Owner Niki Schiavo is a lifelong resident of the community who since high school dreamed of starting a restaurant. She studied business in college and had worked for 13 years in diners and supper clubs before starting her other businesses, Pixel Boutique and Modern Image Photography.

She also believed Crystal Falls needed more places to eat.

“And I love cooking, so obviously I had to do something like this,” Schiavo said.

Once she decided to open Fizzy’s Walk-up Eatery, the process of getting the business going was nearly a year in the making.

FIZZY’S WALK-UP Eatery in Crystal Falls. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)

Schiavo decided for convenience to set up right next door to Pixel. The house, which dates back to 1900, would need to be completely gutted and rebuilt — demolition and clean up alone took eight weeks, she said. Leon Schiavo, her husband and co-owner of Fizzy’s, is a contractor, so they did all of the work themselves along with help from other family members.

The yard was so overgrown with trees and shrubbery the building could not be seen from the road. All that would have to go to put in the dining patio.

Niki Schiavo said installing a commercial kitchen in the old house proved to be the biggest challenge, delaying their projected opening date last year from May 1 to July 17.

“When you build a commercial kitchen from scratch, there is a lot you have to do legally — you have to have the correct insurance, you have to pass all of the electrical and plumbing,” she said. “… Plus we could not get some of the machinery here because in the U.P. you cannot get things delivered the next day. It all takes awhile.”

Schiavo said she and her husband based Fizzy’s on places they saw while traveling.

“Nobody in the area has just an outside eating area and we have been all over Mexico and Hawaii and when you travel you see eateries like this, so we thought why not?” Schiavo said.

Fizzy’s Walk-up Eatery is not the place for those wanting deep-fried foods — they don’t even have a deep fryer and their fries are baked. The same goes for pizzas, pasties or even the seemingly mandatory Friday fish fry.

Fizzy’s features fresh hand-made cuisine inspired by Schiavo’s travels across the country and beyond.

“Our menu is home cooking — 95% of the menu is from our own recipes, so it is a very personal menu,” Schiavo said.

The menu at Fizzy’s changes every Monday. Customer favorites last year included street tacos, the BLT and Niki’s chicken salad sandwich. They have all-beef hot dogs and chili dogs.

Fizzy’s Walk-up Eatery serves paninis such as the Elvis, which has peanut butter, jelly, banana and bacon. Other featured paninis include a Cuban and a reuben.

Fizzy’s also offers homemade soups, potato salad and tuna salad. Leon’s curry is not to be missed, she said.

Drinks include Orange Julius, house-brewed cold teas such as blackberry basil, lemonade flavors like strawberry thyme and lavender, hot and cold coffee and fizzy specialties such as the Huckleberry Fizz. Schiavo said they will have gluten- and dairy- free smoothies as well.

For those coming just for dessert or who saved room, Fizzy’s has Jilbert’s Dairy ice cream for banana splits, shakes and sundaes with names like bustin’ brownie and crazy turtle.

Fizzy’s is truly a family-operated business. In addition to helping build the eatery, husband Leon Schiavo does the back-of-the-house cooking. Sons Liam, Layne and Lindon all work at Fizzy’s, while her mother and sister work at Pixel.

Niki Schiavo is looking forward to being open for the holidays they missed last year. The first 50 mothers on Mother’s Day will receive a gift. Brats and potato salad will be on special for Father’s Day.

Staff will be added for the Fourth of July and Bass Festival crowds.

Fizzy’s Walk-up Eatery, 816 Crystal Ave., is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.