Heun: French bistro coming to Geneva

By Dave Heun

Daily Herald correspondent

It's rather apparent one can equate Geneva with some Swedish heritage. This coming week bears that out, with the annual Swedish Days festival.

But the city is not afraid to throw a bone to France, or all things French, it appears.

The Chez Moi Café has developed a following of loyal fans in the past five years or so with its French fare and bistro feel.

Now, another touch of Paris may be in the making for downtown Geneva in the 524 W. State St. location that Urban Grille left nearly two years ago.

Whether the food, pricing or customer service was just right for Urban Grille to exist over the long haul is simply left for debate. But one could never argue with its location. It has ample parking nearby, and it gets plenty of drive-by and walk-by traffic.

It is left for Hache Moderne Brasserie to see if it can take advantage of that location by providing those aforementioned essentials for the restaurant business.

Owners Peter Karl Youngren and Irina Haydon of Naperville will bring the French bistro theme to the Geneva scene with their lunch-and-dinner restaurant, hoping to open it in July.

It's dirty water

When the Standells belted out "Dirty Water" in 1966, it's not likely they were singing about the Fox River. But they could have been.

After all, our infamous activist "The Fox" complained about the river's deterioration for years.

Even if the Fox River is much cleaner than it was in the 1960s - and one would think it has to be - I'm still in the camp with those who say they wouldn't even think about stepping foot into it.

That sentiment is one that has to get careful consideration as planners in St. Charles consider ways to enhance the river as a recreation area.

Much more can be done to draw visitors to the riverfront that won't call for anyone hopping into the water, but it sure would be great if we could say with confidence that it was clean enough to do so.

As for the Standells? They were singing about tolerating some rough conditions in Boston, as much as they were saying the water there wasn't so clean.

The weather factor

You hate to see our community festivals, which planners invest a year of time into, hampered by lousy weather. But it is a fact of life around here. (It is, in fact, pouring rain again as I write this.)

Here's to hoping Swedish Days can get through the week without an ornery twist from Mother Nature.

It sure seems like we've had enough of those twists already this year.

Idle Riverfest thoughts

Speaking of the Fox River and shaky weather, I better clear out the notebook from last weekend's St. Charles Riverfest, which endured its share of heat and rain.

I've always been fairly lukewarm about having carnival rides take up space at a community festival, though I know little kids love this stuff. Still, the big Ferris wheel near the Fox River made for an interesting sight when looking at the setting from the north near Pottawatomie Park. It was like a mini Navy Pier look.

Watching the dragon boat races is fun, even if you don't know anybody in the races. Basically, it's not something you are going to see on the Fox River on a regular basis.

In addition, the city can show off how nice the Freedom Walk has become north of the police station along the river. The new plantings near the old Shelby School bell structure are quite pleasant.

Park Place rising

It's just a big parcel of dirt and construction flags at the moment, but it will be interesting to watch the Park Place of Geneva townhouse development near Wheeler Park fall into place in the coming weeks.

The Wheeler Park setting has long called for something new to be built nearby. When it is done, this will be an area Geneva may point to as one of its nicer settings - attractive townhouses close to an excellent community park.

No strumming here

St. Charles Mayor Ray Rogina admits he is not a guitar player. He also knows he can't accept gifts from merchants, but he was honored to receive a "one of a kind" jazz guitar from Scott Corbin of The Jank Guitar during its grand opening last week.

"It was a beautiful gesture, but I think I will just mount it in my office for now and eventually donate it to charity or a music program," Rogina said.

Or he could learn how to play it and jazz up the city council meetings.

Long look ahead

I've read some fairly interesting predictions about what our lives will be like in 50 years. Well, at least for those who will be alive in 50 years.

Of course, much of it centers on technology. We may actually have hover cars like the Jetsons, and we'll certainly use facial, retina and fingerprint biometrics for access to anything private as a matter of routine, and data security will take place in "super storage" centers, or a step far beyond cloud-based security.

There will even be "smart toilets" that will tell you if there is too much blood in your waste, signaling some health problems that need to be checked. That's all we need, right? Our toilets telling us what to do. So much for the one safe haven we all have.

More importantly than any technology, we should have a greater interest in what our communities may look and feel like 50 years from now - for those who will be here.

I've taken that question to our city leaders and will share their thoughts in upcoming columns.

dheun@sbcglobal.net