KEEP ON POPPIN’ WITH CASSIE’S POPCORN
CORTLAND’S DOUGH BROTHERS PIZZA
VINTAGE REC - THE WRECKROOM
Enriching the world
NIU College of Visual & Performing Arts a gem for DeKalb County
KEEPS ON POPPIN’
Cassie’s Popcorn celebrates 100 years of hot fresh flavor in Sycamore
By: Jonathan Bilyk
200 W State St, Sycamore
815-751-7099 | www.facebook.com/Cassiespopcorn
In the past century, Sycamore’s downtown has undergone a constant stream of changes.
Cars replaced horses and buggies, and electricity lit up storefronts, restaurants, and homes. Technological advancements have constantly enabled new forms of commerce and recreation. Through it all, the community has continued to grow and prosper.
With all of the changes, some things have remained the same. Notably among them, a little red popcorn stand at the corner of State and Maple.
“I can’t even imagine Sycamore without this place,” said Cassie Oltman, the current owner and operator of the stand. “It’s just such an important part of the community. I mean, it’s really special when we go places and hear people talking about this little town with a popcorn stand, and it turns out they’re talking about us.”
While the stand is now known as Cassie’s Popcorn, its place in the community dates back more than 100 years. According to historical narratives assembled by Oltman, the popcorn stand began 128 years ago when it was a popcorn wagon operated by James Elliott.
Known as the “popcorn and confectionary stand,” the red and yellow wagon was reportedly wheeled each day by a gray horse from a nearby livery barn to the corner of State and Maple.
According to the historical narrative, Elliott operated the wagon until 1921 when he moved away. The wagon was acquired by a collection of local business partners, including Edward Lobaugh. The wagon’s wheels were removed and the wagon became a true concession stand, permanently ensconced at the corner in 1923, where it was supplied with electricity and gas.
“It’s so much fun to keep this going year after year.”Cassie Oltman, owner of Cassie’s Popcorn.
It opened the following year and the Lobaugh family operated the stand until 1943. In the ensuing decades, the stand was purchased and operated first by Gertrude and Irving Fothergill and then by Cecile Blake Kartchner.
In the early 1980s, Jody Mattison became Kartchner’s business partner and worked at the stand, until buying the stand outright in 1983. Mattison’s family has operated the stand ever since, as her daughter, Cassie, popped in to run the stand in 2010, which she continues to do.
Today, Cassie’s Popcorn continues to pop up the fun and the community continues to pop out to support the little red stand at the corner of State and Maple. “It’s a stable, staple part of this community,” said Cassie. “And it’s so much fun to keep this going year after year.”
The stand offers a palette of flavors, including traditional favorites like caramel corn, cheese popcorn, kettle corn and white cheddar. Cassie’s also regularly offers flavors like cotton candy and the popular “Sycamore-style” mix, in which Cassie melts caramel over cheese flavored popcorn.
“It’s one of our most popular,” said Cassie. “People just love it. But you will need a napkin,” she added with a laugh.
The stand also regularly offers popcorn balls in a range of flavors, including Oreo, Snickers, cherry and strawberry, among others.
And periodically, Cassie’s will offer special flavors seasonally. In the fall, for instance, the stand will sell Cassie’s take on caramel apple and pumpkin spice, which includes a white chocolate drizzle over pumpkinflavored popcorn.
Some of her favorites to make, she said, are her take on Cracker Jack – which she called “Cassie’s Jack” – featuring a blend of caramel corn and peanuts, and the “Monster Flavor,” which she sells around Pumpkin Fest and includes popcorn with melted chocolate, eyeball-shaped candies and other spooky, Halloween-themed ingredients that change year to year.
“The kids love it,” said Cassie. “It’s so much fun.”
Cassie said her favorite flavor, however, is the stand’s fresh popped white corn, blended with salt and a bit of parmesan cheese. “That’s my dinner on nights when I’m up working at the stand,” she said. “It’s just delicious.”
The business remains roughly seasonal, Cassie said. Depending on weather, Cassie opens the stand each spring beginning in late April. The stand then will remain open through the summer until Pumpkin Fest at the end of October. She also opens the stand periodically until Christmas, to satisfy the demand for popcorn as gifts.
“And people do love giving our popcorn as gifts,” she said.
Cassie said she aims to open the stand Monday-Friday, 4 to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The seasons and weather continue to play a large role in the popcorn stand’s operations throughout the year. Summer heat and humidity, for instance, often result in Cassie deciding not to open on certain days, as those weather conditions get in the way of producing and selling popcorn that meets the quality expectations Cassie’s customers have come to expect.
“People could still buy some, I suppose, but by the time they got it home, or wherever they are going, it would be stale,” said Cassie. “And no one wants that.”
Cassie will also close the stand from time to time to attend to family responsibilities and family functions, but regulars know
to check the popcorn stand’s Facebook page to learn whether the stand will be open or closed on a particular day.
Cassie pops the white popcorn fresh each day at the stand. All other flavors and styles are prepared and bagged in advance in her popcorn prep building at her home on Somonauk Street at Sycamore’s south end.
Cassie said she believes people continue to come back for more because of the quality of the popcorn and the ingredients. She said the stand sources its popcorn from sellers near Chicago. And all of the flavors come from “real” ingredients, including actual butter, blended together with the popcorn with a “big wooden spoon.”
“It’s all made with love,” Cassie said.
This July, Cassie and her family celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the popcorn stand landing at the corner of State and Maple. On July 25, they hosted a special event at the stand, with balloons, cookies and popcorn fake tattoos, and fresh popcorn, for three hours.
“It was a really good turnout,” Cassie said. “We had a fun day catching up with people and celebrating the moment.”
But any day at the popcorn stand can quickly turn into a mini celebration and a trip down memory lane, Cassie said. While many regular customers stop by the stand for a bag of popcorn for movie night, a party or just a snack, Cassie said she regularly meets people who have moved away and come back to live in the community again or visit.
“And they stop by the stand and tell me how happy they are this place is still here,” said Cassie. “It just helps them feel like they’re home.”
After nearly 15 years in the popcorn stand business, Cassie said she has no plans to hang up the big wooden spoon anytime soon. But when she does, she hopes to hand it down to the next generation, among her three daughters and 13 grandchildren (and counting).
“It’s been here 100 years,” she said. “And I’d love nothing more than for it to keep going.”
DeKalb Park District Presents
PUMPKIN SMASH'N'BASH
November 2 • 1:00-3:00 pm • Hopkins Park Sled Hill
FREE!
SCARECROW SHOWCASE
Bring your carved pumpkins to Hopkins Park Sled Hill for various pumpkin activities and competitions. Have fun following your pumpkin down the Sled Hill in the pumpkin roll competition! Then smash your pumpkin and turn it into compost that will help nourish plants in the spring. Please remove any candles and glow sticks before hand. Painted pumpkins cannot be composted and, therefore, cannot be brought to the event.
Visit dekalbparkdistrict.com for full Scarecrow Showcase rules & eligibility requirements!
Grab your supplies and show us what exciting scarecrows you can dream up! Build your own upcycled and recycled scarecrow to showcase around Hopkins Park! Community viewing and mobile voting open October 31 - November 1. On-site voting available during Pumpkin Smash’N’Bash from 1:00 – 2:00 pm. Awards will be presented at 3:00 pm! Registration categories: K-5th Grade, 6th-12th Grade, Adult, and Family. Presented in cooperation with the University of Illinois Extension and the DeKalb County Health Department- Solid Waste Program.
Registration Deadline: October 24 $8 R/ $10 NR per entry
NEW!
Sponsored by:
VINTAGE REC
The Wreck Room will bring DeKalb a new, old way to blow off steam, ‘inclusive fun’
By: Jonathan Bilyk
901 Lucinda Ave, DeKalb contact@wreckdekalb.com | www.facebook.com/wreckroomdekalb
As Miles Mapes envisions it, DeKalb’s newest indoor “rec” attraction will be more than just the latest rage.
“DeKalb needs more alcohol-free entertainment options, that are not only age-inclusive, but cost-inclusive, especially indoors when the weather is terrible,” said Mapes. “And we will have several options, all under one roof.”
This fall, Mapes will bring that vision to life, as he opens a new entertainment facility he is calling The Wreck Room.
Slated to open in a 3,000-square-foot space at the Village Commons retail center on Lucinda Avenue in the shadow of Northern Illinois University, The Wreck Room will offer a range of entertainment options, most of which may be targeted for today’s adults, but also family friendly and affordable.
While the name is a play on words, as an alternative way of saying “rec room,” The Wreck Room will also more than earn the literal interpretation of its name, as well, Mapes said.
The facility will be centered on two spaces known as “rage rooms.” In such rooms, for a fee, guests will be allowed to safely vent their “rage,” taking out real world frustrations or merely letting loose some aggressive tendencies by safely smashing, tossing, crushing and crashing a variety of highly breakable objects.
The concept of “rage rooms” is nothing new. Also known as smash rooms or anger rooms, rage rooms slammed into existence in the 2000s in Japan. The popularity of such rooms quickly exploded and within a decade, they had proliferated in the U.S.
and around the globe.
Until recently, the rooms had primarily landed in big American cities and their metro areas.
Mapes noted his research showed the nearest rage rooms to DeKalb are to be found in Naperville and Machesney Park, just north of Rockford.
Mapes said The Wreck Room’s rage rooms will be similar in concept to those found elsewhere in the world. Guests will have the opportunity to smash a combination of breakable items commonly found in households and work places. These can include cups, plates, bowls, porcelain and ceramic collectibles, computer components, small appliances and modern televisions, or even furniture and larger electronics.
“We unfortunately can’t do old tube TVs or light bulbs, because we don’t want anyone exposed to mercury,” Mapes said.
He said they also will not allow guests to smash items that are of a religious nature or culturally sensitive, so as to avoid “hot button” situations.
Mirrors will also not be smashed in the rage rooms, out of safety concerns.
At The Wreck Room, guests will be assurred that no two smashing experiences will ever be the same. He said guests using the rooms will pay for a box packed with breakables. For additional fees, they can get more boxes or larger items that aren’t so easily packed into carbboard.
But each box will be different, Mapes said,
noting the center will have five categories of breakables, and each box will contain four items from each category.
“Our guests will be asked to pick their own box from a stack of boxes,” said Mapes. “They won’t know what’s in it until they open it, and it’s guaranteed to be completely random.”
Guests will also be allowed to bring their own breakables, so long as they are not televisions or subject to the exclusions.
Guests will be asked to pay $90 for a twoperson package, providing them with two mystery boxes of breakable items.
He said this price point flies under the rates charged by other rage rooms and fits within the affordability range for folks living in and around DeKalb.
“This entire project is centered around the belief that we will provide what the community needs and wants,” said Mapes.
And beyond offering fun, Mapes said The Wreck Room will also provide the community with an unexpected bonus: A place to recycle truckloads of unwanted household items.
He said The Wreck Room will take a wide assortment of unwanted furniture, glassware and other items that people may not be able to sell or offload to others.
“We all know you can’t find anyone to buy grandma’s old china anymore,” said Mapes.
“So we’re asking that, before giving it away to Goodwill or throwing it in the trash, maybe consider giving it to a local business that will pump money back into
the local economy and help your friends and neighbors have a chance for a safe, clean good time.”
And Mapes said The Wreck Room will also be willing to accept TVs (so long as they do not include mercury-containing cathode ray tubes, or CRTs) and other electronics, which area residents would otherwise need to pay a fee to dispose of.
“You can think of it as fee-free recycling,” Mapes said.
But guests not looking to “Hulk out” will still find a smashing good time at The Wreck Room, Mapes said.
For families with kids, or those looking to make a mess without destroying anything, The Wreck Room will also offer a splatter room, where guests can fling paint at a canvas - and the walls, of course - with abandon.
The Wreck Room will also offer some much less destructive options.
experience, with a variety of vintage video arcade games and pinball machines acquired, and in some cases, repaired and restored, in partnership with DeKalb’s Star Worlds Arcade.
Arcade games and pinball will be priced at 25 cents to $2 per game, he said.
Mapes said The Wreck Room will include two spaces he is calling vintage video gaming lounges. The rooms will be equipped with couches, chairs, televisions and a variety of old school video gaming systems from the 1990s and 2000s.
“It will feel so much like getting together with buddies back in the day in your basement, or over at a friend’s house, just hanging out and gaming,” said Mapes.
Guests will be able to choose from a variety of consoles, including Sega Genesis, Gamecube, Playstations, Nintendo 64 and the original Xbox, among others.
Mapes said he has even decided to invest in older plasma screen TVs for the lounges, which he said will enhance the recreation by bringing the proper resolution to recreate the look and feel of the vintage gaming experience from the wonder years of the Millennial generation.
For $20 per hour, up to five guests will be able to reserve one of the two gaming lounges and play a wide variety of provided games for the various platforms.
The lounges will also provide a memory card service, allowing guests to save their games and pick up where they left off when they return.
Additionally, The Wreck Room will offer an arcade gaming
The arcade area will even include a prize game area and a claw machine stocked with vintage prizes from prior decades, Mapes said.
Guests will not be allowed to bring in food and drinks at this point, but Mapes said The Wreck Room will offer a variety of what he calls “exotic drinks and snacks” from around the world.
He said the spaces can also be rented for private events, at which food and drink can be catered.
Mapes said he intentionally chose the Village Commons for his location.
Mapes, 27, was born and raised in DeKalb, working at the former House Cafe and other local entertainment establishments, before heading to Memphis, Tennessee, for a spell in the early 2020s. He said he recognized the importance of the Village Commons not only to NIU, but DeKalb, as well.
Upon his return, he said he found DeKalb had changed markedly in just the few years he had gone and knew he wanted to bring an entertainment business that could help the community.
He said Village Commons offered an opportunity to make his vision for The Wreck Room accessible to the entire community. Being near NIU, the location would allow college students the opportunity to visit without needing to drive, while providing an easy to find spot with ample parking for all other guests from DeKalb and Sycamore and beyond.
He said the Village Commons further provided The Wreck Room with a bit of entertaining synergy, thanks to neighboring businesses in the facility which provide guests with a variety of food, drink and entertainment options, including Cast Iron Coffee; restaurants including Panda House, Domino’s and Shark’s Fish and Chicken; and the Graham Crackers Comics store.
“All together, with us, it really becomes a fun community hub,” said Mapes.
Mapes said he is targeting a late September 2024 opening date.
As Paul Kassel sees it, the whole point is to keep widening the doors. For more than 50 years, the Northern Illinois University College of Visual & Performing Arts has sought to nurture the arts in DeKalb County.
According to Kassel, who oversees the college as its dean, the college’s reach has extended far beyond DeKalb and the school’s impact only continues to lengthen and deepen. “We are poised to do some really terrific things.”
The NIU College of Visual & Performing Arts is divided among three schools: the School of Art and Design; the School of Music; and the School of Theatre and Dance. The college has long been an integral part of the mission and success of NIU, helping the university fulfill its commitment to the public expression of the arts.
Through the decades, the various schools have all nurtured and graduated alumni who have deployed what they have learned to not only enrich their own lives – but the world around them.
According to the college, there are nearly 6,000 alumni currently working in the arts or arts-related fields. NIU reports 4,154 of those alumni are from the School of Art and Design, where they have contributed work to permanent collections
Enriching
NIU College of Visual & Performing
By: Jonathan Bilyk
of major museums, including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Natonal Gallery in Washington DC, the National Museum of American Art in Washington DC, and The Center for Contemporary Art in Geneva, Switzerland.
Of equal importance, NIU serves as one of the largest sources of art educators. “If you took an art class in an elementary, junior high, or high school in Illinois, chances are you had an art teacher that studied at NIU,” said Andy Dolan, a spokesperson for the college.
The next largest contingent of alumni comes from the School of Music, with 1,062 alumni actively working in the music business. Dolan said these include performers like jazz trumpeter Marquis Hill who won the 2014 Thelonious Monk Trumpet Competition; award-winning steelpan composer and performer and NIU faculty member Liam Teague; and composer Jermaine Stegall, who has written scores for major film and TV studios and projects. Choral composer Marybeth Kurnat is also the assistant band director at Huntley Middle School and DeKalb High School.
The School of Theatre and Dance boasts 574 alumni currently working in the industry, including actors Joe Minoso, of the
Enriching the world
Performing Arts a gem for DeKalb
County
Chicago Fire TV series; Mary Holland, of CBS’ “Ghosts” TV series, and who has appeared on Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm and many other shows; three-time Academy Award nominee and Rochelle native Joan Allen; producer/director Kurt Sutter, of “Sons of Anarchy” fame; and brothers, Wood and Steve Harris. Among other projects, Wood has appeared in all of the recent “Creed” movies and played Avon Barksdale on “The Wire.” Steve was a regular cast member on “The Practice” for eight seasons and appeared in “The Rock,” “Minority Report” and “Friday Night Lights.”
Through the years, students have also found significant opportunities to hone and advance their skills even before graduation. The NIU Jazz Orchestra and ensembles, for instance, have grown to become one of the most successful and lauded college jazz band programs in the country. The Jazz Orchestra has performed at the Midwest Music Clinic with saxophonist Jimmy Heath and recently at the International Association of Jazz Educators with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.
The NIU dancers performed as recently as 2018 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as part of the National College Dance Festival.
Kassel said the college is not resting on its laurels, but has surged forward to expand its offerings to students and its
contributions to the community and the world. In recent years, the college has developed a liberal arts degree program, building on its decades-long successful professional degree programs.
At the same time, the college has deepened collaboration among its three schools and within the university as a whole, in bids to allow the artists to inspire one another and enlarge their audiences. “Every encounter with art enriches your own artistry, no matter your field,” said Kassel.
Every year, Kassel said the college’s schools offer an abudance of concerts, art installations, exhibits, recitals and stage productions, with the doors flung wide to the university and the surrounding DeKalb County communities.
For university students, all performances are free to attend, thanks to NIU’s minimal annual arts and culture fee. For the community, show tickets begin as little as $7, with live theatre “a little more,” Kassel said, due to the cost of securing the rights to perform the works.
“These are really cultural assets,” Kassel said. “We’re such a good deal.”
Kassel said the College of Visual and Performing Arts has
dedicated significant efforts to drawing people back into its auditoriums and theaters, as they continue to recover from the loss of audiences during the Covid pandemic period.
“We are working really hard to remind people of the beauty and power of live performance,” said Kassel. “For the performers and for the audience, there is just no substitute for being there, in person.”
Kassel said the college has continued its mission of developing the arts in the community by offering private lessons and instruction in music and the arts through its Community School of the Arts. Students can receive instruction in classical and contemporary musical instruments, as well as theatrical performance and the visual arts. Rates are “reasonable,” Kassel said, and scholarships are available.
Camps are also offered in various disciplines and arts in the summer. Kassel said such community instruction is just part of the college’s overarching mission of increasing access and opportunity in the arts.
In recent years, Kassel said the college’s schools have intentionally sought to diversify their ranks, to discover, unlock and nurturing talents in students from populations in which such talents may otherwise remain hidden or otherwise untapped.
He pointed to scholarship opportunities being offered and developed in cities like Rockford, through the Rockford Promise program, and in Chicago. “We want to open the door wider, so more people with more talent can come in,” said Kassel.
He noted stories in which dancers, musicians, and vocalists have taken classes at the schools on a whim or to satisfy a credit toward graduation, only to discover they found joy in the artistic expression and - perhaps more importantly - “they’re really good at this,” Kassel added.
“They have a lot of talent, but maybe not a lot of opportunity,” said Kassel. “We’re bringing in new voices, new vision, new bodies. And we will all be the richer for it.”
Welcome Our Huskies Home
Oct.
13-20
Join the celebration when our community gathers to welcome all Huskies back home to DeKalb.
Now in its 117th year, NIU’s Homecoming festivities will feature something fun for everyone.
Thursday, Oct. 17
4-7:30 p.m. NIU Homecoming Block Party sponsored by Midwest Tents and Events. Downtown DeKalb on Lincoln Highway.
6 p.m. March of the Huskies, Pep Rally
Friday, Oct. 18
2:30–4:30 p.m. Huskie Hour with DeKalb County Bold Spirits sponsored by The Law O ce of Doyle and James LLC. Jonamac Orchard.
7–9 p.m. Huskies S’mores N’more, NIU’s MLK Commons, between the Holmes Student Center and Founders Memorial Library.
Saturday, Oct. 19
9-11 a.m. Brunch with Mission and Victor E. NIU’s Altgeld Hall, hosted by the NIU Alumni Association and the NIU Foundation.
2:30 p.m. NIU Football: Huskies vs. Toledo Rockets, NIU’s Huskie Stadium.
Cortland’s Dough Brothers Pizza
Award-winning
By: Jonathan Bilyk
pies
and a commitment to serving region
20 W Benson Ave, Cortland | 815-754-0000 | www.doughbrotherspizzeria.com
Matt and Hanna Weber would love nothing more than to continue selling great pizzas to their neighbors in and around Cortland, DeKalb, and Sycamore for many years to come.
With a heaping helping of beer nuggets, too, of course.
Since the beginning of 2023, the Webers have launched themselves into the next chapters of their life together with gusto. After getting married, the couple has now welcomed a new baby. And in the middle of it all, Matt and Hanna Weber became the proud owners of one of the region’s most highly recognized pizza joints, Dough Brothers Pizza, 20 W. Benson Ave., in Cortland.
As Matt tells it, his rise to the top spot at the takeout restaurant had been baking for some time. He is no stranger to the pizza business. He began his run in the world of the Italian pie in the mid-2000s, taking a job as a dishwasher at Italian Dreams in Sycamore while he was a high schooler, in need of a job.
After 10 years at Italian Dreams, Matt moved over to Dough Brothers in Cortland in the spring of 2015. At the time Matt jumped into the business, Dough Brothers had already been in business for about seven years under the founders, the Robbins brothers, including former owner Jeremy Robbins.
Matt became manager at the restaurant, and continued in that role for the next eight years, helping the restaurant become one of the most widely acclaimed pizzerias in a region stuffed to the brim with quality pizza.
As proof, Dough Brothers points to its recognition, every year since 2018, as one of the best pizza restaurants in the region among those voting in the Daily Chronicle’s Readers’ Choice Awards. In 2023, for instance, the restaurant secured awards for best deep dish and best thin crust pizzas, while also
snagging recognition for offering “one of the best” Italian beef sandwiches in the region.
Dough Brothers offers all the favorites anyone would expect from a local pizza joint in northern Illinois. Diners can choose from a long list of favorite toppings and combinations, all served on several different choices of pizza crusts, including the unofficial true Chicago style pizza, the square-cut tavern thin crust; double dough; panstyle pizza; and the deep dish “gourmet” style pizza, popularized around the world as “Chicago style.”
“We are a traditional Chicagoland pizzeria and love to cater to our customer base providing the tavern-style square-cut thin crust pizza, as well as the deep dish,” Matt said.
Customers can also choose from glutenfree and cauliflower crust pies, as well.
While customers order a wide variety of custom topping combinations, Matt said his household’s favorite combo is the “Italian Beef Extravaganza,” featuring garlic butter in place of sauce and piled high with Italian beef and hot giardiniera, with pizza sauce on the side. Hanna’s favorite item on the menu is the restaurant’s homemade ranch dressing served on a garden salad.
In addition to the pizzas, Matt said top-selling items include the garlic beef roll, which is filled with garlic butter and Italian beef, baked, and served with a side of au jus. But no side items, he said, top the popularity of the beer nuggets.
Long a DeKalb County staple, beer nuggets are little more than deep fried chunks of pizza dough. They can come plain or covered in parmesan, if served as an appetizer, or dusted in cinnamon and sugar, if sought as a dessert. Appetizer-style beer nuggets are usually dipped in pizza sauce or cheese sauce, while dessert-syle beer nuggets can be dipped in a sweet white icing.
No matter how they are served and eaten, the only thing that tops beer nuggets in popularity is the pizza. Matt estimated at least a quarter of Dough Brothers’ customers add a white paper sack filled with beer nuggets, and their associated dipping sauces, to their pizza orders. The beer nuggets are so popular “because they’re a great value, easily shareable, and a tasty addition to any order.”
Since September 2023, maintenance of the Dough Brothers’ menu has become Matt and Hanna’s sole responsibility, after they purchased the restaurant from Matt’s former employers, the Robbins family.
Matt says he intends to only continue to grow the pizzeria’s reputation for excellence and commitment to their local communities. “I went from manager to owner, while keeping the same crew of employees and the same consistency of products our customers have grown to love,” Matt said.
Matt said operating the restaurant is the latest expression of the love he and Hanna for the DeKalb-SycamoreCortland area. The restaurant currently
delivers to all of DeKalb, Sycamore, Cortland and Maple Park, and will deliver in an area roughly bounded by Plank Road on the north, Meredith Road on the east, McGirr Road on the south and Devonaire Farms to the west.
Matt said he and Hanna and their families have “strong roots” in the region. Both are graduates of Sycamore High School and they even both have grandparents who graduated as Spartans, as well. In addition to operating Dough Brothers, Hanna works as a nurse practitioner through Northwestern Medicine and has worked at Kishwaukee Hospital since she was 17 years old.
As owners of Dough Brothers, Matt and Hanna said they are always looking for new ways to connect with and support the local communities. They noted Dough Brothers has hosted several food night fundraisers since the ownership change for local schools and youth sports organizations, including Cornerstone Christian Academy and Cortland Elementary, with others scheduled this fall for North Elementary in Sycamore and DeKalb Crush Baseball. “We would love to get more involved as our own children grow up in this
community and as we get more comfortable in ownership,” Matt said. “Our pride comes from serving our community.”
As for future plans, Matt said he and Hanna haven’t ruled out the possibility of opening new locations, potentially including seated table service. But such changes would most likely be several years in the future.
For now, the couple is focused on their new life as a family, topped off with maintaining the same levels of service, quality, and flavor that have earned Dough Brothers its place at the top of the region’s pizza scene.
“It’s a pleasure to serve our community and we hope to for years to come,” Matt said.
OAK CREST
