Step into Dot’s Diner in Park Ridge and you step back in time.
This 1950s retro diner offers the atmosphere and menu selections that customers might have found in restaurants a generation ago. Owners Dot and John Bourgeois say that includes preparations that start from scratch, because that’s how they did things in the ’50s before everything was processed and prepackaged.
Although he spent 25 years working in the corporate world, Bourgeois has fond memories of his teen years working in various restaurants.
“When I retired, I wanted to do something instead of just sitting around the house, so I built this place,” he said. “It brings back memories for us.”
Dot’s is decorated in memories, from pictures of the old Riverview Amusement Park on Chicago’s Northwest Side, where Dot grew up, to copies of ads that would have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in the 1950s.
For vintage car enthusiasts, Saturday night is the time to be at Dot’s. That’s when the diner hosts Cruise Night, an informal get-together of people who own vintage vehicles.
Of course, Dot’s also offers food as well as memories. The restaurant features 123 menu items and a genuine old-fashioned soda fountain.
The most popular item is Dot’s homemade chili, sold by the bowl ($3.25) or in other creations such as chili and cheese omelets ($4.25) and chili dogs ($2.75).
Although they hire cooks to handle most of the simple items, Jack and Dot do all the preparation on chili, sauces and specials, using their own recipes.
“We keep the recipes to ourselves,” Jack said.
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Dot’s Diner
1408 Canfield Rd., Park Ridge
Hours: 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.
Phone: 847-292-DOTS (3687).
