New Elgin cafe captures
It's only natural that Lana Vlahakis and her business partner Brenda Hyde would open their own restaurant.
That's because both women, who have opened the Pickle Barrel Café in Elgin, come from a long line of restaurant owners.
Vlahakis' grandparents opened Rhinelander Café & Pub Restaurant in Wisconsin, a business that had been in her family for 95 years until they sold it three years ago.
"You're weaned there," said Vlahakis, who says she was already working the restaurant's cash register at 14.
Hyde's grandparents ran J & M's Hot Dog Stand in Chicago for 13 years. Moreover, her sister Pam Uslander owns the Hot Dog Lady in Elmhurst, a business she's had for 17 years, Hyde said.
For three years, Hyde also owned Dogs A La Carte, a hot dog stand she operated during the summer months at West Dundee's Grafelman Park.
The two Elgin women met many years ago while they were hot dog vendors for the Chicago Park District. They struck up a fast friendship on the beach and decided to go into business themselves, Vlahakis said.
In May, they opened the Pickle Barrel Café, which is tucked away in the Beacon Hill Business Center on Larkin Avenue.
Their relatives aren't that far away.
Vintage photographs of their families in their respective restaurants grace the walls of Pickle Barrel -- a name they selected to capture the feel of old-fashioned delis.
It serves up sandwiches, soups, wraps, smoothies, dill pickles and salads.
The cafe's best-selling items are its Grecian chicken sandwich on pita bread -- that Vlahakis, a Greek American, seasons with Greek spices -- and the turkey BLT.
But what if someone wants a hot dog with ketchup -- something that goes against the Chicago-style hot dog?
"If they want it, they can have it," Hyde said. "A lot of kids like ketchup."
• Pickle Barrel Café is located at 2090 Larkin Ave. In November it will begin offering lunch delivery -- the café currently has catering services. For more information, call (847) 695-5999. The restaurant is closed Saturday and Sunday.