MORACCO SUPPER CLUB

MORACCO SUPPER CLUB.In 2006 the Iowa Resaurant Association honored Garry and Jeanne with the Association's highest honor, "Restaurateurs of the Year." The history of the restaurant began in late 1938 when John G. Jungwirth Jr. returned to Dubuque. Jungswirth was a hero of WORLD WAR II after flying 103 missions and 149 sorties, he had received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star and an Air Medal with 12 Oak Leaf clusters. He chose to enter business with his father who had opened the first Morocco tavern on Rockdale Road in 1938.

The remodeled Morocco Inn was opened under the ownership of Jphn G. Jungwirth Jr. When he was killed in an airplane crash in December, 1948, Jack Dempsey, the Inn's bartender and manager, began leasing Jungwirth's business. The business had a specialty of barbecued ribs, but the the kitchen was small. Despite its size the blaze discovered on June 26, 1950 was enough to destroy the building. Outside of city limits, the Dubuque Fire Department could offer to assistance and only arrived on the scene to protect neighboring businesses. (1)

Bert and Hazel Hillery took over the Moracco Supper Club in 1966. Their daughter Jeanne, who began working in the family business at the age of eleven, became a partner in 1976 and she and her husband, Garry Heiar, began operating it. The supper club became best known for their Tuesday night chicken dinner. (1)

The 1968 through 2014 Dubuque City Directory listed 1413 Rockdale.

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Source:

1. "Moracco Supper Club," The Tri-States' Supper Clubs (supplement to the Telegraph Herald) October 17, 2024, p. 4

1. Families in Business. (magazine) Telegraph Herald, July 30, 2010, p. 26

2. Kittle, M. D. "Moracco, Toast of Iowa," Telegraph Herald, December 1, 2006, p. 1A