Recommend a bomb-shelter restaurant in Elkhart County, IN?

December 3, 2007 8:16 AM

In the early 1980's there was a pizzeria/bar near Goshen, Indiana called Das Keller that was in an underground bunker...

...what happened to it?

There was a teeny-tiny building, almost like a small gazebo, in the middle of a small plot of grass in a sleepy downtown area. You'd enter the little building and it was just slightly bigger than the stairway going down to a surprisingly large bar/restaurant. It was dark, but not at all dank. There were a few booths and a handful of tables. A jukebox, a pool table and a couple of pinball machines.

It was not actually in Goshen, but it was in the general area, within maybe a 15 or 20 minute drive. Elkhart? Syracuse? Warsaw? The only places near there I am sure it isn't are Goshen (I'd remember if it was Goshen) or New Paris (we lived in New Paris). This was in maybe 1980 -1982.

Obviously this question is an effort to reconcile current reality with my childhood impressions. Google has nothing. It seems like if it was still operating under that name it would be easy to track down. If there is something else there now that would also be easy(ish) to track down. How many former bomb shelters turned restaurants could there be in greater Elkhart County?

It seems unlikely that they filled in the underground space and built a Walgreen's or something there, but I guess it is possible.

My brother remembers this all just as vividly as I do, but is of no real help.

(interesting: Googly reveals the Underground Restaurant in Richmond, IN. Sounds good! Right distance from New Paris, even says they sell Pizza! But wait, it is in a Holiday Inn, and the review does not mention that it is in fact ACTUALLY underground. Hmm. Maybe the owners saved the name and got space in a Holiday Inn built over top of the old Das Keller? I hope someone reading this knows...)

posted by dirtdirt to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

Phone some Chamber of Commerce/library/historian/police-type folks in that town. Phone the manager of the Holiday Innor of the Underground Restaurant. The odds on the phone seem better than the odds on this blog. (Watch, I'll now be proved wrong!)
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:28 AM on December 3, 2007

Wait, how do you know it's not still there? Did you phone somebody? Were you there, and found it missing?

As another remote suggestion--no idea how well you remember the area, and you don't say if you were there recently-- but you might try Google Earth or Google Maps for that location.
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:34 AM on December 3, 2007

I should have been more explicit in my question - I live now in Texas and haven't lived in Indiana since the time period in question. I don't know the exact town, only a general area that encompasses dozens of towns.

I don't KNOW that it is not still there but I assume that if it was (under the name it was then) some sort of reference to it would have made it's way to Google. It has not.
posted by dirtdirt at 8:41 AM on December 3, 2007

Actually, Richmond is pretty far away from Goshen/New Paris. I grew up in Warsaw and have never heard of this place, but now I'm intrigued. I hope someone here can fill in the blanks!
posted by billysumday at 9:39 AM on December 3, 2007

Ha!! Billysumday you are totally right. On Google maps a quick glance at Richmond, IN shows it as being just to the west of New Paris. A slightly longer look shows that this is New Paris, Ohio. heh.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:46 AM on December 3, 2007

My sources in Goshen tell me it's now called the Down Under Syracuse.
posted by snickerdoodle at 7:03 PM on December 3, 2007

Mmm, close but no. I think it's a different subterranean pizzeria/bar under a gazebo in Syracuse Indiana.

Wow!! That is totally, clearly it! Sadly, their website has no info on the "info" page, but it still is very obviously the place! The gazebo looks slightly sturdier but the lawn that the whole shebang is on and under looks a bit smaller (but doesn't everything that you go back to from childhood?)

I sort of want to call them and ask them what the history of the joint is.

Here's a link to a Google maps satellite view of The Down Under, formerly Das Keller.

Thanks!
posted by dirtdirt at 8:56 PM on December 3, 2007