'Eggs, Bacon And Gambling': 2 Plainfield Restaurants Can Now Add Video Gaming Machines

PLAINFIELD, IL — Two Plainfield restaurants on South Route 59 will add video gaming terminals after getting green-lit by the Village Board.

La Dolce Vita Per Tutti and The Big Apple Cafe, located less than a mile apart south of the downtown area, were both approved for video gaming licenses during Monday's Board meeting.

The Board voted 5-1 — with Trustee Brian Wojowski the sole opposition — for the license at La Dolce Vita; and 4-2, with Trustee Tom Ruane joining Wojoski against gaming for The Big Apple Cafe.

Ruane voted in favor of video gaming at the Italian restaurant but against it at the cafe, saying, "It's a nice sit-down restaurant, why you've got to have bells and whistles in there doesn't make sense."

"I'm kind of hypocritical in this," he said. "I don't have a good explanation for leaning yes on one and no on the another, just other than the fact it just doesn't seem the right place and atmosphere to have the gaming, and I thought we had a better ordinance written to keep this from happening."

Mayor John Argoudelis said he agreed it "doesn't make a lot of sense to go for eggs and bacon and get gaming. Our intent is the bars and those kinds of places that are needing that little extra boost." He added that some restaurants that have been approved for video gaming licenses might later choose to remove the machines if they're not seeing revenue if people aren't going for "eggs, bacon and gambling."

Bonuchi said she also agreed with Ruane but explained she voted yes for both restaurants: "If we say yes to one, we can't say no to others."

Ruane suggested the Board take a look at the village's current video gaming ordinance to curb the number of businesses installing machines.

"I think we need to look at this ordinance and rewrite it because the way it's happening right now, we're not far away from video game parlors because it wouldn't be very hard to set one up under this current ordinance, and I know we all didn't want to see that," Ruane said.

After years of back and forth on the topic, the Plainfield Village Board voted in February 2024 to allow video gaming. The village receives "minimal" tax revenue, but the approval was more so intended to help small businesses remain open with the extra revenue stream, Argoudelis said Monday night.

In the 2025 fiscal year, the Village of Plainfield received about $18,000 in revenue, which is being put toward the capital fund, Village Administrator Joshua Blakemore said.

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The Board approved five machines at the Italian restaurant and four at the breakfast spot. In keeping with the video gaming ordinance, the Plainfield Police Department conducted site inspections at each restaurant and confirmed both can install up to six gaming terminals, documents show.

At La Dolce Vita, which has operated in Plainfield since 2011, a gaming area will be located in a separate room on the west side of the building, with an entrance visible from the main entrance, bar and dining room. The Big Apple Cafe's machines will be located behind a half wall on the west side of the building, and its entrance will also be visible from the main entrance.