Most places have curtains or blinds, but for the past four months, the Clarkston Caf? has had paper covering its windows.
What lies behind the paper of the 1928 building at 18 South Main Street is a secret remodel of the building, kept quiet by owner Curt Catallo, who purchased the building from Sign of the Beefcarver Inc. in June.
The Caf? should be open for business within weeks, Catallo said.
‘My standard line is that we’re aiming for late November…the 40th or 45th,? he said, jokingly.
Catallo and other project managers, as well as his wife and chefs from his first restaurant, The Union, at 54 South Main Street, are working to create a different Clarkston Caf? than people remember from their last visit.
‘A lot of people will be surprised (because) the Clarkston Caf? they see may not be the one they remember, unless they were there in 1935,? he said.
‘We wanted to take it back to something earlier than when we got it. They’ll recognize the flow, but not necessarily the setting. I just think it was time for a change.?
The building consists of 10,000-square-feet of restaurant space, and another 5,000-square-feet of office space above. The upstairs neighbors of the project, ongoing since July, have also played a part in the restoration.
‘Our business tenants upstairs have been very patient. I think it requires them putting up with a lot of headaches,? Catallo said. ‘I want to make them happy, they put up with a lot of shenanigans.?
Catallo wanted to make the renovations immediately following his purchase.
‘You only get a chance to close a restaurant like this once. We didn’t want to be open for a little while and shut it down and try to restart it,? Catallo said. ‘We bravely pried the lid of Pandora’s box open.?
The restoration of the building, a stone’s throw from The Union, which opened after a restoration in 1996, has been a labor of love for Catallo.
‘With the Union here, when the opportunity arose it was a great chance for us to do something that isn’t The Union and compliments (it), without really competing. That’s a unique business opportunity for us and we also knew that we were crazy enough to take on restoring an old building,? Catallo said.
‘There are a thousand good reasons why all these new restaurants are built on concrete slabs in parking lots. When you get into a 1928 building, all bets are off. She’s a great old building and we’re just’excited to give her a new lease on life.?
The restaurant is set to utilize the building’s two dining rooms to make a ‘supper club,? as Catallo calls it, in addition to a bar, which will be open all day long.
‘We’re taking it back to where it was in the day. There’s a place for doing just a world-class steak and there’s also a place for doing a new French cuisine, it’s not really unlike what the caf? was doing in the seventies when they were making their mark with that new French twist.?
The caf? is home to a lot of fond memories for Catallo, who said he dined there quite often in his youth.
‘I was fortunate I grew up a block away and we had a lot of family dinners there, that meant a lot to me,? he said.