Half Nelson Unveils New “Little Italy” in Downtown Davenport
By Jonathan Turner
There’s a new Little Italy in town, tucked into a tremendously cool, creative and dreamily romantic spot in downtown Davenport.
Café San Lorenzo formally opened to the public last week, the charming, thoroughly Italian outdoor dining space at Half Nelson, 321 E. 2nd St. Besides its string lighting, accented with small Italian flags, and red checkerboard tablecloth-topped tables with red Campari umbrellas, its evocative European vibe is literally cemented by astounding painting across the formerly drab concrete – spanning about 75 feet long and 22 feet across, led by the amazing QC muralist Heidi Sallows.
Cafe San Lorenzo is between The Half Nelson, 321 E. 2nd St., Davenport, and The Last Picture House.
The intricately painted ground creates the atmosphere of Italian cobblestones, tiles, bricks, a fire pit, and part water with fish.
Since early April, Sallows had several artists help with the work, including her longtime friend Sarah Robb, and intern Claire Phares, an Alleman alum who’s studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also asked members of the public to contribute, to make it a community work of art, public art owned and created by the community.
Sallows worked with closely with restaurant owner Matthew Osborn, with the café east wall shared with The Last Picture House, the popular indie movie theater.
Lead artist Heidi Sallows, left, with restaurant owner Matthew Osborn and artist intern Claire Phares.
The Half Nelson bills itself as “contemporary American fare and creative cocktails in a lively retro-luxe environment.”
The stylish restaurant is influenced by the culture of the vastly entertaining Bucktown neighborhood in the early 20th century. In this space, Arts and Crafts movement millwork and finishes meets Art Deco lines and details.
Half Nelson (open since 2019) is so named since it occupies half of a 1923 building that originally functioned as a warehouse for the N.O. Nelson Manufacturing Company. Bootleg Hill Meadery (which makes honey mead liquor) is next door.
“I wanted to reflect more of what they were trying to do here,” Sallows said of the outdoor café tiles, cobblestones, and mosaics.
She has never been to Italy herself – Osborn has visited twice, once right after high school when he attended Pleasant Valley, and the second time in 2019. He’s been to Florence, Milan, Torino, Siena, and Rome.
“This started as a challenge for myself and Chef Connor,” he said of the new cafe. “This is not a time of year I really look forward to. We’ve done the menu we use inside outside, and it felt like an operational hassle. I wanted a better experience – we felt outside was like a worse version of our seating experience.”
The previous outdoor seating was simply tables on gray concrete, with some lighting. “There was no way to replicate what we did inside outside,” Osborn said.
“We wanted to make it fun for us, a creative challenge,” he said. “It all sort of came together and clicked.”
They named it Café San Lorenzo after St. Lawrence, a 3rdh-century Roman figure, the patron saint of cooks and restaurateurs. It was recorded that he was roasted to death on a gridiron, remarking to his torturers at one point, “I am cooked on that side; turn me over, and eat.”
“I think he would appreciate having a fire pit here,” Sallows joked. When The Half Nelson was preparing to open in spring 2019, his grandmother gave him a prayer medal of St Lawrence.
“Before it was a sterile surface; it needed to have cobblestone, tiles,” Osborn said, noting that painting them was a much less expensive option, and gave work to local artists. “We wanted that sidewalk café, al fresco atmosphere.”
“People thought it was real,” Sallows said. She had done some holiday windows for Half Nelson in past years.
“Heidi took to the vision like right away,” Osborn said. She said this project really stretched her artistic capabilities, with most of her mural work done on walls indoors and out.
Sallows has done a few dance floors and a Brady Street logo for the Bix 7 years ago. This was the first time she did something to mimic stone work.
“I couldn’t imagine when we started, how she took this and created this granularity, this detail and it’s perfection,” Osborn said, “It’s so great.”
He previously used flower planters outside, but now the planters perfectly complement the art’s design, which also includes some flowers. The tan and beige colors of the Half Nelson exterior also are reflected in some of the painting.
Sallows used a very good anti-mold and mildew primer for the concrete. “I’m kind of excited to see how it wears out,” she said.
Osborn had a soft opening last weekend for friends and family, with a public opening Wednesday, June 4th. The café is partnering with Last Picture House on Tuesday, June 17, for “Giallo and Gelato,” Italian horror film, with 8 p.m. food + music, and the movie starting at 8:45. Admission will be $30 (antipasti and gelato included).
Sallows will add posters later, with five artists involved, to be displayed on the Last Picture House wall, with Italian-style travel/food images, inspired by the 1920s-‘60s.
“We’re piloting this program with a QR code, a sticker that goes next to their work, with their QR code,” she said, to sell more local artists’ pieces.
Osborn plans to host a big outdoor dinner during the week of Alternating Currents in August.
Café San Lorenzo is very close to the newly refurbished Emerson Place alley (south of 2nd between Iowa and Perry streets), featuring new lighting and decorative archways.
The archways pay homage to the neighborhood’s story as a historic district, with a nod to its duality as a hub for both the emerging automobile industry, as well as its earlier origins as an infamous home to bawdy saloons and entertainment. Today, the East 2nd Street “Motor Row” neighborhood stands as one of downtown’s fastest growing mixed corridors featuring retail, restaurants and housing.
The newly refurbished Emerson Place alley is behind The Half Nelson, between Iowa and Perry streets.
Downtown Davenport Partnership invested $180,000 in the alley project, which includes $52,000 of donated in-kind labor and materials provided by Davenport Electric Contract Company.
DDP allocated some money from its public art budget for the new café, Osborn said.
The café hours are same as for the restaurant (but with a clearly Italian menu) – Tuesday to Thursday 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 4:30 to 10 p.m.
Jonathan Turner is a veteran journalist and piano player, who has made the QC home since 1995 and loves writing about arts and culture. He is the author of the books “A Brief History of Bucktown: Davenport's Infamous District Transformed,” and “100 Things To Do in the Quad Cities Before You Die”.