Sheldon, Iowa — A Sheldon commercial building that has sat vacant for more than three years is getting new life when a Sheldon area family opens a new restaurant later this year.
The building, located just east of the intersection of Highway 18 and Old 60 in Sheldon was home to Godfather’s Pizza until the pizzeria closed in February of 2017 after 33 years in business.
Now the building is getting a new lease on life as Sheldon area residents Jamie and Stacey Van Roekel and their three children will soon be opening a new restaurant at that location. Stacey Van Roekel tells us about the new restaurant.
(As above) “We are opening a new restaurant in the Godfather’s building. It is called Italian Cowboy Cafe, and it’s going to have a focus on kind of a fusion Italian and Southern foods.”
Van Roekel says the idea for the Italian and Southern food restaurant comes from her family heritage.
(As above) “It’s really from my upbringing. My grandmother is full Italian, my mom is full Italian. On my grandparents side, on my dad’s side, my paternal grandparents are from Louisiana and Tennessee. They were a huge influence on my life, and that’s where I got my love of cooking.”
She says she’s always dreamed of opening a restaurant.
(As above) “It’s always been a dream of mine to open a restaurant. We started talking about it last year and the COVID thing hit and it was kind of stalled for a little bit. We want to bring some variety to Sheldon. We have some really good restaurants in Sheldon, but we don’t have a lot of variety. So we’re hoping this is going to give people a different option.”
Van Roekel says she and her family are excited to not only bring their restaurant to Sheldon, but also to fill a vacant Sheldon commercial building.
(As above) “We are just really excited to kind of kick things up in Sheldon with some variety, and bring some happiness through our food.”
She says remodeling is underway, and they’ve set an aggressive timeline, and tentatively plan to Open The Italian Cowboy Cafe on October 15th.
