Family taking over Cappy’s to reopen it as a restaurant. (eTruth.com photo)
Cappy’s Northside isn’t closing, it’s just getting a makeover.
A post on the “I Grew Up In Elkhart” Facebook group got the rumor mill going that Cappy’s was closed.
But Linda Anderson chimed in soon to say that she and her husband, Merle, were taking it over.
Cappy’s Northside has been a Michigan Street restaurant for decades. It was originally where Nicky D’s was on Harrison Street, but Dominic Cappelletti, Linda’s grandfather, moved it to 1000 Michigan St., Elkhart.
He operated it and then his son, Francis, did. Dominic’s wife Evelyn still owns the place, but people who weren’t family members were operating it, according to Merle.
The last years haven’t been as kind to Cappy’s. Miles Lab/Bayer is gone. The neighborhood has changed. But the Andersons want to return it to its glory.
“We really want to get it back to restaurant dining,” Merle said.
They’ve operated Pete’s Simonton Lake Tavern for decades. Linda’s family has had Pete’s since 1970 and Merle has been there for 22 years. Linda has been a nurse, but it ready to focus more on the restaurant business, Merle said.
They’ll clean up Cappy’s, pay some bills and go from there. They hope to serve lunch and dinner.
He doesn’t know how long it’ll take to get it reopened, but he wants to make it work in the long-term.
“We are going to make this work. That’s the bottom line. We are going to make this work,” Merle said.
Do you have memories of Cappy’s? You can share them on this blog or on the Dining A La King Facebook page.
Cappy’s inspired my late father to add big chunks of pork to his homemade spaghetti sauce. He said they served theirs with whole pork chops, either in the sauce or on the side. I’m not sure which. From Dad’s age, I would guess this may have been in the late 1950s – maybe early ’60s. Would they have been around then?