Have you ever wondered what happened to a person who made an impression in your life and then disappeared without notice?

That has been my feeling several times driving along Summit Street and passing by the abandoned little building with the sign Andre’s Lounge.

Time was when that little building was anything but forlorn. Andre’s was a jumping food mecca on Summit, not too far from Lagrange Street. You had to get there early to get a seat at lunchtime and it remained popular at night.

If you were a regular at Andre’s, there likely are other unusual things that come to mind. One is the honor system in lieu of a printed bill of receipt. You simply told what you ate and drank and paid for it. The display of sculptured heads, made by Eddie York, is also hard to forget.

The query of whatever happened to Doug Sfaelos and Andre’s was solved last week over lunch. Several months ago Doug contacted me looking for a copy of my cookbook, Aren’t You going to Taste it, Honey, for his mother-in-law, Joanne Kesting. Her copy came up missing when she and her husband, Jim, sold their home in Florida and she missed it, Doug explained.

Copies of the book published in 1995 are rare, but I found one for Doug knowing that when we made the exchange I would have some questions for him, like, “Where have you been, Doug, since that guy drove through the back of your restaurant?”

The deliberate damage to a large portion of the restaurant was the main impetus that prompted Doug to close the restaurant he had operated for 38 years, he said. The driver in the incident became known as the “bubble gum bandit.”

To Doug, “It was the last straw.”

For a second, it seemed that tears were swelling in Doug’s eyes, but the melancholy mood soon switched to the present and the contentment he has found in a large commercial kitchen, where he is still making soups.

He has been the day chef at the Stone Oak Country Club for five years. He said, almost apologetically, that at one point in his new career he was given the elite title of sous chef, but not surprisingly his favorite place in the state-of-the-art kitchen is as the soup maestro.

He loves to talk about soups that are remembered from Andre’s: the Manhattan clam chowder, the mushroom, the beef noodle, to name but three from a repertoire of 23 choices.

It was not surprising that he ordered soup for lunch, and before eating the first spoonful he analyzed the ingredients. “I like to figure out how it was made and how I could improve it,” he said.

The best ingredients make the best soups is Doug’s advice.

He also believes that soup servings should be ample. He is unhappy when a service person only fills the bowl half way.

“I have to say, fill it up for Pete’s sake,” he said.

He also emphasizes that people who make soup should know what the finished product is supposed to taste like before they begin to cook it.

He doesn’t share recipes because he doesn’t cook with recipes, but just knows what is needed and how much.

At Stone Oak he appreciates having access to a wide range of ingredients and that he is encouraged by Keith Olander, club manager, and chef Tony Davis, executive chef, to be creative.

“Whatever I want, Tony will get it for me,” he said.

In praise of Doug and his production, Chef Tony, said, “We were lucky to find him.”

Sixty-six-year-old Doug still misses Andre’s, which he opened when he was 23 years old, but he sees several former customers at Stone Oak, especially at the club’s Grill Nights each Wednesday when he mans the grill.

“I believe I get the same respect I did at Andre’s,” he said.

It is not unusual for Doug to use tenderloin in the Stone Oak soups. When his popular lobster bisque is scheduled he gets the cream base and seasonings to a robust simmer in the big soup pot and then reaches for a handful, or two, maybe three, of lobster tails to drop into the pot.

Chicken noodle soup begins as it did at Andre’s with at least five whole chickens that are cooked with onions for extra flavor.

Always up for new food ideas to prepare at home for his wife Sue and daughters or at the club, Doug enjoys the Food Network, especially Andrew Zimmern. He recalled a personal TV stint when he was featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate with his famous fried bologna sandwich.

He planned to take extra care serving the chicken stuffed with spinach and feta cheese that was on the menu for dinner that evening. “My daughter and her friends take pictures of what I cook with their phones,” he said.

Doug’s father, the late Sandy Sfaelis, owned Sanjo’s, a bar that was also in the 309 Hotel where the Wine Cellar was later opened in the Summit-Lagrange neighborhood.

Sandy is also remembered for his part at Andre’s.

“Sandy and I worked diligently to keep Andre’s a favorite local restaurant,” Doug said. He also pays tribute to Barry Greenblatt for his steadfast support teaching him about deli meats and other food subjects.

“Barry taught me everything that I could possibly need to know,” he said.

As for the honor system at Andre’s, Doug still thinks paperless a good plan. “It worked for me. Often customers returned and admitted they had forgotten to pay for their food,” he said.

Mary Alice Powell is a retired Blade food editor.

Contact her at: poseypowell@aol.com.

First Published April 17, 2016, 4:00 a.m.