The Story Behind Letty’s on Shamrock

Letty Ketner’s 11-year-old restaurant is a culinary old soul—with a “blue streak” in its hair

If you’re a first-timer at Letty’s on Shamrock, it might take you a minute to read the menu. It isn’t because the menu is complicated or fancy. Owner Letty Ketner wanted her restaurant’s food to be simple in case she had to step into the kitchen and cook it herself. 

It can be hard to decide what you want while you’re taking in the decor. A “Love Is Love” banner and a sparkly Christmas garland of cocktail shakers, martini glasses, and glass cheeseburgers hangs over the bar all year. The fading cardboard replica of “Custer’s Last Fight” is a mid-1960s Budweiser advertisement that’s been in Letty’s family since she was a kid. A statue of Godzilla gobbling garden gnomes sits on the bar. 

The walls are covered with local art that’s mostly for sale. The dining room is like your craziest aunt’s attic, with vintage lamps, old kitchen gear, dishes, and cookbooks that crowd the shelves. A tall pink flamingo lords over mismatched tables and chairs. Letty is a self-avowed hoarder, and all that stuff is hers. (Except for the flamingo—that’s on loan from a friend.)

Read more at: https://www.charlottemagazine.com/the-story-behind-lettys-on-shamrock/