A Penny Saved, a Penny Earned

By Naperville Magazine
Appears in the June 2025 issue.

By Peter Gianopulos

This Naperville diner keeps it all in the family

Brisa Hernandez believes her mother’s homemade coffee cake can compete, crumb for crumb, with any dessert anywhere in the western suburbs. Whenever a new customer visits the Hernandez family’s cozy Naperville diner, the Lucky Penny Deli Café (1224 W. Ogden Ave.), Brisa points them to mom’s coffee cake. (Although she will admit that the house’s buttermilk doughnuts with a homemade vanilla glaze and dusted with powdered sugar come in a close second.)

As it turns out, Lucky Penny’s coffee cake isn’t the only thing boasting an endearing backstory. For years, Juan, the patriarch of the family, juggled two jobs, working as a busboy at Lucky Penny by day and spending his days off running his food truck. When he heard, in September 2022, that Lucky Penny’s owner was putting the restaurant up for sale, he could hardly contain his excitement. “It’s always been my father’s dream to own his own restaurant,” Brisa says.

To raise enough money, Juan sold his food truck, combined the earnings with his savings, and pitched his way to a deal. The previous owners had tried to change Penny’s offerings—long focused on eggs, spuds, and bacon—into a more Mexico-centric menu. But Juan believed in staying true to what longtime customers loved: flapjack towers, giant platters of gravy-smothered biscuits, and egg-topped burgers. He recruited his family—including his other children, Grecia and Jesus—to work at the restaurant. His wife was a key player, taking on multiple roles, including perfecting Lucky Penny’s coffee cake.

So if your tastes gravitate toward homespun, salt-of-the-earth fare—big honking’ skillets, giant fluffy frittatas, silky scrambles, plus pancakes, waffles, French toast, and crepes, not to mention a full lineup of soups, salads, sandwiches, and burgers—you’re in luck. (There’s even plenty of vegan and gluten-free options on the extensive menu.) Just be sure to save room for the coffee cake.

Photos: Jen Banowetz