Todd DeSchepper is still amazed that people walk into his restaurant and tell him they have never heard of it before. That’s because the Downtown Eatery and Bakery has been open for over a year. Yet still, there are people who haven’t gotten the news.
“Just yesterday, someone said they didn’t know we were here,” he said.
DeSchepper never planned to open up a restaurant and bakery in Kewanee. In fact, four years ago, he switched careers from chef to an employee of a hardware distribution center. And he thought that was the end of it.
Originally from Toulon, DeSchepper graduated from Stark County High School in 1996. He grew up in Toulon on Franklin Street, just across the street from Connie’s Country Kitchen.
That’s where it all began.
“Having that right next door, I decided then I was going to own a restaurant one day,” he said.
One of the first restaurants he worked at was RJ Boar’s in Kewanee, where he met his wife, Jodie. He quickly rose from cook to manager, and then later moved away to the Quad Cities and began his training as a chef. He worked for almost 30 years in the industry, acting as the executive chef for establishments like Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse, Miss Mamie’s in Moline, and Mo Brady’s Steakhouse in Davenport.
When he returned to the area in 2010, he started work cooking at the Station House. Several years later, DeSchepper gave up the restaurant business and went to work for Ace Hardware Distribution Center.
But his love of cooking and restaurants would pull him back in, and he and his daughter started a serious discussion about the possibility of owning a food truck, an idea that his wife Jodie supported.
“His calling is in the restaurant business,” she said. “He has a passion for serving and cooking food.”
But soon after the food truck discussion began, DeSchepper learned that PL Damron’s was up for sale, and it was an opportunity he found difficult to ignore.
“I always wanted my own place. I just had to find the perfect opportunity, the perfect place to open.”
The downtown building was listed in March of 2022 and DeSchepper looked at it on a Saturday. The following week, he made an offer and within a few weeks, he and Jodie became the owners of 206 N. Tremont Street. He opened the Downtown Eatery doors in May of 2022.
“We basically started out as a bakery for the first weeks,” he said.
The problem was, DeSchepper was a chef but had never studied the art of pastry making and baking. It didn’t take him long to catch on though.
“I am learning as I go,” he said of baking. “When it comes to pastries and sweets, I never dabbled.”
After the first few weeks, the menu progressed into a full service restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and dinner with their Sunday brunch special on the weekends. Breakfast is served from 7 to 11 am and includes omelets, biscuits and gravy, pancakes and morning “sammies.”
Lunch is served from 11 am to 2 pm and the menu includes a daily special, hamburgers, sandwiches, pasta dishes, salads and more. Dinner is served from 4 to 8 pm, but that will soon change.
After some careful reflection, the DeScheppers have decided to close their restaurant at 2 pm and no longer serve dinner. The new hours will start on Monday, Oct. 2. The restaurant will be open from 7 am to 2 pm for breakfast and lunch only.
It was a difficult decision, but the DeScheppers have two children, ages 17 and 8, and Jodie, who works at PNB, as well as helps out at the restaurant for about 25 hours a week, said they made the decision for their family. Both of their kids are active in extracurricular activities and working those hours meant too much time away from them. And it was that lack of time, DeSchepper grappled with.
“When it comes to family life, you don’t have one,” he said.
DeSchepper has also recently joined the Kewanee Kiwanis Club and would like to get more involved in community service and the Kiwanis Club does “so much for kids,” he said. “It’s something we’ve always believed in.”
In spite of the decision to close during dinner hours, DeSchepper plans to devote some of that extra time to focusing on the catering side of his business. His catering menu includes a variety of items, everything from box lunches to appetizers to fine dining. He’s already done weddings, small parties and business functions and gotten rave reviews.
“Catering is picking up,” DeSchepper said. “We want to also put our focus on our catering and our banquets.”
The restaurant is available for banquets and there is no charge for the space as long as the food is purchased through the restaurant.
As for Jodie, she’s happy to see her husband cut back on the hours. And the change in hours of operation will mean fewer hours for her, too. And she will get a perk if he’s home in the evenings.
“I miss him cooking at home,” she said. “He was the cook, and I did the dishes.”
