Esicar's

The announcement that Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse will close in September provokes nostalgia and sadness among Cape Girardeau's meat connoisseurs.

The business has been a Cape Girardeau institution for nearly three-fourths of a century. An Esicar's ham or slab of bacon has been a prized Christmas gift for generations.

Originally founded at 411 Broadway by Edgar Esicar, the business moved to its distinctive building on North Kingshighway in 1951. Esicar's specialty meats became known far beyond Cape Girardeau. They did things the old-fashioned way, making their hams from corn-fed hogs and dry sugar-curing them for 60 to 75 days.

They've never had to advertise, although they did introduce a Web site after the birth of the Internet.

Blake Esicar is the third generation of his family to head the business. He made the announcement of the closing now because planning for the Christmas season begins in July. The owner said his aging building and employees convinced him not to begin preparing the 2,000 hams and 4,000 slabs of bacon shipped each Christmas once again.

Esicar's uses the same smokehouse that has been operating since the brick and oak building was constructed.

Many family members have been synonymous with the institution through the years, including Blake's late father, Richard, Richard's brother, Edro, and Blake's sister, Jan Halter.

Esicar's was a place people knew they could go to inhale the sweet aroma of smoked meats and exchange friendly banter with the crew.

Christmas won't be quite the same in Cape Girardeau without Esicar's.