For the 47th anniversary of Haab's Restaurant in 1981, the steak-house’s current owners honored the eatery's origins by serving three of its original dishes at their original prices. Thirty years later, diners continue lining up well into the wee hours of the morning every third Monday in October for $0.50 chicken dinners, $0.40 spaghetti plates, and $0.20 barbecued sandwiches.

Though the restaurant’s anniversary celebration has since changed, evidence of Haab's long history can be found in every meal eaten in its elegant dining room. Some touches actually predate Haab's itself: part of a wall that partitioned the separate women's and men's bars from the 1870s still stands, as does a tin ceiling and a bar installed in 1905, as well as a dispenser of lustrous fake mustaches from 1911. Heirlooms from the original Haab family and hand-hewn beams also contribute to the historic ambiance. Chefs pay homage to the handmade, traditional atmosphere by baking bread from scratch and cooking dry-aged, western, grain-fed beef just the way Haab's first chefs did back in 1934.

These days, however, the menu has expanded beyond chicken and spaghetti dinners. The chefs marinate hunks of london broil in burgundy wine, herbs, and spices, fry hand-breaded pieces of lake perch or shrimp, and sandwich corned beef and sauerkraut between grilled slices of rye.