The Velvet diner closing after 90-plus years
After more than 90 years serving bacon and eggs, The Velvet Restaurant at 1646 Wyandotte St. E. is closing its doors.
“I’m sad to see it go,” said owner and operator Janice D’Antonio, who took over the business 12 years ago and is the fifth owner in the diner’s history. “It’s like giving up a child.”
The restaurant’s last day is on Wednesday, Dec. 4.
D’Antonio, who trained as a chef but worked as a paralegal before buying The Velvet, said she decided to sell the business and the building for health reasons. She said the new owner has plans to reinvent the diner and the adjoining store into a larger restaurant with a different concept. The Velvet as Windsor knows it will be no more.
The business dates back more than 90 years when it was known as Dick’s Confectionery Dry Goods. Back then, it hosted regular free ice cream days, D’Antonio said, and its first owner was the first to bring ice cream cones to Windsor after seeing them at Chicago’s World’s Fair in the early 1930s.
Generations of families have been coming to The Velvet to eat, D’Antonio said, and she is familiar with many of her customers’ stories, having watched kids grow up into university and college students and then into working adults.
“The first time I came here it reminded me of Cheers,” she said, referring to the wellknown TV show about regulars at a Boston bar. D’Antonio said she came in with the realtor and met two of The Velvet’s regulars sitting at the long counter near the front, both named Norm.
This little diner is sometimes referred to as Windsor’s bestkept secret for having hosted some high-profile entertainment and sports celebrities who sought out the place to enjoy some anonymity over break- fast or lunch. Even D’Antonio declined to name names.
“The first date, the meeting and the family place” is how she summed up The Velvet, with its white and grey checked floor and bright red tables.
“It’s a friendly environment,” said Joe, a regular Friday morning breakfast customer who declined to give his last name to avoid any trouble at work for taking time to eat on his midmorning break. The service is quick and the portions are filling, said his fellow diner Dave. “The staff is amazing.”
Server Anett Trifonov said she is sad the restaurant is closing because it’s a great to get to work so closely with the owner.
And on Friday morning, some customers couldn’t help taking a little bit of The Velvet’s history with them. D’Antonio arranged for one customer to take some of the framed baseball photos and posters home with him while a toddler, after having breakfast with a grandparent, accidentally wandered off with a pepper shaker.