Antioch’s historic downtown will mark a significant milestone on Wednesday when The Vegas Cafe celebrates its 50th anniversary.
The family-owned restaurant known for its homemade comfort food, a side dish of friendly conversation and great coffee, seems like it has been there forever, just like its iconic neon sign on Main Street.
The Katris family started the restaurant in 1974 as a 24-hour operation with a full menu, pizza and salad bar. They have remodeled several times since, including an expansion into the adjacent building.
“My parents, Chris and Nikki Katris, along with my uncle, John, and his wife, Gail, put their hearts and souls into opening the business,” Helen Chiappetta, the proprietor, said. “Uncle John, he was a betting man and went to Las Vegas, where he won some money to buy the building the restaurant is in. They named it The Las Vegas Restaurant.
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“The hours were tweaked to just breakfast and lunch, after remodeling in 2015, and the name changed to The Vegas Cafe,” she said. “I started working there when I was 11, bussing tables in 1984. It was fun and exciting because you want to work. In high school, not so much … canceling plans and going in because they were short of help.”
When the restaurant was open around the clock, members from different law enforcement agencies made it a default home for meals before or after their shifts.
“I first started my career with the Antioch Police Department nearly 25 years ago, and The Vegas Cafe was open 24 hours,” Police Chief Geoff Guttschow said. “It always brought a unique crowd in the early mornings — a mix of locals, visitors, people getting ready to head to work and people just ending their night. We had some fun times during those years.”
Chiappetta said she wasn’t allowed to work the overnight shifts early on.
“That was because it was so crazy, with the bars closing, and the type of clientele that would come in,” she said. “Once, we had a streaker run through the restaurant, and the family said, ‘No, you won’t be exposed to this.’”
The restaurant was also used as a backdrop to film commercials in the late 1960s, and again in the early 1990s. Crews would set up their production equipment in the bathrooms, and staff wound up as extras in the finished product.
The Vegas Cafe is at 914 Main Street, a building that was erected in 1927. It was home to a succession of restaurants before the Katris family, according to a 2017 text found at the Lakes Region Historical Society.
“Antioch is very grateful to the Katris family and The Las Vegas Restaurant, now The Vegas Cafe,” Ainsley Wonderling, the society’s director, said. “We are all better off, and fed, thanks to their presence on Main Street for 50-plus years.”
The restaurant’s vibe is one of community, and a staff that is extended family. Chiappetta noted one staff member has been with the business for 48 years, another for nearly 40 years, and the restaurant has a low staff turnover rate.
“I have to acknowledge that … otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything,” she said. “I live in Antioch, and it is the best community to raise a family in. I love cooking dinner at home for my family, making meatballs and spaghetti. Cooking is very relaxing.”
Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner said, “Throughout the years, The Vegas Cafe has been a cherished landmark in our community, bringing family, friends, neighbors and visitors together. I look forward to many more years for this beloved institution. I bring my family there all the time, and always run into people I know.”
Chiappetta wants to keep working as long as possible. Her two children have also worked at the restaurant, graduated college, and she has encouraged them to, “pursue their dreams.”
“My parents are now retired, and of the four children, my brother and I took an interest running the place,” she said. “My children might not be interested, but I have lots of nieces and nephews. This is our legacy, a family legacy.”