In 1914, Fred Donckers opened up a storefront on Washington Street in Marquette. It also happens to be where the storefront sits today. He also was the owner of the movie theater to the right, until leasing it to Delft Theaters Inc. (as locals have known as "The Delft", which will apparently be re-opening as a dinner theater place).
Until the last few years, it was always a store to buy unbelievable homemade candy and confections, as well as other novelty type gifts. Now they have a restaurant serving up some amazing mac and cheese and sandwiches. They also have a soda fountain offering some sweet ice cream concoctions in the style like it would have been had you ordered it back when the store opened. My husband and I were in town for an appointment and I have been dieing to eat here for years, but never had the time to stop.
We are both big cheese-a-holics so we ordered a bowl of Donckers Mac to share. The creamy cheese sauce is filled with melted white cheddar and smoked Gouda cheese. They have other variations that sound amazing like the broccoli mac and the spicy bacon mac. We will have to try those out at future visits!
We ordered two sandwiches, and then since they were both cut in half we split both of them. My husband ordered the Scarecrow sandwich on cracked wheat bread. It comes with turkey, bacon, roasted red pepper, avocado spread and smoked Gouda (one of my favorite cheeses). It was a great combination of ingredients stuffed into what I call a "high class" grilled cheese.
I ordered the Uptown Club flatbread. Mine came with very similar ingredients. There were layers of turkey, bacon, ham, Gouda cheese, lettuce, tomato and pesto mayo. This was my favorite of the two (although I would have had half the amount of turkey and more ham, personal preference). The pesto mayo and Gouda cheese made the sandwich, and there was a great smokey flavor. We both ordered the side of Terra vegetable chips, and a pickle spear.
Instead of hitting the ice cream we picked out a few pieces of homemade candy. Pictured above is I believe the Irish Cream truffle with milk chocolate coating. All of their chocolates are absolutely amazing. I have been picking out chocolates as a special treat here since I was little. This was the first time that I have been here since they had a restaurant. If you REALLY want to make your mouth water....you can check out the fudge making station in the basement.
This restaurant is a must-stop. A link to their Facebook page and main website are below:
Donckers, Facebook Page
Donckers Main Website
