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View a database that includes artifacts, photographs, and documents in the History San José collection which relate to Lou’s Village Restaurant in San José, California.
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“I joined my parents there often and what stood out for me was the appetizer tray. Restaurants have gotten away from little niceties like that in their collective efforts to be ultra sophisticated. I miss Lou's very much.”
-Dave Hickey
Diners and Banquets
Lou’s Village was known as “the place to go” for a quality meal. Excellent food, an evolving menu, and reliable service were the cornerstone to Lou’s Village’s sixty year success. When Lou’s Village opened in 1946 it offered a smorgasbord with 40 varieties of dishes, cocktails, dancing, and barbecued dinners. Soon after opening, the restaurant added a house band and had floor shows in addition to dancing. In 1950 Lou’s was remodeled and new barbecue grounds in the adjacent walnut grove offered a casual outdoor dining option. In the mid 1950s the restaurant added banquets and offsite catering to the services they offered.
After a fire in the kitchen and dining room in 1961, the restaurant was remodeled, eliminating the stage and dance floor. The focus was changed to fine dining and banquets. In the late 1960s Gloria Muller [link to 1.2] conceived a new menu for Lou’s Village. She noticed that there wasn’t a quality seafood restaurant in San José and suggested that Lou’s fill that need.
As the menu changed to focus on seafood and the décor began to take on a nautical theme. The restaurant featured fish tanks, model ships, ship wheels, oars, bells, lanterns and seafaring prints. Lou’s continued to remodel and expand into the 1980s and ‘90s until the restaurant was 28,000 square feet.
Lou’s Village had many loyal customers, many of whom began dining there when it first opened in 1946. Long time customers remember Lou’s as “the place to go” and knew that they would have a pleasant evening with good food and service.