Now we can more freely speak about the Italian restaurant coming to Downtown Platte City in the former Shirley’s Fashion Center spot at 339 Main Street.
It will be called Doni’s Italian Restaurant, named after the owner/operator of the business, Liridon Mehmeti. Liridon, as you might have guessed by now, goes by Doni. He has been associated with Luigi’s Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar in Liberty on the historic square.
City of Platte City officials approved Doni’s city liquor license last week. From that license application we are able to glean information such as the planned hours for Doni’s Italian Restaurant are 11-8 on Sunday, 11-9 on Tuesday thru Thursday, and 11 to 9:30 on Friday and Saturday. Closed on Monday. The Platte City restaurant will be 2,800 sq. ft. It has been approved for a city liquor license to allow liquor by the drink with Sunday sales.
As we previously reported, the planned opening is in May. I’ve been told Doni will begin interviewing potential staff members as early as next week.
An anxious and hungry public remains excited for the opening of the Italian restaurant in Platte City.
Quick word on Tuesday’s municipal election results. It looks like a bad year to be an incumbent, even on the local level. I mean I think it’s fair to anticipate Republicans taking a beating nationally later this year, but the attitude of voters at the local level seems to be one of anti-incumbency. Platte City’s incumbent mayor Steve Hoeger was crushed 65%-35% by Amber Brune, even though there was no scandal or soap opera drama going on among city staff like there was two years ago when then-incumbent Tony Paolillo was defeated by Hoeger.
Strong anti-incumbent attitude at Weatherby Lake as well, apparently. Steve Clark, incumbent mayor at Weatherby Lake, was also defeated by a significant margin, coming up on the short end of a 55% to 45% battle with Tyler Patterson.
In short, if I were a countywide incumbent on the ballot later this year I would be taking this as a word of warning. Be prepared, the early indications are voters are in a “let’s throw the incumbents out” kind of mood in 2026.
I saw a unique vehicle Tuesday while getting photos outside of a local polling site as part of our municipal election coverage.
Amber Brune, successful candidate for Platte City mayor, was sitting in the rear of an open-air, yellow 1973 Volkswagen Thing. Not that I knew it was a Volkswagen Thing until I asked. Had never heard of that model, honestly. It belongs to Brune and her husband. She said she first saw one while in Arizona and sent a pic of it to her hubby. Eventually they came to own one.
I commented to her that it looked like a war wagon of sorts, like a military vehicle that we used to see on episodes of MASH. She said the Volkswagen Thing does have a military-related history.
Intrigued, when I got back to our office I did a little internet research. “The Volkswagen Thing (Type 181) is a rear-engined, air-cooled, four-door convertible produced from 1968 to 1983, based on VW Beetle mechanicals. Originally designed for the West German military, it was marketed to civilians in the U.S. in the years 1973 and 1974 as a fun, versatile vehicle with removable doors and a fold-down windshield,” is what I learned via Google.
So there you go. If you missed it at the YMCA polling site in Platte City on Tuesday maybe it will show up in a local car show one of these days.
Will you be celebrating the holiday?
You might be asking which holiday. We just observed Easter. The next holiday is what our state calls the Show Me Green Sales Tax Holiday, which returns this spring. In short, if you’ve been wanting or needing to buy a new appliance, you’re in luck.
Here are the details, or at least some of them. From April 19-25, state sales tax will be waived when you purchase qualifying Energy Star certified appliances.
“This certification indicates that a product has been independently verified to meet strict standards–which can mean superior performance and long-term energy savings,” says the DOR. Clothes washers, dryers, dishwashers, air conditioners and refrigerators with the Energy Star certification are just some of the items that are exempt from state sales tax on the first $1,500 of each appliance purchased.
So, Happy Sales Tax Holiday to those who plan to celebrate.
It has been a bit since we’ve shared some of our Facebook numbers with you. The Landmark’s wildly popular Facebook page now has 13,748 followers.
Some demographics for you: 68% of our followers are women, 32% men. Around 25.6% are age 45-54, 22.3% are age 35-44, 20.6% are age 55-64. Approximately 31.5% fall into the “other” age category, meaning they’re either younger than 35 or older than 64.
Number of views continues to be the most amazing stat. According to Meta, The Landmark’s Facebook page has had 765,479 views in the past 28 days. That includes 75,000 engagements, which are likes, reactions, comments, shares, clicks.
Those are absolutely astonishing numbers. There’s no question The Landmark is the hub of Platte County news.
As you know I had pizza money futures tickets on four teams to win the men’s basketball title. None did. UConn came close, making it to the championship game before losing as a heavy underdog to Michigan 69-63 Monday night. I had $35 invested on UConn from lines ranging from 17-1 to 22-1 at various points in February. All told, had UConn pulled off the upset we would have had $680 to deposit in our mailing room pizza party account. Sad day for Fred Felix, our dancing delivery man. Hope he’ll settle for an ice cream cone.
(Find Foley searching for ice cream for the mailing crew. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
