Small Business Spotlight: EaTo

Article by Becky Fillinger 

Nancy MonroeBig changes are underway at EaTo at 305 Washington Avenue S. We talked to co-owner Nancy Monroe to get a bit of advance notice on what to expect. The changes will please everyone: new menu items, new collaborations with food makers, reconfiguration of the restaurant and (dog friendly) patio space!

Q:  You were editor of Foodservice News for 19 years - did that experience lead you to want to become a restaurant owner?

A:  It should have scared me away, because restaurants are tough businesses with lots of moving parts and details to get wrong. But they are also primarily people businesses and that's what I love, both the people who work with us and the people who come in to dine. It's also a creative business because you constantly have to come up with new ideas, new promotions and new twists on the standards.

Bar and restaurant areas

The newly situated market area allows for an expanded dining area.

Q:  Please tell us about the changes – new ideas and new twists - you and your team have made to EaTo in the past several months?

A:  The original idea for EaTo (which is a play off of East Town) was to be a fast-casual restaurant with pizza takeaway and a market with upscale imported Italian cooking staples. We found that guests didn't want to order off a QR code (they wanted service), and that we needed more dining and bar seats and less space for the market. We moved the market into the small room off the entryway and added more local merchandise, such as fresh produce and house-prepared specialties. We also partnered with local food purveyors such as Cheesecake Funk and Five Watt Coffee. We opened a separate bottle shop with Italian-inspired wines and a Wine Club on the Third Avenue side of the building. Our "meat market" has shifted to a dessert station, because we know people love to pick up something sweet to take home. We're opening for lunch service in early May, and have a private dining space that's already in demand for parties. We've also expanded our menu to add more pastas and specials like mussels in a spicy wine broth, scallops, and Veal Marsala. Our drink menu has also grown with more rail drinks, prosecco on tap, local beers, and a good selection of non-alcoholic drinks. We found that while people loved our "fancy" drinks, sometimes they just wanted a gin and tonic.

Pet friendly patio

Q:  I really love the collaborations you’ve put in place. What was the inspiration for the upgrades?

A:  The pandemic changed the restaurant business. And to thrive, not just survive, restaurants have to be more than they were before: Good places to work and good places to visit on a regular basis. We want to be the neighborhood place, where we are all things to all people - or at least as close to that ideal as we can. Since we're located in a downtown area, we want the nearby residents to be able to shop for ingredients they can take upstairs to cook, find a great bottle of wine to celebrate the upcoming weekend, and also where they can meet up with friends and just hang out while enjoying a really special meal. When the weather finally warms up, our patio is a fun gathering spot where you can watch a parade of neighbors and their dogs pass by. Even the traffic noise is reminiscent of a really epic night in NYC. 

Q:  Will we see any other changes to the bar and beverage service?

A:  We added more seats to the bar, because as our new director of operations says, the bar is the heart of the restaurant, and people love the energy of sitting at the bar. We have wine by the glass in the restaurant, but diners can also buy a bottle in the bottle shop to drink in the dining room - at retail, not restaurant, prices - and no corkage fee. We're hearing that's unusual.

You can also order coffee with our soft-serve gelato, called an Affogato, for an after-dinner dessert/drink.

Chicken parmesan

Q:  What's your favorite item on the menu?

A:  I know this sounds self-serving, but our new menu is one of the first ones I haven't gotten tired of right away. I'm usually not a huge chicken fan, but I love the chicken parmesan because of the lemony bucatini and cheesy chicken. And also, the mussels, because of the kick in the wine sauce, and the bread and ricotta. And the cheesecake (from Cheesecake Funk) is so craveable - it’s dangerous.

Q:  How may we follow your news?

A:  Please do follow us on Facebook, Instagram and our website.

Come visit us!