Maple Butter Cafe making an impression in Plainfield

A Plainfield restaurant open for only six months recently was recognized as a Yelp Beloved Business.

Luis Rodriguez, manager at Maple Butter Cafe in Plainfield, recently showed off the framed Yelp certificate from Nov. 1.

“Not many people get those good reviews,” he said.

Maple Butter Cafe owner Jim Letsos shared his recipe for success.

“The whole secret of the business — for me, at least — is quality, quality, quality: quality food, quality service, quality hospitality,” the 74-year-old Letsos said. “We work together as a team to please every customer that’s come in, to enjoy their meals and leave with a good impression.”

Maple Butter Cafe is a “casual, family-style pancake house serving breakfast and lunch seven days a week,” according to its Facebook page, with many variations on omelets, crepes, pancakes, waffles and a variety of handheld entrées.

Dishes are “made from scratch” in the kitchen using “farm-fresh vegetables and herbs” delivered daily, according to its website.

The café also has an extensive lunch menu, including burgers, paninis, sandwiches, classic Greek meals and sea bass.

“And we have a lot of salads,” said Letsos, who has decades of restaurant experience.

A lifetime of serving good food

In 1967, at the age of 18, Letsos left Greece for Montreal, Canada, where he started working as a busser at a local restaurant.

He then came to Chicago to work with his brother at a fast-food restaurant for the next eight years. He also worked at the former Diana Greek restaurant on Halstead in Chicago.

In 1977, Letsos opened Andrea’s restaurant in Forest Park, and then Downer’s Delite in 1995 in Downers Grove. He followed that by opening Plainfield Delite in 2009 at the same location where Maple Butter Cafe now stands, 24020 W. 119th St.

Eventually, Letsos sold all of his businesses and retired. Two other owners then opened and closed restaurants at the Plainfield location, Letsos said.

When the second restaurant closed, Letsos came out of retirement to open Maple Butter Cafe since he owned the property and the building, he said.

“We’ve been here close to a year since I took it over. I haven’t missed a day,” he said.

Letsos started creating a new menu and renovating the building a year ago before opening Maple Butter Cafe in June. He credited Rodriguez for the café’s menu and website updates.

“We work together,” Letsos said. “I drive Luis crazy, but we get it done.”

But Letsos’ partner in everything is his wife, Olga Letsos.

“We’ve been married 52 years,” Letsos said. “She’s my angel, my everything.”

Cafe specialties

Reese’s Pieces, Oreo and s’mores are three specialty pancakes at Maple Butter Cafe, and the lemon blueberry waffle and chicken and waffles are equally delicious, Letsos said.

Other specialties include the lox platter (thinly smoked salmon, tomatoes, red onion, and capers served with a toasted bagel and cream cheese) and avocado toast (two slices of nine-grain toast topped with smashed avocado, grape tomatoes, arugula, citrus balsamic glaze, poached eggs and everything bagel seasoning).

The café also serves nine varieties of skillets and eight “benedicts,” Letsos said.

Letsos said popular entrées include the breakfast tacos with carnitas (Mexican pork), the breakfast taco bowl and the down home breakfast bowl: creamy country gravy loaded with crumbled sausage ladled over a biscuit topped with cheesy scrambled eggs and served over seasoned home fries or hash browns.

The al pastor omelets, skillet or tacos include marinated pork, onion, pineapple and pepper jack cheese. The beef in the dishes is certified Angus beef, and the gyro meat is cooked on a spit, Letsos said.

“Everything is made to order,” he said.

Rodriquez said the food moves because Letsos cares about customers.

“Jimmy is always making sure things are right,” Rodriguez said. “When the food comes out, he has the customer taste it to make sure nothing is missing, or he’ll make it a different way to fix it. He always finds a way to make it work, whatever they want.”

Letsos said staff even knows to wipe the grill or cook meat separately in a frying pan for customers with allergies.

“I never want to say, ‘We can’t,’” Letsos said of customizing dishes to meet customers’ needs. “I’m proud of what I’m doing.”

Maple Butter Cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. For more information, call (779) 234-9985 or visit themaplebuttercafe.com.