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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8.17 113 The Schnitzelburg cafe knows a thing or two about staying power. By Jenny Kiefer / Photos by Jessica Ebelhar THE SPREAD At 1 p.m. on an early-summer afternoon, few seats are unoccupied in the Check's Cafe dining room. ere are zero vacant barstools in the Schnitzelburg restaurant, just a small gap at the end of the bar where the two registers sit underneath a flat-screen TV displaying the menu: chicken salad sandwiches ($4.25), a storied bean soup ($3.25), deep- fried chicken wings (10 for $6.25). But even the end of the bar is filled with bodies, a line of people three or four deep, waiting to order lunch — or their second Bud Light. e waitstaff maneuver over the black-and-white check- ered floor, yelling names and orders over the clatter of the crowd, carrying parchment-paper-lined red plastic baskets filled with sandwiches and fries. A large-screen TV plays golf, sound muted. A waitress arrives at a packed table of four, delivering what looks like four whole fried chickens. Across East Burnett Avenue from Check's, signs promise the second loca- tion of the Derby City Chop Shop barbershop. Catty-corner, Monnik Beer Co. has established itself as one of the city's most popular breweries in the two years it has been open. (Check's regulars remember Heitzman's and Zeppelin Cafe, both of which once occupied the Monnik building.) Two blocks away, Lydia House has taken over what used to be Flabby's, a former neighborhood staple. Germantown Cafe is now Four Pegs. Pauly's Schnitzelburg Pub is now the Pearl. "It was getting to the point where we were the only ones around," says John Murrow, the owner and operator of Check's. "It's nice to have lots." In a neighborhood of rapid change, Check's Cafe remains largely the same: dark wood paneling, framed black-and-white photographs on the walls, neon beer advertisements in the front windows. e brass plate on the front door has a smattered patina from decades of use. No reclaimed wood or geometric light fixtures in sight. Renovations a few years ago were practical: Remove the cramped, single-commode bathrooms and add more stalls, and knock down a barrier wall to open up the dining room. "A spruce-up," is what Murrow calls it, but otherwise much the same. "If you walk up the back stairs, they haven't been touched since — probably never been touched," Murrow says. "When we did the remodel, we tried to simulate what it had always been and not change it." Murrow and I meet on a Friday morning, about an hour before the restaurant opens. His young son carries a register tray to the second-floor bar. Bartenders and waitstaff count change and wipe tables. It's strange seeing Check's so empty. Murrow, now in his late 30s, took over the operation from his father "around 2005" — he's not sure of the specific date. He owns property in the neighborhood, including renovated houses, Derby City Chop Shop's new spot and the empty plot behind Check's, which he plans to turn "Let's Go To Check's"