‘We make sure they leave happy’: Garden Berry Cafe starts new tradition at former Billy’s Pancake House in Palatine

With an expansive breakfast and lunch menu, Garden Berry Cafe plans to bring new life to the former location of Billy’s Pancake House in Palatine.

John and Tracy Bakopoulos closed Billy’s at 440 W. Northwest Hwy. in December. The business had been a mainstay in Palatine, both at that location and in a plaza downtown where it also was known as the Palatine House Restaurant.

Now owner and chef Jose Jasso is starting a new tradition at the Palatine location, not only trying to bring back Billy’s’ clientele, but also attracting new customers.

“It’s a great community,” he said. “I’m happy to be here.”

The Palatine Garden Berry Cafe joins locations in Ottawa, Melrose Park and Vernon Hills — the first one to open in 2017.

Garden Berry Cafe believes in preparing every meal with care, preparing everything fresh daily and, according to its website, “creating a warm, welcoming place where good food and good company come together.”

“We have a little bit for each taste,” Jasso said. “It’s good food, with a choice for everybody. We make sure they leave happy.”

The menu includes breakfast fare such as waffles, pancakes, French toast, crepes, omelettes and scrambles, as well as lunch items such as salads, burgers, wraps, paninis, melts and club sandwiches.

Jasso said his favorites include Chilaquiles Verdes a Rojos — corn tortillas dipped in homemade green or red salsa and topped with fresh cheese and a choice of cilantro and onion or lettuce and tomato. It is served with two eggs of any style and a choice of fruit, diced potatoes or hash browns. You can add chicken or chorizo, barbacoa or steak.

He also recommends the skillets, in particular the Tijuana skillet, with steak, onions, jalapeños, tomatoes, mushrooms and pepper jack cheese.

Some of Billy’s regular customers could be coming back, if the experience of Howard Westphal is any indication.

Westphal, a retired civil engineer whose wife once taught the children of Billy’s owners, visited the Garden Berry Cafe shortly after it opened. Westphal brought his grandson, Tyler, an engineering student at the University of Iowa, and ordered an avocado burger with fries. He said the food was very good and the prices are reasonable. His grandson said he enjoyed a stuffed waffle.

Westphal said he normally dines with a group from Immanuel Lutheran Church that used to meet at Billy’s but now convenes at a nearby restaurant. “We used to come here every Friday at 7 o'clock with some of the guys from church, and they go back over 25 years,” he said.

Now, he said, “We’re going to try this. That’s why we came here today.”