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Located just down the street from the LaGrange Square, 505 Eats has been serving the community with special dishes and fresh ingredients for more than six years.

Before opening 505 Eats, owner and chef Joyce Sato was running the convenience store in the Vernon Street Marathon. That’s when she decided she wanted to open 505 Eats.

“Before here, we lived in New York and went to a lot of restaurants, but I never really thought about opening my own,” Sato said. “…the lot here stayed vacant for a while and I said, ‘well surely I could do something with it.’ I love cooking and baking so we opened this.”

Sato said it was a slow process to build and create the ambiance she wanted, and she wanted make sure it was set apart from the convenience store.

“I didn’t want it to be too elegant because being in the convenience store for a while you meet so many people from all walks of life,” Sato said. “We’ve just been servicing all of them for a long a time. I wanted it to be nice, and where you don’t feel off coming in. We wanted it to be for anybody.”

Located right next to college, Sato said students are surprisingly not the number one customers.

“We have some students and professors come in, but we really get all walks of life,” Sato said. “But that’s what I appreciate. I didn’t want it to be so high end, or low end, but just to have good quality food.”

Sato makes it a point to taste and eat everything the restaurant makes to make sure they are serving quality food products.

“If I wouldn’t eat the food, then I wouldn’t serve it to you,” Sato said. “That’s always been my thing.”

The lunch menu ranges from a sweet potatoes and bean burrito to a chicken gyro bowl. The restaurant also serves vegetarian and vegan options.

“I would say our food is comfort food, but I also try to emphasize more healthier choices as well,” Sato said. “I think we have a balance of like good and bad and healthy or not healthy. But all of our products I stand by. I eat everything that is on our menu.”

Looking at goals in the future, Sato said she hopes to expand 505 Eats.

“I would love to expand this area and make the convenience store smaller,” Sato said. “I would love to have a juice bar. I would concentrate on more vegetable bases and focus on real super food juicing.”

The restaurant is located on 505 Vernon Street and open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.