Iconic Des Plaines ice cream shop transformed into pancake house

Though the sign outside reads Sugar Bowl sweet cream restaurant, there's no ice cream to be found on the menu.

Nor is there any candy, once a signature of the former sweet shop turned restaurant that has been a downtown Des Plaines icon since 1921.

Steve Morakalis, one of two new owners of the Sugar Bowl, says that's because ice cream and candy are not his specialty. Crepes and pancakes are, however.

"I'm not an ice cream maker," said Morakalis, who has completely remodeled the interior. "I'm a good breakfast and lunch maker."

Having operated a restaurant and grill in River Grove, Woody's Pub in Elk Grove Village and a fast food place in Chicago, Morakalis sought a new challenge. He and business partner George Prasas decided to revive the Sugar Bowl, shuttered since 2006, as a breakfast and lunch place open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In an economy where hometown businesses are folding all around, Morakalis attempt to breathe new life into the Sugar Bowl may seem ambitious.

Yet, the restaurant has survived many challenges during its long history.

The Sugar Bowl closed for a few years after a murder-for-hire scandal in 1997. The then-owner's nephew, George Fifles, served time in prison for offering money to an undercover police officer he thought was a hit man to kill Ernie Fifles, co-owner of the restaurant.

Ted Vlahopoulos, a Greek immigrant now living in Mount Prospect, bought the restaurant from the Fifleses in 1998 and reopened it a year later after extensive remodeling. But it closed abruptly again in 2006 after he'd leased it to a new operator, who blamed its failure on construction of the downtown Metropolitan Square project nearby disrupting business.

Vlahopoulos, who still owns the property and operates the bar that's in the same building, has been trying to get someone to take over the restaurant ever since.

"We saw an opportunity here with all of these (condominium) buildings around," said Morakalis, 48, of Lincolnwood.

Morakalis said the Sugar Bowl has great exposure to pedestrian traffic, situated right across from the downtown Metra train station along Miner Street, near city hall. Yet despite the prime location, he said, what will bring customers back is his signature food.

"I know it's bad timing right now, but I still think if you have something good people will follow you," he said. "By serving quality, something good and something homemade, I think you cannot go wrong."

Little remains of the original restaurant other than the lighted entrance sign. Its interior has been remodeled with a new floor, ceiling, booths, tables and newly painted walls.

Its chef, Jimmy Kokonas, has worked 32 years in Greek restaurants and was head chef at Woody's Pub, now Sweet Baby Ray's, until Morakalis sold it.

The refurbished Sugar Bowl recently reopened and customers are just beginning to take notice.

"It's still early," Morakalis said. "I have people who live in the condos behind who still didn't know we were open."

Morakalis said he occasionally gets requests to bring back the ice cream shop, but added, most customers are happy with his signature crepes and omelettes, which he's perfected over 28 years of being in the restaurant business.

The Sugar Bowl's comeback is only halfway complete.

The adjoining bar, now owned by Vlahopoulos' son-in-law John Grammatis, 36, of Arlington Heights, and his two partners, also is being renovated.

Grammatis, who grew up in Des Plaines, works as a nightclub disc jockey and owns an entertainment company, said the building has sentimental value to Vlahopoulos, now 70.

"When he came to America, the first day the train dropped him off in front of the Sugar Bowl," Grammatis said. "I want to keep it in the family. We want to bring back people to Des Plaines. We just want to bring back the neighborhood feel."

Though the bar kept operating intermittently through the years after the restaurant closed, no one really knows it's there, Grammatis said.

"They thought when Sugar Bowl closed, everything closed," he said.

Grammatis has installed new bar tops, 12 beer taps, new plasma TVs, a new sound system, a shuffleboard game, and is keeping the old pool table and dart board. The interior is being repainted to remove age-old smoke stains, he said.

Grammatis said he hopes to immortalize the historic Sugar Bowl on the walls of his bar with historical pictures of Des Plaines and the way the restaurant used to look.

"We've got a surprise for everyone," he said coyly.

As for the historic Sugar Bowl restaurant sign, soon it will no longer read "sweet cream" but "pancakes and more."

The bar, which was called the Cypress Inn years ago and was later dubbed Cocktails, will be renamed the Miner Street Tavern after the liquor license is transferred on Monday.

"We're not looking to become millionaires off this place," Grammatis said of both businesses. "We just want to keep that whole downtown area alive."