Good Eats, Sweet Treats
From Las Vegas and Steitz’s to Dairy Queen, David’s Bistro and Anastasia’s, local restaurants provide Antioch residents with growing opportunities to experience food.
More stories from Marina Palmieri
PAST
Imagine walking into the local family-owned diner. The smell of quality hamburgers and french fries is in the air as customers sit down and order large Coca-Colas. The chatter of excited teenagers and families at dinner to spend time together is deafening. In the past, going out for a meal to a restaurant was very different than today. Although it may be hard to believe, the fast food chains that are overtaking the restaurant industry today were not always around. Instead, it was more likely for customers to sit down for family style home cooking.
In the past, meals were a time for family members to enjoy their food and spend time with each other. At restaurants, there was no TV on in the background, no distractions from the people around the table. In Antioch there are multiple family-owned restaurants that opened their doors to the community decades ago. Throughout the construction of multiple fast food places including McDonald’s and Taco Bell, they evolved while maintaining a homemade feel and quality food.
According to steitz.com, Steitz’s restaurant, bar and marina was a landmark of the Chain O’ Lakes region since 1938. The walls of the third-generation family-owned restaurant are full of history. Instead of displaying reality TV shows or movies, the flat screen on the wall flips through black and white photographs of how Steitz’s, the Chain O’ Lakes and the town of Antioch evolved into what they are today.
In addition to Steitz’s, the Antioch Pizza Shop was “a slice of Antioch since 1977,” according to antiochpizzashop.com. The small yet comfy restaurant brings customers into the past with its vintage Coca-Cola items and pictures of how the pizza shop looked when it first opened.
Many restaurants in Antioch, such as Steitz’s and the Antioch Pizza Shop, bring the past into the present by providing quality food and unique, family friendly atmospheres that were common decades ago.
PRESENT
McDonald’s. Taco Bell. Culver’s. Subway. These restaurants all have one thing in common; they are all the home of cheap food and corporate ownership. In the past, fast food chains were not even an option to consumers. If they wanted to eat out, they had no choice but to support the family-owned restaurants in their town.
Today, the town of Antioch offers numerous options to consumers, including Mexican, Chinese and Italian cuisine. With people in such a hurry, fast food chains are more popular than ever, while local sit-down restaurants still draw in diners who are attracted to a more relaxed meal.
“I prefer to eat a well cooked, from scratch, as well as healthy meal,” said Antioch Community High School senior Zach Rundle. “The eating at fast food chains are driving our country into the ground from obesity.”
However, sit-down restaurants evolved throughout the years with technology; the walls of many sit-down eateries are full of flat screens that broadcast the latest sports games. Additionally, many traditional family-owned restaurants now offer delivery to compete with fast food chains.
In the past, it was common for restaurants to only be open for breakfast and lunch, or just dinner. Today, it is common for restaurants, especially fast food chains, to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Being open constantly creates the opportunity to bring in more business and money, but also requires more workers.
Fast food chains in Antioch are all located in one general area, and include McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, Popeye’s, Arby’s, Jimmy John’s and Culver’s. With so much variety, it can be difficult to pass up fast food for a local restaurant. However, Antioch is home to numerous family-owned eateries, including Mexican Paradise, Anastasia’s, Oliverii North, David’s Bistro, Las Vegas, Grande Letty’s, the Antioch Pizza Shop and Steitz’s. Although fast food chains may draw consumers in, it is important to support the family owned businesses that contributed to make Antioch what the town is today.
