For peak Chicago intrigue, there’s no better backdrop than Ceres Cafe.
Though a few years removed from its seediest, smoke-filled days, Ceres Cafe remains a Chicagoan’s version of Chicago, where well drinks are filled four fingers high and the bartender knows what most of his lunch crowd is drinking without anyone saying a word.
(How long has the bartender worked there? “A long time,” he said Tuesday.)
It’s little wonder that Ceres Cafe is said to be the origin site of a winding drama that unwound completely this week when Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot accused police Superintendent Eddie Johnson of lying about why he was found asleep at the wheel of his running police vehicle at 12:30 a.m. Oct. 17.
Johnson initially blamed his failure to take blood pressure medication. Then word emerged he’d had “a couple of drinks” on the night in question. Finally, amid news of Johnson’s firing Monday, it was revealed that the city inspector general’s office had obtained video footage of Johnson drinking for a few hours with a woman who was not his wife at Ceres Cafe.
During Tuesday’s lunch rush at the bar, no one was talking about Johnson’s downfall; conversation was reserved for the news of the day — notably, Sen. Kamala Harris dropping out of the 2020 presidential race — and catching up on each other’s Thanksgivings. But everyone knew about the role their go-to lunch spot played in the top cop’s downfall. It earned a smirk or two when brought up.
“Two or three drinks at Ceres will get anyone in trouble,” said a trader who didn’t want to be identified after finishing his lunch at the bar.
Virtually everyone at Ceres Cafe was amenable to chat Tuesday afternoon. But no one wanted to share their name. It’s that kind of place.
It’s also the kind of place where no one got the memo about lunchtime drinking living in another era. By 12:30 p.m., virtually every seat in the place was full, and much of the bar nursed one of those four-finger drinks. Want a vodka tonic? You get a glass filled to the brim with vodka and a can of tonic to do with as you wish.
“If you want a stiff drink, this is the place,” the trader said.
Ceres Cafe’s owners have been in the business for 52 years. They once owned a restaurant across the street called Broker’s Inn — those early menus are framed on the Ceres’ wall (“Hot U.S. prime sirloin of beef, $2.05”) — and eventually bought the competing Sign of the Trader, which was later renamed Ceres Cafe.
Ceres Cafe is housed on the ground floor of the Chicago Board of Trade building, perched where LaSalle Street dead ends at Jackson Boulevard. It’s one of Chicago’s most striking streetscapes and a regular in films, from “The Untouchables” to “The Dark Knight.”
Traders are still a fair portion of the clientele, showing up in their badges and trading jackets. Back in those seedier smoke-filled days, screens showed live market activity. Now they show CNN and WGN, and traders take up less and less of the room as trading migrates online.
Not long ago, Ceres was also far darker and seedier. A renovation covered the dated wood paneling with off-white paint, black and white was added to the color palette and, most jarring, windows were built behind the bar, which allows natural light to flood in.
“I liked it better before,” said another trader who also didn’t want to be identified. “Nice and dark. No one could find you.”
But the inspector general apparently found the video that led to an abrupt end for Johnson at the Chicago Police Department, where he worked 31 years, including about 31/2 as superintendent.
On Monday, Lightfoot said the inspector general’s report, as well as video, led her to fire Johnson weeks after participating in what was deemed “a celebratory press conference” to announce Johnson’s retirement by the end of the year.
“I saw things that were inconsistent with what Mr. Johnson had told me personally and what he revealed to members of the public,” Lightfoot said Monday.
Ceres’ general manager, who would only identify himself as Billy, confirmed that Johnson visited Ceres on the night in question.
“The man had dinner here, and we call last call at 8 o’clock,” he said. “You can take what you want from that. Everyone is entitled to eat dinner.”
