Why Juliette restaurant closed in Geneva

It wasn't a particularly long run, even as far as restaurants go, and it is disappointing to see that French restaurant Juliette at 524 W. State St. in Geneva has closed after less than a year of operation.

Chef David Reyes Jr. and his wife Juliette took over that spot from Hache Moderne Brasserie in January, hoping to have the same sort of success they were enjoying at The Finery & Blacksmith in St. Charles or The Grandstander on Third Street in Geneva.

Hache Moderne Brasserie surfaced at that location several months after Urban Grille had closed.

Managers at The Finery confirmed what I suspected about this closing. They said this particular location is simply not in the Geneva sweet spot, so to speak. It is just far enough west along State Street to be considered "off the beaten path" of the busier Third Street and those along State near Third.

In other words, a bit too far away from other restaurants, bars, businesses and parking to be effective.

If you go to a spot along Third or State streets that you find to be too crowded, you might just take a short walk to another spot to give that one a try.

But would you hike farther west down State? The answer so far has been no, though it is a good spot in terms of drive-by marketing, as the awning on the restaurant clearly gets a lot of sets of eyes on it during the course of a day.

Plus, overall, it appeared Juliette got mostly favorable comments on social media restaurant review sites.

So, as not to look at this site as a totally lost cause, it could be that it maybe isn't a good spot for a specialty restaurant.

Aurelio's Pizza proved a key fact of business life when it took over a spot downtown that also had been a revolving door for restaurants in the past: Give the vast majority of people something they'll really like and want, and longevity becomes a safer bet.

The private course:

Carol Hunecke of St. Charles was quick to drop me a note to say Einar and Mary Danielsen were her parents. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that a plaque for the couple was placed in Delnor Woods touting Einar's work maintaining those grounds for 35 years.

Indeed, Einar worked for the Norris family and managed their estate on the many acres along Route 25, near Fulton Avenue, from 1949 to 1985.

"Our family resided in the home adjacent to the property on the south, and my dad always maintained that golf course in pristine condition," Hunecke said. "We are so pleased that it has been preserved as a park for public enjoyment."

You read that correctly. There was a private golf course on that property, not to be confused with nearby, and public, Pottawatomie Golf Course.

Though both courses apparently were WPA projects during the Depression, and family members tell me Robert Trent Jones designed both. The one on Delnor Woods property was a nine-hole, par 29 course adjacent to the Norris home on Fifth Avenue.

"My father enjoyed playing golf on the grounds he maintained," Hunecke added.

So did John Collins, the grandson of Lester and Dellora Norris, though he admitted he never quite mastered the game.

"You'd think with having a golf course on your property, someone in the family would have been a real good golfer," Collins joked.

Danish royalty knighted Einar later in his life, Collins said, and Mary Danielsen passed away three years ago at age 97.

I was reminded that I wrote about Mary several years ago when seeking the longest living lifelong residents of our towns, and many mentioned Mary as the one likely to hold that honor in St. Charles.

Bring on the cake:

Not too long ago, my wife brought home a Nothing Bundt Cakes treat that someone had brought to her office. After a few bites, I was doing cartwheels of joy in the house.

So much so, that I called one of the franchises in Wheaton and asked if there was any way the company was considering coming into the Tri-Cities.

They said yes. And, sure enough, Nothing Bundt Cakes is coming to the Geneva Commons at 1086 Commerce Drive next month.

The store will be located next to the Jimmy John's delicatessen in that retail strip.

Bring on hot cakes:

Briana's Pancake Café is looking to expand its base of happy customers beyond the current location in Elburn along Route 38.

Another Briana's, under different ownership and called Briana's Pancake House, will open soon in Batavia at the opposite end from Aliano's restaurant in the retail strip along Island Avenue.

This retail parcel seemed doomed during the recession, and its fate was questionable in the wake of Batavia Park District losing a referendum seeking to build a new fitness center on that property. But it has kept plugging away to the point where it now should continue to draw in customers.

Plus, a downtown breakfast site almost always has a chance to do well, no matter how many others are offered.

That festival venue:

As we move toward Elburn Days putting a close to our main summer festival calendar, I wanted to share something I learned recently about the festival season that did surprise me.

After coming to work in this area in 1977, I am certain my first time at Swedish Days in Geneva was in 1979 - and I have not missed that festival since.

To me, it was always a Third Street event, with most of the activity and main stage set up there.

It turns out, that the 1979 event was actually the first time Swedish Days "moved" to Third Street. Previously, most of the activities, and certainly the parade, were all on State Street.

You learn about these things by reading the sidewalk engravings in front of the Geneva History Museum.

dheun@sbcglobal.net