie Baker
said. "He played Cleveland style music, like Frankie Yankovic," Angie Baker recalled.
"Wherever he played, there were always people standing 10 deep at the stage to watch
him." Angie, whose maiden name was Osterman, was one of them. "I used to go to see
him at the old Capitol Palladium," she said of the former bowling alley and dance
hall at 2724 W. Capitol Drive. "One time, his accordion broke down and he wanted
to know if anyone had a nail file. I did." That's how the couple met. They married
in 1950. "He was well-loved by an awful lot of people in this city," said Gordon
Hinkley, a contemporary of Baker's who began working at WTMJ radio (620 AM) in 1950.
"He was a leader in the music industry here." Though the music business was Baker's
first career, the restaurant business became his second. In the late 1940s, he bought
a tavern at 2757 N. 3rd St. and named it the New Note. In 1955, the Bakers opened
Norbie Baker's Publick House in what was formerly the Bavarian Gardens, 4815 N. Hopkins
St. The Publick House was a popular place for wedding receptions and gradually developed
a daily menu, Angie Baker said. The building housing the restaurant was sold in 1967,
and the Bakers bought the Pleasant Valley Tavern, in the remnants of what once was
Pleasant Valley Park at S. 98th St. and W. Dakota Ave. in West Allis. "The tavern
used to be in the center of the park and it was grandfathered when they subdivided
the park to build houses," Angie Baker said. "It was just a pool hall when we bought
it. They were doing fish fries, but that's all." The Bakers remodeled and expanded
the restaurant steadily. Angie Baker liked Early American decor and displayed collection
of Delft blue plates in the bar and dining room. Norbie learned about the restaurant
business from extensive reading and frequent trips to restaurants in Chicago. By
the 1970s, the 80-seat restaurant had become so popular that it served 300 dinners
a night, said Caren Baker, who worked as a bartender and now is a supervisor at Ruth
Christ's Steak House in Las Vegas. "At the end of the night, he'd come out of the
kitchen and sit at the bar," said Caren, who recalled her father's fondness for Dutch
beer. "Everyone wanted to be the first one to buy him his first beer." Baker also
is survived by daughter Cathy, of Milwaukee, and son Michael, director of marketing
for the Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta. "A lot of people see the restaurant business from
the front end and think it's pretty glamorous," Michael Baker said. "But when you
see it from the inside you know how hard it is and how much attention to detail it
takes to get each plate perfect. "I carry that same attention to detail that my father
had into my own business."
The Pleasant Valley Inn
9801 W. Dakota St.
West Allis
(414) 321-4321
Walk into the Pleasant Valley Inn, look at its large stone fireplace and its Early
American decor, and you may not believe it was once a tavern and pool hall. But that's
what it was in 1967 when Norbie Baker took it over. You'll find casual elegance with
a touch of country charm at another of the city's best restaurants, situated in a
residential neighborhood in West Allis. The cozy Pleasant Valley Inn has been a Milwaukee
hotspot since the late Norbie Baker brought it to life more than 40 years ago. The
"up north" bar and intimate dining room offer a warm fireplace and a park-like view
through the windows
