116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Northside Diner opens in historic downtown Washington building, filling shoes of Winga’s Cafe
New renovation continues momentum started by Cafe Dodici
Jun. 20, 2024 6:15 am
WASHINGTON — Despite sales that have shattered expectations, Northside Diner seems to be the place where the owners knows everybody’s name.
Employing a familiarity instilled by years of work at their family’s Cafe Dodici and Dodici’s coffee shop, owners Isabella and Ed Santoro have opened their first restaurant together in a renovated 1869 building on the town square. The space at 106 W. Main St. was home to the legendary Winga’s Cafe for more than 70 years until its closure in 2006.
But in doing so, they haven’t just started a new restaurant — they’ve continued the legacy started by their mother and mother-in-law, respectively. Twenty years after Lorraine Williams renovated a building set for demolition into a popular Italian restaurant nearby, customers are busting Northside Diner’s door down for an entirely different kind of menu.
What started as plans to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner has quickly been scaled back to lunch — the only meal they can serve with current demand. After opening June 1 with expectations for about 100 customers a day, the “retro diner with a modern twist” had 355 customers on its first day, and has averaged 270 since.
“It was nonstop from the moment we opened the door,” said Isabella. “I had to turn a lot of people away because we were running out of food.”
But what’s more than brisk business is the bigger picture.
With a space that was vacant for about 18 years, Williams’ daughter and son-in-law are reigniting the catalyst she started in 2004. Together, their mark in the new business makes an impression by honoring the past.
Continuing what they started
After living in Italy for 30 years, Williams returned to her hometown to some dismay.
“For Italians, downtown is the heart of the city. So we come here, and nobody was downtown — it was weird,” Isabella said. “She was one of the first to invest in downtown and say that we’ve got a beautiful downtown, let’s not cover up the storefronts with metal siding.”
In the last two decades, a cumulative $25 million in public and private investments have been poured into downtown Washington, Isabella said. Today, that’s paying dividends after turning a sleepy square into vibrant streets with full storefronts.
If you go
What: Northside Diner
Where: 106 W. Main St., Washington, Iowa
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; closed Wednesday and Sunday
Contact: (319) 460-8140; northsidedineriowa@gmail.com
Website: northsidediner.com
An interior rebuilt from itself
Inside the $300,000 renovation, there’s nary an inch of space that doesn’t have some sort of history attached to it. Yet, with renovations done almost single-handedly by Ed, a series of old aesthetics have culminated in a space that conveys authenticity without being kitschy.
“I couldn’t tell you how we were able to do this. We’re not rich by any means,” Isabella said. “You have to think outside the box, be a dreamer and a schemer, and the money will come.”
The couple bought the building from the Winga family, longtime customers of theirs at Cafe Dodici, and started renovating in the fall of 2021.
“I essentially built the place out of itself,” said Ed, who coincidentally put a roof on the building in 1999.
With organic elements, pieces of the building’s past have been reassembled to center a space that feels historic, but not dated. Douglas fir, installed above the restaurant’s tin ceiling in the 1880s, lines the bar and rear wall in between side walls of exposed brick.
Art made of recycled library books from the closed Iowa Wesleyan University library adds texture to the brick. Above it all, skyscraper style glass shades hearken back to the Art Deco era of the 1920s as their light is reflected on the dark, glossy wood floors.
Glass windows from 1910 on the back are repurposed from Washington’s former county hospital, the first one built in the United States. To the sides, windows bricked in by building expansions are filled with mementos of Winga’s past: Winga’s coffee club tickets, minutes from restaurant association meetings, old menus, newspaper clippings and the rolling pin owner John Winga used to make thousands of pies.
The story isn’t confined to a window, though. In the building’s new chapter, it lives and breathes through the memories of diners making new memories as good as their old ones.
After lunch, the old and the new are often connected by customers with a kind word to their servers as they finish their lunch.
“Everyone that comes in has a story about their family here,” Ed said. “How they always sat here, always ate this, had this recipe — those types of things.”
The menu
A three-page menu offers a variety ranging from diner classics and unassuming vegan options to European inspired selections that fit well in the Midwestern palate.
“This is essentially a few of my favorite things,” said Isabella.
Comfort can be found through smash burgers, tenderloins, meatloaf and the Juicy Lucy burger imported from Minnesota. A menu of sandwiches includes a Reuben, shrimp po’boy, crispy fried chicken and steak options.
But diners eager for variety also will find a few unusual choices for the standard American diner, inspired by Isabella’s childhood in Italy and siblings who live in England and Spain.
Grilled halloumi, a cheese popular in the UK, is served with sauteed mushrooms and greens on sourdough. Arancini balls of saffron rice, breaded and fried to a golden crisp, are served with a marinara sauce. Ham croquetas offer a similarly fried alternative with Serrano ham inside.
While Cafe Dodici draws a substantial crowd from outside Washington, the owners hope Northside Diner will galvanize a base from within.
“Here in Washington, everyone goes to Iowa City when they go out to eat,” said Ed. “We wanted something that would be a bit more ‘townie’ based.”
A quality salad selection is listed alongside several warm grain bowls like the Curry Delight, donburi with teriyaki sauce, or Caribbean with Jamaican jerk seasoned pulled pork. Three of the bowls are available with tofu instead of chicken — an important point for Ed, who has been vegan for several years.
Peeking out from the list of sides is “bubble & squeak,” a novel preparation of cooked potatoes and cabbage fried together.
Eventually, the restaurant plans to reintroduce dinner.
On the back page, you can wash it all down with a taste of Winga’s history. Through a handcrafted beverage list, their restored 1920s soda fountain from Winga’s has been put to use for cream sodas like butterbeer, orange dreamsicle and a few “cow” varieties served with flavored syrups and ice cream.
In the future, Northside will offer wine, beer and kombucha on tap, too. But until their liquor license is approved, they have plenty of buzz to keep the good times rolling.
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
Daily Newsletters