St. Charles amends rules to allow beer, wine sales at cooking school

The St. Charles City Council has approved amending the city's liquor license rules to allow a cooking school to sell beer and wine.

Fox Den Cooking has been teaching cooking classes at 131 S. First St. in downtown St. Charles. The space formerly housed Knead: Urban Eatery, which closed in October 2021 because of the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Fox Den owner Anthony Gargano also owns Osteria Bigolaro restaurant in Geneva.

"This is a new business venture looking to capitalize on the culinary arts and entertainment industry by offering cooking classes with beer and wine sales," St. Charles Police Chief James Keegan wrote in a memo to St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek, who is the city's liquor commissioner.

The business is open from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

The cooking school teaches 12 students at a time in two-hour sessions.