Northside Diner restores classic spot on Washington square

Northside Diner was an instant hit for community members in Washington.

The restaurant’s pre-opening ribbon cutting saw a packed house, as did a variety of invitation-only “trial runs” to prepare kitchen staff. On the first day of business June 1, during Washington’s annual Ridiculous Days, the diner served around 360 people, before everything on the menu was sold out. By the end of their third day, staff had tallied 1,000 customers.

“It’s been off the charts,” said owner Isabella Santoro. “Several of us cried that day, a combination of happy and overwhelmed. It totally blew all our expectations out of the water.”

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Many early visitors saw the eatery as a revivification of the long-enjoyed Winga’s Cafe, an iconic diner in the same location on the square for decades. But Northside’s been careful to carve out its own brand.

The restaurant’s tagline, “a retro diner with a modern twist,” is embodied by the menu. While the establishment has a classic soda fountain, burgers and pies it also has options further out on the culinary horizon, like “cowboy caviar,” a falafel, kale chips, and a poke bowl.

The lineup is a scaled-back version of Santoro’s initial brainstorms, restrained by the limits of kitchen logistics and organized preparation.

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“It’s a very ambitious menu,” Kitchen Manager Jen Santoro said. “When she first came to me, I said, ‘We don’t have the space!’ and we cut it down a little. But we also added some things on, during time we were meant to be cutting it down … but the variety, you need so everybody can come—every day of the week if they want—and they (have) plenty of options.”

Despite the twists, the diner’s symbolic importance is not lost on Northside’s staff or management.

Isabella Santoro and her husband, Ed, dressed like staff members of the predecessor diner on their first day of business, with her in an old-school teal waitress’ outfit, and him sporting black pants, a white shirt, suspenders and a bow tie: the de facto uniform worn by John Winga Jr. every day he worked there.

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The decision to open shop at Winga’s former location came with no small amount of pressure. Community members had high expectations, and the move came only after the Santoros got the Winga family’s blessing.

Santoro said she certainly felt that pressure, but that once the ball was rolling, there was no backing out.

“It felt like somebody needed to do it,” she said. “It sat empty for 18 years, and other people had tried to buy it, it almost sold a few times. Honestly, I think what did it, I just thought, ‘What the heck. Life is short, I’ve got this cool idea to do it here, I’ve got restaurant experience, why not me?’ … next thing you know, we’re signing, we’re paying, and we got the keys.”

Santoro has long worked as a manger at Dodici’s restaurant, just across the square from Northside.

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But Northside is her first foray into owning an eatery herself. She said she was grateful for the help of her husband and highly dedicated staff who made the restaurant possible, but said she’d encountered some new challenges now that the buck stopped with her.

“There are good and bad things about that,” she said. “It’s kind of nice to have that freedom to do whatever I want. But at the same time … if somebody’s upset, or they have a question, that falls on me. It’s been a growing experience, for me.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com