‘We’re bringing life back to downtown’: Dominican restaurant opens in Waukegan
Diners walking into the newly opened El Patio Café & Lounge, a Dominican restaurant in downtown Waukegan, will notice a bicycle with a blender bottle mounted where a basket might ordinarily be.
Elinelsy Castillo, El Patio’s owner, said the bicycle is a blender and that, rather than flipping a switch to start it, someone must mount the bike and begin pedaling until the mixing is done.
“I saw it online,” Castillo said. “We use it to make smoothies and other drinks.”
El Patio opened on July 10 in the midst of Scoop Waukegan in a historic restaurant building on Genesee Street in downtown Waukegan, making it the only Dominican eatery between Chicago and Milwaukee.
Planning a grand opening later this year, Castillo said she was unaware of Scoop Waukegan and the thousands of people it brought to the city each summer.
“We saw the crowds and moved some tables outside,” Castillo said. “We told people they could experience something new, Dominican food, and we were opening for the first time.”
Local residents have seen a blue sign nearly two stories tall with white lettering reading “restaurant” on it for more than 50 years. Originally it was a diner, then it became a Chinese eatery and was vacant for the past seven years. So was the entire three-story building for the past few years.
Developer Mikki Schuck bought the building in late 2024 intending to fully renovate the top two stories — previously offices — into luxury apartments and a restaurant once more on the ground floor. The apartments were ready and rented in May 2025, but the eatery took longer.
“The sign was a symbol in downtown Waukegan for more than 50 years,” Shuck said. “This helps return Waukegan to the way it was before. We’re bringing life back to downtown Waukegan.”
Along with a unique way of mixing drinks, El Patio offers a menu of Dominican dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, including $5 empanadas, yaroa, mangu and chimi as well as a few other dishes from the Caribbean and some traditional American offerings for breakfast.
A clinical psychologist who came to Lake County from her native Dominican Republic in 2021, Castillo said she originally wanted to open a coffee shop. When she saw the size of the restaurant, her idea changed.
“This was too big for a coffee shop,” she said. “There is no Dominican restaurant in Waukegan. There was no Dominican restaurant between Chicago and Milwaukee. There are a lot of Dominicans here in Waukegan.”
There is a three-hit mangu with fried Dominican plantains, fried Dominican salami, fried cheese, fried eggs, and sautéed red onions. It is also served on a bun as the three-hit burger. Preparing the food are two female Dominican chefs.
Open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and closed Sundays, there are also a variety of coffee choices with six brews of hot coffee, four types of iced coffee, hot and iced matcha teas, and 10 flavorings — some sugar-free — which can be added on request.
Special events — some after regular hours — are also planned. Castillo said they often include other businesses like the Waukegan Music Exchange adding the tunes, or Casita di Suenos selling plants and small vinyl records among the opportunities.