For those of you who remember The Cottage in Calumet City

It was quite a risk to open a French-inspired restaurant in Calumet City in 1974, but Carolyn Buster Welbon and her then-husband created a phenomenon.

For about 20 years, The Cottage restaurant was the premier fine-dining restaurant in the south suburbs. It was so good that the one-story stucco building—inspired by a French inn the couple had visited—became a destination for Chicago residents.

"Calumet City was in the middle of nowhere," said Nancy Harris, Mrs. Welbon's friend and colleague. "About half-way there, you wondered why you were going but when you arrived you knew why. The food was so good."

...

Mrs. Welbon first received attention in the Chicago area when she worked at The Bakery in Chicago, under the legendary chef Louis Szathmary.

She had no formal culinary training, save a 10-week gourmet cooking course offered by Sears, Roebuck and Co., before she started at the Bakery. Her previous job was in the office of a steel plant in Hammond.

At The Bakery, she ran the test kitchen to assist with Szathmary's cookbook. She also worked in the dining room and the kitchen to learn the intricacies of the restaurant business—always with the intention of opening her own place, colleagues said.

"She was like a sponge," said Gerald Buster, Welbon's ex-husband. "When you get a mentor like this guy, it was phenomenal for her."

The couple met while working at the Hammond steel plant. They married in 1965 and opened the Cottage Restaurant in 1974.

They had planned a low-key opening, but the buzz about a Szathmary apprentice drew 103 patrons on the first day.

"There was no way we were prepared for that," Buster said. "People thought we were a spin-off of The Bakery. It wasn't at all. We didn't copy any of his recipes at all; she had her own ideas of what she wanted to do."

The Cottage became well-known for its schnitzel, tasty soups, full-flavored game and autumnal setting. In a 1992 Tribune restaurant review, the touted dishes included smoked quail and wild mushrooms, venison with a stone-ground mustard sauce, roasted duck and swordfish with pomegranate-pistachio sauce.

Mrs. Welbon was the youngest of seven children. Growing up in Hammond, she would bake pies to make money.

Mrs. Welbon was founding member of the Chicago chapter of the Les Dames d'Escoffier, an international women's group for professionals in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. The local chapter was started 25 years ago.

Mrs. Welbon received an honorary degree from the Culinary College at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island.

When the couple divorced in 1993, Buster brought in another chef. The restaurant closed in 1996.

...