Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanna and Daniel Migo.
The Migo family migrated from Poland to the United States in 1984. With a suitcase in hand and big dreams for their future they embarked on an incredible journey made possible by the sponsorship of Saint John Newman Church in Saint Charles. The people of this community opened their hearts and homes to the Migo family, teaching them English, providing meals, friendship, and fellowship.
Daniel has served the Saint Charles community for several years alongside his mother providing exceptional care for the elderly through this home care agency and Halina’s Senior Services. The residences of Halina’s Senior Services are beautiful and private care homes situated in downtown Saint Charles. They continue to be owned and operated by the Migo family today.
His dream has always been to open an eastern European restaurant and grocery store to share with his community the culture and cuisine of his childhood experiences. Daniel is passionate about cooking and providing hospitality to others, and he has never forgotten where he came from or the generous opportunity the Saint Charles community provided for him and his family so many years ago. This is his way of giving back a piece of his culture to the community.
And so…with the help of his wife Jo-Jo, this creative and ambitious couple are excited to bring an authentic, ever -changing, and unique dining and shopping experience to the Saint Charles community.
Please tell us about DRM European Cafe & Delicatessen.
DRM is a cafe and market specializing in European imports and cuisine. We offer exceptional catering for small and large work and social events in breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu items.
We offer a hot entree buffet Monday through Saturday from 11:00am-2:00pm that offers everything from handmade pirogies, stuffed cabbage rolls, smoked Polish sausage and sauerkraut, Hungarian goulash, and our popular potato pancakes.
All of our gourmet sandwiches boast a European flare, like the DRM rueben made with smoked Polish ham and others like the German schnitzel sandwich, and traditional Polish sausage sandwich…all which make an excellent pairing to traditional and homemade soups and salads.
One of our best features is our deli case filled with authentic Polish, German, and Hungarian meats and cheeses. We also offer foods to go like our homemade soups, salads, and European pastries in our grocery section.
Our modern cafe can accommodate up to forty-five people for dining in. We also have a gift shop where we source gifts and traditional crafts from European artisans overseas. You can find home decor, kitchen elements, aprons, history books, and cookbooks in our gift shop. Seasonal and holiday gifts and baskets are also available for Christmas and Easter.
We offer adult and children’s baking classes on Sundays too! These are wonderful social gathering for adults and are also an amazing learning opportunity for children of all ages. Bill Reichman is an incredible teacher, immersing students in classes such as bagel and doughnut classes, galettes, scones, and cookies. His adult classes include scones, biscotti cookies, and stromboli. The adult classes are typically held at night, where guests can enjoy some music, imported wine and beer, and enjoy their recipes in our cafe area!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
This first year of business has been a great learning experience for both of us. It is a tremendous amount of hard work, but we are blessed for the love and support we have received from the Saint Charles community. The challenges we faced was starting from the ground up. We designed every inch of the space and that took some time but we had an incredible team to help us. Any new business can be trying…we have two small children and in the beginning it was hard to separate work from home. As this new year began, we decided it’s best for each of us to focus on what we do best. Dan is present every day at the cafe now. He manages all the financial aspects of the business and manages the staff and is there to oversee that the best quality food is presented along with the best customer service. He does the grocery shopping for the kitchen, supplies, schedules, a huge work load! He is amazing at what he does! I work behind the scenes, managing the social media, marketing, website design, gift shop, inventory for the grocery section, and will begin with developing our online shop to be launched this spring. Finding balance when starting a new business is the biggest challenge by far. But we focus on what we do best and that’s where we reside this new year going forward!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with DRM European Cafe & Delicatessen – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
DRM specializes in European imports and cuisine from countries like Poland, Germany, Lithuania, and beyond. When we opened a year ago all the imports on our shelves were from Poland. As time has gone by, we have seen such a great pride from people in our community representing and requesting imports and foods from other countries. We listened to them and adapted the cafe and grocery to accommodate. The result has been a success! We are a destination to enjoy good food and a beautiful ambiance, but most importantly we are a destination to share in community, tradition, and culture. We are an authentic European cafe. All of our chefs and staff were born in Europe. The recipes we present, represent their family’s recipes that have been passed down for generations! When you walk in…you will hear the Russian, Polish, and German language. That makes us proud.
DRM represents the pride of our community. We represent the beautifully diverse countries of Europe that many are familiar with or have immigrated to this country from…and we also provide a unique learning experience for those who have never traveled to the countries we represent nor tasted this kind of cuisine…we provide the opportunity to immerse themselves in these unique cultures, traditions, and experiences!
We are most proud to see people coming in with friends and family sharing our food. We love to hear our customers tell us that our soups and dishes remind them of their Babcia’s or their mother’s cooking. We love when past, or maybe forgotten traditions become present again in their lives because we are highlighting them at the cafe. We love the excitement when a person smiles after tasting their first German schnitzel, pierogi, or paczki! Most importantly, we are most proud to see customers come back 2-5 times a week, because it tell us that DRM is truly authentic home cooked food!
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are working on some exciting new avenues for DRM this year. We will be adding more cooking classes with our baker Bill Reichman. I just started a new blog and I am developing an online shop that will offer so many unique artisan and imported gifts! There are a few other surprises that we are working on but will keep those a secret until the time is right.
Most importantly, we will continue to push ourselves to be the best we can be. To provide our customers with the best food, service, and experience. That is most important to us…and we will see where that leads us in the coming years. We are excited for this second year of business!
Pricing:
- All of our signature sandwiches come with your choice of our traditional soups or salads for $8.50.
- Our hot entree buffet plate is $9.00…and you receive your choice of a meat, starch, and vegetable.
Contact Info:
- Address: 610 E. Main Street
St. Charles, Illinois 60174 - Website: www.drmeurocafe.com
- Phone: 630-940-2882
- Email: drmeurocafe@gmail.com
- Instagram: @drmeurocafe
- Facebook: @drmeurocafe
Image Credit:
Joanna Migo, owner
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
