You’ve gotta get up early if you want a homemade cinnamon roll at Oswego Family Restaurant. Because if you wait until lunchtime, they’ll probably be sold out.
Our server tells us that we can call ahead and say we’re coming in and they’ll save one for us.
But for now, we just watch the slideshow of how the cinnamon rolls are made play on repeat on a TV near the kitchen.
And that’s not all: During our visit one of the daily specials, the smoked salmon scrambler, was cleared from the dry erase board.
That’s a sign of some really, really good food right there.
“We never have leftovers, we run out every day,” said manager Angela Dassis, who created the cinnamon roll recipe from her cookie business five years ago.
She also mentioned the four varieties of three-egg stuffed hash browns: butcher block (bacon, sausage, ham, American cheese); panther (ham, peppers, onions, American cheese), country fried steak (peppers, onions, mushrooms, American cheese); and chorizo (peppers, onions, jalapenos, tomatoes and cheddar). These are smothered in gravy and served with two biscuits and gravy or toast.
“It has everything you’d want for breakfast — eggs, hash browns, meat and potatoes,” Dassis said.
“We’ve incorporated many different international cuisines into brunch specials, such as braised beef Barbacoa, Filipino sweet sausage, Puerto Rican rice, Swedish meatballs and chimichangas,” she said. “And Greek, we’re Greek.
“And for not being a smokehouse, we’ve done a pretty good job smoking our meats in-house, like beef brisket, salmon, pulled pork, Applewood bacon and hot links.”
About the owners: The Dassis family has owned Oswego Family Restaurant since 1996. Nick, who was raised in a family business, owns the place; his daughter Angela and son Costa manage it. Nick and Angela help with the cooking.
“As far as the history, this is one of the oldest restaurants in the area, going back as far as the 1920s,” Angela Dassis said, adding that the building used to be a candy and ice cream shop and a number of restaurants.
Philosophy: “We have built a name for our variety of quality food at an affordable price — and above all — service,” Angela Dassis said. “We never get tired of hearing how wonderful our staff is.”
Motto: “Where family and friends come to eat.”
Specialties: “Besides our daily breakfast specials, we offer homemade cinnamon rolls and lunch and dinner specials along with our daily gourmet soups,” Angela Dassis said. “We are famous for our bean soup on Thursdays because we are one of the last restaurants remaining that boil ham bones for hours to create that rich stock. We are mostly known for our fresh Atlantic beer-battered cod and fresh, never-frozen salmon.”
We’re different because: “We are very thorough with our meals and we pay a lot of attention to detail. We try to mix it up to avoid average, run-of-the-mill food. Our clientele come here expecting to find something new and different every day,” Angela Dassis said. “Also, this is the kind of place where our customers request certain dishes or soups and we’ll make it for them on the day they choose.”
More Top Picks Best Washable Rugs For Kitchens
Price range: Breakfast: Steak and eggs, three-egg omelets, skillets, stuffed hash browns, pancakes, crepes, waffles, French toast, benedicts and breakfast sandwiches from $4 to $9.95. Lunch: Gourmet burgers, salads and sandwiches from $4.30 to $8.20. Dinner: Baby beef liver, breaded veal cutlet, breaded pork tenderloin, homemade meatloaf, roast turkey, roast loin of pork, chopped beef steak, ham steak, country fried half chicken, New York strip, pork chops, fish and hot open-faced sandwiches from $6.95 to $9.50. Kids’ meals from $4 to $4.75.
Logistics: Oswego Family Restaurant is 69 S. Main St., Oswego. Hours are 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays, closed Mondays. Contact 630-554-0340 or go to facebook.com and search for Oswego Familly Restaurant.
Shonda Talerico Dudlicek is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.