Sonny's Delite Becoming Rosemary Cafe, Owner Tells Patch

JOLIET, IL — Sonny's Delite was a Joliet fixture at 1730 Essington Road for almost 30 years. The building has been vacant since 2014, but that's about to change. The owners of Hamburgerseria and CUT 158 Chophouse are opening Rosemary Cafe at the site of the long-time Joliet ice cream shop in the coming weeks.

Rosemary Cafe will be a sit-down breakfast restaurant, offering indoor and outdoor dining, explained Joliet businessman Bill Dimitroulas, who acquired the property. On Tuesday morning, he told Joliet Patch that the vacant Sonny's Delite has undergone "a total transformation" during the summer months.

He expects to open Rosemary Cafe "during the first week of September," he said. Rosemary Cafe will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m to 4 p.m.

"We'll have a variety of coffees, but we are going beyond the traditional breakfast, we'll offer ... breakfast from different countries, French, Italian and British," Dimitroulas told Joliet Patch. He said the Rosemary Cafe will feature crêpes and sweet crêpes, organic eggs and "more healthy choices as far as breads, plus gluten free choices as well."

Dimitroulas acquired the former Sunny Delite property as his next Joliet area restaurant endeavor because he said that particular area of Joliet's west side lacks a nice sit-down breakfast establishment. He believes Rosemary Cafe will be well-received and draw its customers from throughout Joliet as well as Shorewood and Plainfield, among other neighboring communities.

"We keep all our restaurants in a different concept," he said. "And so with that area of town, I think a breakfast place will fit good with the residences and businesses already there."

Dimitroulas said he is also launching a catering company called RKAS Food Group. It will feature food from all three of his Joliet restaurants: Hamburgerseria, CUT 158 Chophouse and now Rosemary Cafe. In August 2018, Dimitroulas also opened the Cork Wine Bar, which is at 2302 Essington Road, but that business was recently sold and is now under new ownership, he said.