By Margaret McCormick
What would Danielle Mercuri do if she wasn’t a successful restaurant owner?
The answer comes easily to her: artist or fashion designer.
And when you consider Mercuri’s portfolio of restaurants, that makes perfect sense.
First, there’s Rise N Shine, the wildly popular diner on Westcott Street in Syracuse that takes the most important meal of the day to a whole other level: fun, creative and indulgent.
Then there’s Loded, a burger joint on steroids known for its towering smash burgers, “loaded’’ chicken nuggets and French fries and specialty milkshakes. Loded relocated to Westcott Street in February.
And there’s Lalalu Ristorante, near Carrier Circle. It’s a modern Italian and glitzy Las Vegas-style restaurant rolled into one, with showy menu items prepared tableside.
“I figured out how to bring food into the world of art,’’ explained Mercuri, 45. “In a nice, cool way. Quirky and fun. Not stuffy.’’
To say that Mercuri has artistic flair and an eye for detail is an understatement. Creativity is her brand, her special sauce. Every plate that’s set before customers is designed to be eye-catching (and Instagram friendly) and please the palate — in that order.
“I’m very visual. I approach food in a visual way,’’ Mercuri said. “You eat with your eyes first. You want it to look appetizing. Taste is secondary. What takes us to the next level is things that no one else does. That’s what sets us apart from the rest.’’
Mercuri is a native of Rome who grew up in the restaurant business but didn’t plan to make a career of it.
Her first job was at the former Grimaldi’s Chop House, where her mother worked. She got pregnant at 16, dropped out of school, got married and had two more children. She would later earn her GED and “do the college thing’’ briefly to study fashion design.
But the restaurant business had plans for her. Mercuri inherited the original Rise N Shine Diner from the restaurant’s owner. Peter Hennessey owned several restaurants, taverns and clubs in Central New York, according to his obituary, the last one being a small diner tucked behind an oil change business on Thompson Road in DeWitt.
Desperate to make money to support herself and her family after being fired from an office job, Mercuri joined the diner as a server in 2009 and was eventually promoted to manager. Hennessey taught her how to cook and saw her potential to lead others and run a business. As he battled leukemia, he took steps to leave the restaurant to Mercuri. He died in 2013.
Over time, Mercuri began to add her own personal stamp to the classic diner.
She made changes to the space and started offering her spin on typical breakfast fare with photogenic menu items like the Big Daddy (scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage, bacon and cheddar cheese, all rolled up in a pancake), a special created for Father’s Day that’s now a Rise N Shine menu fixture. She started taking photos of her stylized creations and sharing them on social media.
“Social media is what put us on the map back when people didn’t know it as a marketing tool,’’ Mercuri said. “We dug into it good and social media gave us a huge platform.’’
She also began to dig deep into the business side of restaurant ownership: purchasing food, hiring and training staff, taking care of payroll.
Before long there was a constant line out the door at the tiny diner and Mercuri began looking for bigger digs. She found what she was looking for on Westcott Street and in 2019 launched what has become a foodie destination for students, locals and visitors to Syracuse, including celebrities like “Cake Boss’’ Buddy Valastro, who dined there (and at Lalalu) in the fall.
Owning one restaurant is a challenging job. So how does Mercuri balance the demands of three restaurants? (Her fourth restaurant, Lobster Babe, across the street from Rise N Shine, is on hiatus for now and being used as a pop-up dining space.)
As her restaurant projects expanded, Mercuri formed the Dremer Restaurant Group and added partners, including her fiancé, Alan Diamond, himself a business owner. Dremer is spelled that way intentionally, Mercuri said, because she’s a dreamer who does things differently.
Mercuri structures her week to give time and attention to each restaurant: a day or more at Rise N Shine, a day or more at Loded, a couple evenings at Lalalu, plus quiet time for things like menu development, photography and marketing and social media strategy — something she loves and is very involved with.
She can’t be in three places at once and Mercuri said she doesn’t need to be — that’s what managers are for. The key to operating multiple restaurants, she said, is to build a strong team who understands your vision and supports your goals — and to delegate work and responsibilities accordingly.
“You need a hands-on person all the time, yes,’’ Mercuri said. “Does the owner need to be there? No. You have to have core people you trust, who appreciate what you do and can kind of be your eyes and ears.’’
Mercuri declined to disclose financial particulars for her restaurants, but describes Rise N Shine as a “well-oiled machine,’’ the engine that drives her plans for further growth. If you go there on a weekend, you might have to wait 90 minutes to sit down for your pancake “sushi,” breakfast fried rice or basic eggs, bacon and toast. She has high hopes for Loded in its new location and for Lalalu, which marked its first anniversary in late December.
There’s no shortage of diners in Central New York. And there are many places to grab a burger and sit down for an Italian American feast. So Mercuri will stick with what has become her niche, her signature style, in the crowded restaurant space.
“Running a restaurant isn’t about just food. It’s about people: What will attract them and make them want to come here?” she said. “It’s always about the experience. I love the interaction of food with people.’’
Food Meets Art at the Everson Museum in Syracuse
Danielle Mercuri, owner of Rise N Shine, Lalalu Ristorante and Loded and chief executive officer of the Dremer Restaurant Group, has been quietly working on an artistic collaboration with the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse.
The Dremer Group will operate Louise, a new cafe at the museum that’s scheduled to open in late spring.
Louise takes its name from museum trustee Louise Rosenfield, who donated the thousands of functional ceramic pieces in the museum’s Rosenfield Collection. Many of the pieces will be used in the cafe, where diners can learn more about them and the artists who created them as part of their dining experiences.
For more information, visit the museum at https://everson.org
Margaret McCormick is a food writer based in Syracuse.
