Lew Tendler retired from the ring in 1928. Because he was a great storyteller, he became an after dinner speaker. Years later, he opened a restaurant on South Broad Street in Philadelphia called “Lew Tendler’s Steak House.” The place was a landmark and gathering spot for sports fans and local politicians for decades.  (he later opened a second restaurant in Atlantic City).

"I thought I knew where Lew’s restaurant was, and wouldn’t ask anybody the way. I soon got tired of walking, though, and ate in a place called Mike Banana’s. A minute after I had finished and left, I found Tendler’s, but I saw I couldn’t have eaten there anyway. I couldn’t even have got as far as the bar, it was so packed. The sidewalk on Broad Street in front of the restaurant was jammed right out to the curb, and gentlemen with embossed ears were struggling to keep from being pushed under taxicabs. Everybody who goes to Philadelphia for a fight meets at Tendler’s and tries to put the lug on somebody for a free ticket." - A.J. Liebling



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