The most frequently asked question at the restaurant is: "Who is Havana Hannah?" And you will find the staff reluctant to tell, or else telling you different stories about who she is. "I am!" they occasionally proclaim.
What can we tell you? Well, first of all, "Hannah" is a Hebrew name meaning "God’s favor", or "God has blessed". And certainly being able to open this new business; forming new relationships and growing to love this community and it's citizens; and living a busy and purpose-filled life is a blessing -- is it not?
"Hannah" also coincidentally rhymes with Havana -- which makes it easy for you to remember our restaurant’s name.
But "Havana Hannah" can really be whoever you want her to be. She's you, she's me, she's that woman walking down Main Street. She's the spirit of Alice Fager the woman who first ran a nineteenth century millinery shop in the building that is now Havana Hannah's Cafe.
In our opinion, "Havana Hannah" is the living spirit of Main Street, Havana, looking toward the future and back to the past...it's a spirit of blessing to all of our customers. Havana Hannah's Cafe is a place for good food, a quiet lunch, fine music, a sampling of antiques, and scenes of the Illinois River – just to remind us of where we are.
In our first few weeks of opening business we asked our customers to tell us who they imagined Havana Hannah to be. Did they imagine a 1920's flapper who witnessed Al Capone gambling in Havana.... the hard-working wife of a commercial fisherman living in a houseboat on the river front....or an immigrant whose family has settled here to find their fortune....?
Customers wrote their stories on cards provided at the tables while they waited for their food to be served. Stories were then collected and entered into a drawing. Authors whose names were drawn won a free lunch for sharing their creativity. To read some of these clever writings we invite you to scroll down to the bottom of this blog where stories are printed.
