ST. CHARLES – Customers wound around a chain-link construction barricade and through the drizzle and the mud lunchtime Friday to get to the La Za Za Trattoria, an Italian restaurant on First Street.
"It looks like Saigon back here," said Dino Sisto, owner of La Za Za Trattoria, looking out the front door of his business.
But Sisto is convinced that when the First Street project is finished, the place will be a sparkling corridor of commerce. He's so sure of it, he's buying the building at 5 S. First St. that he has been renting since 1995.
"It's going to be beautiful back here with a waterfall and little patio," Sisto said. "I'm lucky that people keep coming here to eat. I have very loyal customers. It takes a lot just to find the front door here."
Sisto expects to close on the sale with the city of St. Charles in July.
The city bought the Za Za building in 2004 for $367,250 should the building need to be razed to make more room for the widening of the intersection of First and Main streets.
The City Council earlier this week approved the sale to Sisto for $400,000.
"Dino puts out an excellent product and we're happy that Za Za is staying where it is," Mayor Don DeWitte said.
Sisto said the restaurant is named after his grandfather, whose nickname was Za Za. His grandparents came from Bari, Italy, and raised 10 kids in Chicago.
Sisto said his mother inspired him to go into the restaurant business.
"She could cook anything – Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Greek, you name it," Sisto said.
Sisto owns two other Za Za restaurants, one in Sycamore and one in Addison.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/6JHXWMA3GPNPWZ5MXBOL3U74FM.jpg)