Geneva restaurant owners banking on name, menu changes
It's all in a name. Or so it seems for Geneva restaurant owners Jeanette and Bob DiPasquantonio.
They've initiated a quick changeover at their Eñye restaurant at 330 W. State St. in changing the menu and renaming it Table 38.
From where I watch on the sidelines, this may have been a case in which the name Eñye just didn't click in with diners to start with, and it didn't give an indication of the Latin American menu offered.
The DiPasquantonios also own Urban Grille, which appears on stable footing. So that could buy them a little more time to see how the new Table 38 décor and menu will fly.
Isabella's and Citizen Kane were victims of the economy at that same site, but we can't throw Eñye and Table 38 under that bus just yet. This may have been more like stubbing your toe in the marketing world rather than dying on the vine because people can't afford to eat at your place.
Knee-jerk reaction?
As a traditional boxing fan, I haven't been able to embrace mixed martial arts as quickly as others have. But I know this about it: It's not as dangerous as boxing, or maybe even high school football, because there aren't as many blows to the participants' heads as in those more familiar sports.
I suspect it was a bit of a knee-jerk chain reaction for St. Charles aldermen on a city panel to shoot down the Arcada Theatre's proposal to bring some more MMA bouts to the downtown venue.
Hopefully, the full council will give it a closer look.
Yes, it's a tough and violent sport, but so is high school wrestling and football. The aldermen might be served well by having a local MMA participant like Patrick Villwock of Geneva come in and explain the sport through the eyes of someone who trains for it. Villwock broke his hand as a member of the Geneva High School wrestling team, but endured no such injury in his MMA training or bouts.
Also, does anyone really think that Arcada owner Ron Onesti would bring in some sort of ultraviolent, seedy event to his theater with little regard for overall safety? I'm not an MMA fan, because I like boxing better. But you wouldn't catch me trashing it as some sort of free-for-all that was going to ignite a downtown riot.
Early links reminder
Golf may be the last thing on anyone's mind right now, but that could be why the Geneva Chamber is already sending out reminder notes about the chamber golf outing on Thursday, June 9 at Tanna Farms.
Making what I consider a fairly accurate assumption, the chamber is also appealing to the Chicago sports fan in most of us by calling the event a celebration of Chicago sports teams. Let's hope that by June 9 we'll be talking about how the Bears won a title and how the Blackhawks and Bulls are zeroing in on their own. Let's also hope we are not totally disgusted with the White Sox and Cubs by then — but that could easily happen.
dheun@sbcglobal.net