Sauk Valley
Business Journal
Vol. 21, No. 1
Sauk Valley Media
Spring 2018
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Welcome ... to the Spring 2018 issue of Sauk Valley Business Journal Index of Stories Morrison eatery famous for fresh dishes.......4-8
Couple has variety at antique shop............14-15
Lanark Food Center an asset to town........10-11
The Butcher Shop returns in Rock Falls......... 17
Try some tapas at Dixon restaurant...........12-13
Family known for work on classic cars......18-19
On the cover
Murals and pictures on the walls showcase the Greek heritage of the owners. Story, Page 4. – Sauk Valley Business Journal
The staff of Sauk Valley Business Journal Publisher: Don T. Bricker Advertising Director: Jennifer Heintzelman
Advertising Sales: Luke Eisenberg Business Journal Editor: Lucas Pauley
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Spring 2018
Slow down, smell the bread Eatery has something for everyone BY ANDREA MILLS Sauk Valley Business Journal
MORRISON – Entering Isle of Rhodes in downtown Morrison, the first impression is of a clean, bright restaurant with pictures of family and Rhodes in Greece on the wall. Some of the tables provide a slight view of the kitchen. Here customers can see the area that produces warm bread to delight the palate, baked by the experienced hands of Nick Pompou, who wears three hats – cook, manager and owner. When asked what the restaurant is famous for he responded, “I’d say the pizza and our fresh bread, which we bake every day. It’s kind of a semi-sweet, Italian bread.” This all began with George and Kathy Pompou, the
founders of Isle of Rhodes. “My dad did give it the name because we’re from Greece,” Nick said. “Both of my parents are from Rhodes, Greece. They came over here, lived in Chicago for a few years, saw this opportunity here in a small town and decided to buy this restaurant across the street, and moved here.” His dad opened the restaurant in 1982. When he retired 6 years ago, Nick took over and moved the business across the street. The older Pompous shared their skills with their son. “I was pretty much born into the business,” Nick said. “I’ve done it all. I’ve learned from my mom and dad. Just watching them, slowly doing it. “
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Owner Nick Pompou smiles during an interview at Isle of Rhodes in Morrison. Nick is also the manager and cook at the eatery. He learned the business from his parents, George and Kathy. They opened the restaurant across the street from the EATERY continued on 64 current location in 1992.
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EATERY
CONTINUED FROM 4 ▼
And there was joy in it. “It was kind of nice being around everyone,” he said. “It was fun. .... I could run around and make the employees upset when I was little, got away with everything – me and my sister – since both of my parents were Greek. Being around the restaurant when I was little helped me learn.” When he was around 14 or 15, he started helping out a little on the weekends just to get out of the house until he got out of high school, he said. “I tried to go to college, but it didn’t work out,” Nick said. “So I decided I might as well do this since I knew the majority of it already.” The end results of his experience can be seen and eaten. Among the items on the restaurant’s menu are the gyros with chicken, tomato, onion, cucumber and sauce, served on a pita with fries. There’s also ravioli, mostaccioli, sloppy George, grilled cheese,
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Isle of Rhodes Address: 111 W. Main St., Morrison Phone: 815-772-7431 Hours: 2 to 9 p.m. Monday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday; and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday Online: Facebook cold ham, and hamburgers. If a pizza is what you’re after, there’s taco pizza, barbecue pizza, Mediterranean pizza, cheese pizza and spaghetti pizza. “It’s a little like a mix of Italian with cheeseburgers and hamburgers,” Nick said. “American, new age, modern, I guess. We have burgers, fries, onion rings.” But it’s not just about what’s on the menu. “We’re always trying to do something like a specialty pizza that we don’t have on our menu once a month,” he said. “It kind of comes and goes.” EATERY CONTINUED ON 8
SPRING 2018
Isle of Rhodes is well know for their dense, soft, sweet homemade bread.
The eatery serves up a tasty, traditional cheeseburger. Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Spring 2018
Sauk Valley Business Journal
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Spring 2018
EATERY
CONTINUED FROM 6 t
The business employs 11, including Nick, who puts in 7 days a week, and his father, who still helps out. Nick appreciates the variety his work provides. “It’s something different every day, even though you’re cooking the same food,� he said. “The way the day goes, the order I’m cooking isn’t always the same. I like that. Even though you’re doing something similar every day, it feels different,� The hardest thing for him to learn was being patient. “There are a lot of ups and downs,� he said. “You’ve got to remember to keep going toward your goals in life.� He’s working on those goals. “Slowly, but I am,� he said. Plans for the restaurant at the moment don’t include new locations, although Nick said he gets suggestions. He often gets requests like “come to Rockford� or “come to Clinton� from customers.
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Pizza and traditional Italian dishes are popular items on the menu. “A lot of people want me to go wherever they are now, because [Morrison] is their hometown, where they grew up,� Nick said. “I can’t really do that right
now,� he said. “I’d be all over the place.� For now, Nick and his employees will keep providing the service and food their customers have grown to
love, right where it all started – in Morrison. “If you’re ever around in the area and want to try something a little different, you know where to find us.�
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Spring 2018
Grocery continues small-town traditions Lanark store offers carry-out, delivery services to customers
Lanark Food Center Address: 13 N. Broad St. Phone: 815-493-2750 Email: lanarkfoodcenter@ gmail.com Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday Online: lanarkfoodcenter. com or search for Lanark Food Center on Facebook
BY PHILLIP HARTMAN Sauk Valley Business Journal
LANARK – Lanark Food Center may have gotten a facelift, but the store’s commitment to helping the community remains the same. The store got a new storefront, including a new sign, paint, and awning, with work completed in August. Owner Tushar Patel, who moved to Lanark in 2011 with his family, said the storefront adds charm to the downtown. The store offers a variety of different products and services – produce, dairy and frozen foods, quality meats, deli-sliced meats, cheeses, salads, roasted chicken, beer, wine, liquor, magazines, and local newspapers. The new storefront is only
Photos by Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
The Lanark Food Center offers a variety of different products and services. part of the upgrades made to the building. “We took over the store from Ken Patel, no relation, in January 2009. He bought the store from Bill Piper in February 2008. We installed
[an] all-new cooler and freezers about 3 years ago,” Patel wrote in an email. Its appearance isn’t the only thing that offers small-town charm. The store also offers carry-out service for people
who need it, and the store offers delivery to the rest of its customers, on Wednesdays. The store also donates 1 percent of its total sales to all of the churches in Lanark. “Customers turn their receipts in to churches [and] we donate on those receipts [that] get turned in,” Patel wrote. While social media campaigns are still being worked on, the staff is making the most of its website.
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SAUK VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL The store got a new storefront, including a new sign, paint, and awning, with work completed in August.
The site features weekly specials and printable coupons. The recipe page covers a variety of categories – main or side dishes, lunch, desserts, and more – with dishes as varied as root beer can chicken, peanut butter bars, and lettuce-wrapped cheeseburgers. In the future, wine pairings will be available on the site, to find which bottle goes best with which dish. The store’s Facebook page features recipe videos, and customers share photos of their experiences at the store. The page also features tips on slow cooking, winter salads, stuffed meatloaf and cookies. The grocery also supports other area businesses. They carry SQZ wine, made in Lanark, and items for pets from Tuff Dog Bakery in Sterling. The Patels are working to expand their operations to Polo, as well. On Feb. 1, the Polo City Council increased the amount of a loan to Tushar from $30,000 to $70,000. The funds will help the Patels purchase and fix up the former Polo Super Valu building, more recently Polo Food Center, at 205 S. Division Ave. Patel is purchasing the property for $120,000 from the First National Bank of Amboy.
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Spring 2018
Ginkgo Tree Cafe adds tapas bar BY BOB TOMASZEWSKI Sauk Valley Business Journal
DIXON – Ginkgo Tree Cafe has branched out even further. Owner Trirong Khuntangta, 55, of Dixon, expanded the restaurant’s hours and has been serving supper since late November, and as of December, the restaurant at 216 W. First St. has added a tapas bar. A tapa is an appetizer or snack in Spanish cuisine. As it’s the first tapas bar in the Sauk Valley, staff are more than happy to guide customers who may be unfamiliar with the snack through the experience, and also explain and recommend wine pairings. The tapas options will be adjusted to fit the season, Trirong said. The restaurant also now features a wine-tasting area, where customers can sample different wines while waiting for food, and a tea room, also with a wide variety of options. As much as possible, Ginkgo Tree uses local sources for its food and beverages, and its focus on organic foods is also vegan- and vegetarian-friendly. Plans call for live music in the evenings, and Trirong is encouraging area musicians to stop by and apply. It’s all about stopping to enjoy the meal, to relax and make dining a social experience, he said. Ginkgo Tree Cafe, 216 W. First St., is serving food Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The tapas bar opens at 5 p.m. Call 815-677-9144 or find Ginkgo Tree Cafe and Tea Shop on Facebook for a menu and more information.
Photos by Peter Balser/pbalser@saukvalley.com
Gingko Tree Cafe owner Trirong Khuntangta (center) and employees Micah Khuntangta (left) and Montana Meyers are pictured in December before rolling out the restaurant’s new tapas bar.
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Page 13 LEFT: A sampler platter of tapas, cheese, fruit, and nuts from the Gingko Tree Cafe. BOTTOM LEFT: Baconwrapped asparagus, grilled steak, a steak lettuce wrap, a skewer of pickled vegetables. BOTTOM RIGHT: The left platter features bacon-wrapped asparagus, steak, a steak lettuce wrap, and a skewer of pickled vegetables. The right features bruschetta, avocado stuffed with salmon, and poblano peppers in back, with an assortment of cheese, fruit, and nuts.
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Spring 2018
Area couple celebrate love of collecting Collectors have picked up a lot over the years
Victorian Grace Antiques & Accents Address: 15 E. Third St., Prophetstown Phone: 815-537-2450 or 815-499-5788 Email: vicgrace@mchsi.com Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and by appointment Online: Facebook
BY PHILLIP HARTMAN Sauk Valley Business Journal
PROPHETSTOWN – Ann and Les Wilson have so many collectibles, they made room for them ... in another house. “It was Les’ idea, and I told him he was crazy,” Ann, 66, joked in a front room of Victorian Grace Antiques & Accents, the couple’s antique store they run year-round. The light-yellow, two-story Victorian dates back to 1898, and the Wilsons live next door in a home built in 1895. They purchased what would become Victorian Grace, opening it in May 2014, and the store retains much of the refined look of when it was built. Les, 62, is originally from Amboy and retired after a career as a liquor wholesaler.
Photos by Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Les and Ann Wilson own Victorian Grace Antiques in Prophetstown. Ann, originally from Milledgeville, retired as an English teacher from Montmorency School in Rock Falls. They have lived in Prophetstown for more than 35 years and have picked up a lot of
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Union Army during the Civil War – sits next to an old lamp, itself next to a German beer stein. And that’s just the tip of a very large iceberg. Ann said they have antique primitive furniture, fine glassware, lots of lamps, pottery, porcelains, guitars and many other items. The store’s displays often blend in with the house itself, creating a sense of being transported back to the Victorian era.
Sauk Valley Business Journal
Spring 2018 In one of the front dining rooms, an 85-piece set of Johann Haviland porcelain dishes from Bavaria, Germany, is displayed near a table full of pink-and-white-themed items, other porcelain pieces among them. Cream-colored wallpaper with flowing grapevines provide a backdrop to the display. Other rooms contain dolls, more cabinets with a variety of dishes – a set of Syracuse china among them – an oak drop leaf table, porcelain dolls and other items from across the decades. One Easter-themed table features rabbits, a rooster, and other animal items which given an impression of spring. Old tea boxes, tobacco tins and cookie cutters are also close at hand throughout the store. Upstairs, an array of furniture and other pieces are displayed on wood floors. An old washboard, tubs, and a spittoon for spitting tobacco sit in one room, next to a wheat sack in a frame. Farm toys, among them classic John Deere green tractors, are available, as is a
Making The Right Connection
Page 15
The house is full of unique items. shotgun cleaning kit. Collectors of vinyl won’t be disappointed. The Wilsons have a wide selection of records from different periods and styles, especially the 1960s and 1970s. Music by Eddy Arnold, a comedy record by Lily Tomlin, and the Village People’s “Macho Man� album were just some of the pieces in one of the boxes.
Since 1958
The Wilsons are looking to add more farmhouse primitives to their selection, as well as a carriage house at the back of the home to display bigger, farmrelated items and other items. Victorian Grace plans to participate in Prophetstown’s Vintage Shop and Hop shopping promotion, set for March 2 and 3. The store’s biggest event, its
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Spring Fling on May 19, will feature live music and demonstrations, free kids activities, old-time photos, unique vendors, and specials at local boutiques and shops. Whatever customers look for, though, they can expect a possible serenade by Les, who plays guitar at 42 nursing homes in 10 counties – and the occasional tune for antique shoppers.
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Spring 2018
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The Butcher Shop is back There are some new faces behind a familiar name at Rock Falls business BY BOB TOMASZEWSKI Sauk Valley Business Journal
ROCK FALLS – A recession closed it, but a local trio has brought it back: The Butcher Shop is open for business again. If you’re not familiar with that name, then you probably weren’t around when the retail arm of meat distributor Rock River Provision was open. A deepening recession cut into the business’ bottom line back in 2009, when then-owner David Hoffman was forced to close the family business after more than 50 years, but a local cattle farmer thought the time was right to bring a butcher shop back to the area. Owner Dale Pfundstein, 65, along with co-owners and husband and wife Pattie and Kent Farley of Chadwick opened The Butcher Shop on Nov. 17 at 3309 W. Rock Falls Road. The shop sells locally sourced fresh meat – some of it from Pfundstein’s farm – both in smaller quantities and in bulk, as well as chicken, pork, deli meat, cheese, rubs and spices, frozen soups, and more. The partnership between Pfundstein and the Farleys came about after Dale and Kent, who had been a livestock nutritionist for 20 years and grew up on a farm, talked about the need to bring a local butcher shop back to the area. Pfundstein, a Sterling cattle
farmer, said that before the shop reopened, it wasn’t easy to find quarters, halves or bundles locally, but with the Butcher Shop back in business – and in a familiar location – customers won’t have to go far to find fresh, local meat. For now, Pfundstein is splitting his time between the farm and the shop, but he said he’s looking to transition more into the meat business and have his son Cliff gradually take over the family farm operations. He said the transition from the farm market to the meat market has been a smooth one so far, as he’s used to dealing with the rules and regulations behind bringing his farm goods to the table.
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Pattie Farley displays a tray of steaks from The Butcher Shop in Rock Falls. Pattie and her husband Kent have opened The Butcher Shop with Sterling cattle farmer Dale Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com Pfundstein. The shop is open from reached at 815-632-3931 or 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday at thebutchershopsrf@gmail. com, or find “The Butcher through Friday and 9 a.m. Shop LLC� on Facebook. to 1 p.m. Saturday. It can be
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Spring 2018
The Soleta style Family known for its dedication to restoration projects in Prophetstown BY CODY CUTTER Sauk Valley Business Journal
PROPHETSTOWN – A love of restoring things has steered the Soleta family for decades. Soleta Classic Restoration in Prophetstown does a wide variety of work on all types of vehicles, and just about anything else on wheels – some of which include painting, collision repair, customizing, restoration, sandblasting, fabrication, fiberglass work, tune-ups, maintenance, suspension, sheet metal work, electrical work, and brakes. “In this area, there’s not a lot of places that do everything,” co-owner Jesse Soleta said. Dan Soleta is the patriarch, and his sons Jesse and Brooks Soleta are involved in every function of the busi-
ness. Customers who come in with a project immediately deal with one of the three when they arrive, and sometimes they’ll spend up to an hour talking about all of the details and the story behind it – no dealing with any middle-man. “That’s a lost thing anymore, and I think people really appreciate it,” Jesse said. The Soletas came to Prophetstown from southern Minnesota in the mid-1990s, when Jesse’s wife, Laura, received an internship at Trinity Hospital in the Quad Cities. They bought the former Soliday Farm Equipment and Oliver tractor dealership building and have projects spread throughout each square foot of it.
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Brooks (left), Dan and Jesse Soleta operate Soleta Classic Restoration in Prophetstown.
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Spring 2018 Their projects in February included a 1966 Chevy c10, a 1983 Jeep Waggoner, a 1982 Corvette – the last of the C3 third generation of Corvettes – and a 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle, which is a project that Jesse’s daughter, Samantha, is working on. Some projects over the years have come in rough enough shape to barely pass as a vehicle. Dan remembers a Willys-Overland Jeepster that proved to be a challenge. “I spent 4 years of my life on that,” he said. That, and many more restorations, have earned an appreciation from not only local customers, but from car enthusiasts across the nation. The family’s restorations have been featured in magazines such as Car Craft, Heavy Performance, and Hot Rod, and they’ve had projects wind up at Barrett-Jackson automobile auctions. “We’ve had cars that have been in barns that were so bad and pulled apart over the years,” Jesse said. “We’ve had ones that were redone
Sauk Valley Business Journal
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Soleta Classic Restoration Address: 80 Grove St., Prophetstown Phone: 815-537-5164 Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Online: Facebook A truck gets prepared for paint at the shop. years ago with fiberglass resin and meshing so bad. It was a ’71 Heavy Chevy [Chevelle]. Everything was brand new on the car when we were done.” Much of the family’s learning experience came from watching others work. Restoration takes plenty of creativity and outside-the-box thinking, and Jesse believes that knowledge and training from other guys give them a reason to do more than the simple restore-and-replace. “There is a lot of artistic work in a classic that people don’t realize,” Jesse said. “We bend metal and fabricate a lot, and there’s sheet metal parts we make that you can’t get that we
have to make by hand. It takes a special person to do this.” “It takes a lot of backbone,” Dan added. “A lot of people don’t want to do that, they’re just [restore-and-replace].” Restorations aren’t limited to any one era of classic vehicles. Every now and then, the Soletas will have a newer vehicle come in, made up of entirely different intricacies. Even with more than 50 years of restoring cars under his belt, Dan finds himself learning a thing or two from his sons in giving back the tricks of the trade. Though Dan was the one doing the teaching back in the day, more recently, “they’ve taught me a lot,” he said.
While the word “restoration” is part of the business’ name, the Soletas pride themselves on being able to fix everything – be it a longterm or a short-term project. Jesse has taken calls from people who are broken down on the side of the road, and in doing that, he’s gained a lot of business, customers, even those who live more than 100 miles away. Recently, Jesse had a roadside call from a man, and a couple of weeks later he brought his son to look at the cars in the shop. “We try to help out everyone we possibly can,” Jesse said. “I know in this day of age, money is tight for a lot of people, and if I can help you out, I’m more than glad to help you.”
CARS815.com
Sauk Valley Business Journal
Page 20
Spring 2018
CORPORATE HEALTH SERVICES For over 20 years, the KSB Corporate Health Services team has welcomed the opportunity to work with companies in the Sauk Valley area to design impactful programs to help enhance the overall employee health and combat rising healthcare costs.
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