Bonnie's Place's burgers and Roma Bakery's pastries: Six long-lost Lansing area eateries
LANSING — When James Brains, 43, was a student at Michigan State University more than two decades ago, Theio's Restaurant was one of his favorite late-night eats.
The Lansing resident remembers gathering at the East Michigan Avenue restaurant, which closed in 2018, with friends at night for food and a round of board games.
"It was just somewhere you could go late at night," Brains said. "I have great memories there."
Shalonna Banks believes those types of memories have made long-closed restaurants bits of nostalgia for many people. The Holt resident, 46, grew up in Lansing and is still attached to more than a few eateries the area has lost over the years.
Mountain Jack's, a steakhouse that operated locations in Delta Township and Okemos, was where Banks had her first "fancy dinner" with her mother, Roma Bakery on North Cedar Street sold cannoli she still thinks about today, and DeLuca's Restaurant, a family-run eatery on West Willow Street, had "hands down the best pizza that has ever been in the Lansing area," she said.
"The loss of those places, it comes with tangible memories," Banks said. "That's what makes us miss them so much."
Here's a look at six long-lost Lansing area eateries people still talk about and miss today.
Bonnie's Place
Its burgers made Bonnie's Place beloved in Lansing. The restaurant's signature "Bonnie Burger" was a massive display of beef, piled high with ham, and Swiss and American cheese.
Founded by Bonnie Weiss, the eatery got its start as the B&B Tap Room on North Cedar Street in 1990. A decade later, her son Scott Feltonberger took over and the restaurant moved to 415 E. Saginaw St.
"I loved their like huge burger lists," said Brains, one of the founders of the Facebook group Lansing Foodies. "They opened up the possibilities of what you could put on a burger."
And customers loved them for it, securing them local foodie award wins for their burgers for several years over the course of the business's 23-year run.
Bonnie's Place closed in February 2013. Management cited an economic downtown and hardships brought on by bridge construction on East Saginaw Street.
Cappuccino Cafe
Sisters Brenda Joseph and Raeann Vogl opened the first Cappuccino Cafe in 1992 at 2299 W. Grand River Ave., right next to a Barnes and Noble Book Store in Okemos. Two others, on Marsh Road in Okemos and West Lake Lansing Road, opened within the next three years.
The cafe was known for its coffee drinks and the live jazz bands that often played in the evening, but Joseph once told the State Journal what set the cafe apart was its dedication to customer service.
"You can literally get a cup of coffee anywhere in town: make it at home or buy it at a Shell station," she said in 1997. "So, we do everything in our power to create an atmosphere for our customers ... an atmosphere where the guest is first."
By 2010 all three of Cappuccino Cafe's locations had closed their doors. In August of 2009, just as the cafe on West Lake Lansing Road was set to close, Joseph said business had dropped 30% over the course of a year while the cost of expenses was rising.
"It comes a point where there's no more fighting. We did everything we could," she said. "This is not how we wanted to end our business. We're heartbroken."
Clara's Lansing Station
The ambiance at Clara's Lansing Station holds a special place in Diane Kippen's heart. Her father, a railroad engineer for 47 years, loved that the restaurant resided in a historic, 120-year-old former train station.
"We used to always go there for family gatherings and the Sunday breakfast buffets," Kippen, 70, of Haslett, said. When her grandson was old enough, she took him there for weekly lunches.
The former train station was built in 1902 as Michigan Central Railroad Station, later Union Station, and used as a train station until 1972.
Owner Peter Jubeck's family ran the restaurant for 38 years at 637 E. Michigan Ave., utilizing a restored rail car dating to 1910 next to the building for additional seating.
Clara's was known for its Sunday brunch, Reuben sandwiches and stuffed hot potatoes, along with the many Tiffany lamps that decorated the dining areas.
Clara's closed in 2016. At the time, Scott Jubeck, an owner, said maintaining the historic property had become too difficult.
"Essentially, the hill that we have in front of us is just too big to climb," he said in June 2016. "If you look around, we have a parking lot that needs to be resurfaced, we have a roof that needs to be repaired. These are pretty big price-tag items. These are things we know need to be done, but with the business we are doing right now, we are just unable to do so."
The Gillespie Group, a Lansing-based development company, bought the property about a month after Clara's closed. Today the former Clara's is home to a Starbucks and the soon-to-open Bobcat Bonnie's.
DeLuca's Restaurant
DeLuca's Restaurant was a mainstay in Lansing for six decades before it closed in 2021.
The eatery was known for its hearty pizza made with its house-made sauce on a buttery crust, covered with generous toppings and lots of cheese.
That recipe evolved over years of listening to customer requests. It started with Pasquale "Pat" DeLuca, who immigrated to the U.S. from southern Italy in the late 1930s. He bought the empty building at 2006 W. Willow St. and opened the Willow Bar at the property, a neighborhood gathering spot frequented by Lansing's automotive workers.
Its pizza became a customer favorite and in the late 1970s, the eatery became DeLuca's Restaurant.
The business stayed in the family during its 61-year run.
The restaurant’s vice president, John DeLuca, announced plans to sell it in 2021, but when the deal fell through, DeLuca's closed in November of that year.
"We have been blessed with wonderful employees and wonderful customers," John DeLuca said before the closure. "What more could you ask for? What a ride."
Emil's
By the time Emil's closed its doors at 2012 E. Michigan Ave. in 2015, three generations of the same family had owned and operated it.
The business began as a fruit stand in 1921, became an ice cream parlor, then a bar and finally built a loyal, local following as an Italian family restaurant.
Founder Emil DeMarco was from a town in southern Italy. He immigrated to the U.S. after World War I.
Emil's served lasagna, cannelloni, manicotti and other Italian dishes.
When owner Paul Grescowle announced the restaurant's closure, he said he had plans to begin selling packaged versions of some of its most popular dishes.
"I am really excited about a new chapter," he said in October 2015. "I'm not getting any younger and these 100-hour weeks are just getting to the point where I need to find another venue. I really think taking Emil's in this direction is the way to go."
Roma Bakery
Flavorful rum cakes, cannolis and, come every Fat Tuesday, fresh-made paczki filled with a variety of jams and creams, were stacked in the display cases at Roma Bakery.
Sostine and Filomena "Mena" Castriciano's Italian bakery and deli at 428 N. Cedar St. opened in 1969. For 50 years the couple, who both immigrated to the U.S. from Italy, served up pastries, deli meats, sandwiches and other imported Italian foods.
Before the business closed in 2019, the Castricianos were both in their 70s and Sostine was still putting in 12-hour days at the bakery.
The couple spent a few years trying to sell the business before they closed it.
“We weren’t successful in doing that, even though we had some good looks,” Gino Baldino, a commercial real estate broker and Mena’s brother, told the State Journal in 2019.
“Lansing has been good to us,” Sostine said before the closure. “The most important thing is our employees and our customers.”
Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @GrecoatLSJ .
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This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Bonnie's Place burgers and Roma Bakery's pastries: Six long-lost Lansing area eateries
