"A review by Dr. Joseph Suglia Café Deko lives up to its name. It is very much a Viennese late nineteenth-century art-deco café that has been transplanted, through the magic of time-transport, into the Chicago of the early twenty-first century. The style of the décor is pure Jugendstil. Bronze monkeys clamber up the walls, bearing illumined lightbulbs as if they were lanterns guiding visitors through its space. The paintings resemble Beardsley. The walls invoke the junglescapes of Henri Rousseau. Lush, luxurious foliage emblazons the space—both real luxuriating green plants and figures of luxuriating green plants. When we walk into Café Deko, we remember that Vienna is a cosmopolitan, international, trans-European city, one of the first cities of modernity. But this is no museum—this is a living, lively, lifeful space, with more university-students than at a Taylor Swift concert. The sandwiches are among the best I have ever gustated. Particularly, the Caprese Sandwich, with its generous heaps of cherry tomatoes, which is trilled with just-enough olive-oil. Every time I attend Café Deko, I order the London Fog. The London Fog is the signature potation, with its clouds of milk and caffeine. It keeps me alert, but it is neither sweet nor bitter. It has an exquisitely subtle elegance. The proprietor and proprietress of Café Deko are George and Karol, two of the most pleasant hosts and hostesses you will ever meet. There are only three rules of conduct, as far as I can tell: 1. Do not dispose your feet upon the furniture. 2. Do not eat drink outside food beverage within the café. 3. For God’s sake, order something while you are there! Why everyone does not follow these rules is a mystery to me. The host and hostess are very gracious and gently remind those who infringe these rules what the rules are. They are much nicer than I would be in their place. Café Deko is one of my favorite spaces in Chicago, alongside the Shedd Aquarium and a few other spaces. Unlike the Shedd Aquarium, there are no children swarming the space, ready to bite my ankles like so many piranha. There is nowhere else like it, now that Vienna has become a postmodernist city. Instead of traveling to Vienna, I will continue to attend Café Deko and move back into the joyful and vibrant nineteenth century while I am remorsefully marooned in the twenty-first. Dr. Joseph Suglia"
