The Wake

The second level of the Dinkydome screams food. There’s Espresso Royale, Taco Johns, Little Taj Mahal and more. In this mix a pizza and pasta joint stands with food on display, but no sign to signify a name. It leads one to wonder, “What is that place?” The answer is Yianni’s Pizzeria and Pasta Bar.

The restaurant has been open for a little more than a month and is run by 23-year-old John Nicklow, who took over the pizza place from his father, Tony. Yianni’s is a two-man operation, run by Nicklow with the help of his sole employee Joe Cerami, who met Nicklow through Tony. “I worked with his father, but didn’t meet him until about a month ago,” Cerami says. “Isn’t that funny?”

“The pizza was already here and we already had a good customer base for pizza,” Nicklow says. The business, previously called Taste of Manhattan, had about 20 to 25 regulars and now that a 20-ingredient pasta bar has been added, “business has tripled,” he says.

Nicklow changed the name to Yianni, which is Greek for John, in honor of his Greek heritage because, “It wasn’t operating as I wanted it to and I didn’t want it to be associated [with Taste].”

As for the Dinkydome, which was originally built as a library for a bible college, “We can get more people up here [to the Dinkydome],” Nicklow says. The businesses are good and the owners are good people, Nicklow says. The Dinkydome has more potential than it’s given credit for.

It may seem strange that a restaurant would open before it had a sign and menus, but not to Nicklow. “My father recommended closing until everything was together,” he says. But Nicklow “wanted to finalize ideas and hear customer input.” Once menus are finalized and printed, they’ll be passed out with orders to advertise the restaurant, he says.

Nicklow now concentrates on getting everything running how he’d like it to. “There was major reorganization and cleaning to create the pasta bar and put in the display fridge,” Nicklow says. “Now you can watch when I cook.”

Nicklow, a recent graduate of St. Mary’s University in Winona, has a degree in business management, and comes from local food royalty. His father came from Greece and opened Nicklow’s Cafe & Bar in Spring Lake Park and Santorini Taverna & Grill at 394 and 169 in St. Louis Park.

John is also in charge of the reorganization of Mangia, a restaurant in the lower level of the Dinkydome along University Avenue. Mangia will re-open in two months with a full bar and will serve pizza, pasta and wings.

Yianni’s is currently “selling [food] much cheaper than we should to continue with business,” while Nicklow gets recipes and menus just perfect. “It’s kind of like my practice round,” he says.

The best part? You don’t have to wait while everything is finalized. Yianni’s is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and takes checks and credit cards. Their most popular item is two slices of pizza with a soda at an unbeatable $4.75. The pasta bar is $4.95 for vegetarian—meat can be added for $1.50. So next time you are in the Dome, consider something new, cheap and absolutely delicious.