Arlington Heights' Dunton House: Where couples meet

Nancy and Bill Tsapralis operate a restaurant, not a dating service.

But when a restaurant like the Dunton House in downtown Arlington Heights is open for 40 years and develops a regular following, things happen.

The couple met while working there 30 years ago. The same happened with Nancy's sister and her husband, Joyce and Denny Gauck, who have been married even longer.

And the sisters' late mother met her second husband there, too, although Nancy admits the introduction of Pearl and Tom Barry was a bit of a setup. Everyone at the restaurant liked Tom Barry, a regular customer, and knew he was lonely after the death of his wife, so introductions were arranged.

Last spring, another pair of customers who had met at the restaurant stopped between the ceremony and the reception to have their photographer get some pictures, and Nancy keeps one behind the counter.

The restaurant is on Facebook, and Nancy said on a recent Sunday she was tempted to post a message so female regulars would know five bachelors aged 45 and up were sitting at the counter.

That's the place to meet folks, she said. "Everybody talks, and they all know each other. They all become family."

The restaurant is south of the tracks right by the train station and in a building that over the years housed Hosea Paddock and the Daily Herald, a paint store and a vegetable market.

Some regulars visit so frequently that "if they're not here by a certain time we call to check on them," said Nancy. "We always welcome new faces."

This month's menu specials mark the Dunton House's 40th anniversary of when James and Peter Panagakis opened the restaurant.

The Tsapralises became the fourth owners 12 years ago, but together they have worked there more than 50 years. Nancy was still in high school when she started as a waitress in 1979, said Bill, who was the night manager.

"I belonged here," said Bill. "A lot of people thought I was already the owner."

Although downtown Arlington Heights has about 30 restaurants, Dunton House and Chin's on the other side of the tracks are probably the oldest, said Tsapralis.

Their daughter Eleni works in the restaurant, and four waitresses have worked here more than 25 years, including Lucky Hanus, who decorates the restaurant with her dahlias every summer besides asking people over to see her garden.

Jack Musich, an Arlington Heights artist whose paintings of historic buildings in the village decorate the restaurant, is a Dunton House regular with his wife, Margaret. Musich easily lists favorites from the menu: "The best corned beef hash anywhere," great crepes with blueberries and strawberries and the Dunton House special dessert, rice pudding covered with ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream.