There’s only one way to describe Mrs. D’s Diner of Wilmette on a Sunday morning: bustling. It’s the skinniest little slice of a space, but it can fit about 40 customers, plus the staff behind the counter. All throughout the morning there’s a line of people practically out the door waiting to grab a booth or a seat at the counter. Mr. and Mrs. D yell out table numbers to their staff. The door is constantly being opened and shut from the hustle and bustle of people coming and going.

Step inside and you’ll feel as though you’ve been transported to another time, with  1950’s rock and roll music playing behind the din of all the voices chatting, the classic Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co metal posters up on the walls, along with some lesser known sodas, like KayO. They’ve got Dr. Pepper and Vienna Beef, too. The diner has gold, red, and blue classic vinyl booths and stools lining the counter.

There are records and their jackets hanging framed along the walls, newspaper clippings from when we landed on the moon, and family photos, covering every square inch of the place. College and high schools pennants have their special places too. Photos and drawings of famous musicians from the 70’s and earlier line one wall.

There are notes from diners left on napkins, and photos too. They’ve got caricatures of past employees and a plastic moose head nestled right above the grill. A diner couldn’t get tired of searching through all the frames that crowd the small room, looking for something they missed last time.

It’s the kind of place one might see on a T.V. show or in a movie, a classic concept of a quirky little diner. But Mrs. D’s is real.

And everyone there on that Sunday morning sitting tight to get a seat was content. It was worth the wait.

Talk with Christina Kapetan Dimitri, the owner, aka Mrs. D, and you’ll see why. “You want everyone to leave here happy, content, and say good things,” she said.
For a diner like Mrs. D’s, it’s all about word of mouth. Dimitri and her husband, who refer to each other as D when hustling around, taking orders and pouring coffee, are on a first name basis with most of their customers. “I have kids that come in here every weekend,” she said. And they make sure everyone feels like they’re part of the family. When speaking about customers, Mrs. D said, “If it wasn’t for you guys, we wouldn’t be here.”

The D’s have owned the diner for 7 years, and thy have seen their family joint develop.  Mrs. D hoped the diner would become exactly what it has when she opened the doors in 2005. “A place for families to feel comfortable coming with their kids. But what has become a big thing for my husband and I has been that we’ve watched a lot of kids literally go from 7 years old to 14. Seven years is a big jump, and a lot of kids have grown up here. It’s nice to see that. That’s what makes us want to stay here.”

The unique quirks of this diner aren’t its only special characteristics. People from all walks of life come to enjoy the good food. On that particular Sunday morning, there was an old man enjoying his chocolate chip pancakes sitting next to three young girls at the counter, an old couple in their twilight years sharing the Mr. and Mrs. D’s hash seated in a booth behind a young family with a four-year old girl and baby boy.

College kids visiting home ordered the biscuits and gravy, teenagers from Loyola, New Trier, and Evanston all devoured their “World’s Best Pancakes”.
Carrie Mackevich, a New Trier student, is a regular. “The food is very good, I sometimes pick this over the Pancake House, because it’s that much better. I always get the chocolate chip pancakes with bacon,” she said.

She keeps coming back for both the menu and the atmosphere. “I love the fact that it’s so classy while at the same time its got the perkiness of a small business,” she said, “It’s very homey, it’s got the family business-esque of it.”

That’s exactly what the D’s want: for everyone to feel welcome and relax. Being a mom of a 13-year old son, Mrs. D even brought his old toy trucks to the restaurant for kids to play with while waiting for their food. “You want to entertain the kids. People go over and pick them out. Parents love the fact that there are toys. A lot of kids play with them.”
Another quirk of Mrs. D’s are the rubber ducks. “I learned that kids love the ducks, so I’ve been giving them away for 10, 12 years.” From anywhere in the diner, you can spot the ducks on the counter. Each one has a different character painted on. this month’s theme was Halloween ducks. She had glow-in-the-dark ghost, vampire, and zombie ducks perched in the basket. Mrs. D hands them out to the kids as she makes her rounds, while each child’s face lights up with glee as they receive their special “rubber ducky”.

Mrs. D’s favorite part of her family business is watching people grow up. “I think it’s the kids mostly. It makes you realize how long you’ve been here and how the kids appreciate us. It’s important to us. It’s awesome,” she said.