The story behind Geneva’s new ‘upscale dive bar,’ Bad Alice

Chris Claboltz isn’t sure he likes what some people say about the new bar he manages in downtown Geneva. But he understands those impressions, which haven’t deterred people from liking the place.

“Some people describe it as an ‘upscale dive bar,’” said Claboltz, the general manager of Bad Alice, at 204 W. State St. “But I think of it as a friendly bar.”

In that regard, Claboltz, has been overseeing a business the past six months that is exactly what the team of restaurateurs Marshall McCarty, Devin Beerman and Laura Beerman had in mind when opening Bad Alice and asking Claboltz to join their team.

Their other restaurants in Geneva, The Walrus Room and The Alchemist, provide much different atmospheres. The Walrus Room is best described as a traditional supper club setting, while The Alchemist is a Chicago-style restaurant with high-end cocktails and food offerings.

When a former tenant at the State Street site closed, McCarty and the Beermans saw it as an opportunity to open a bar in Geneva unlike any other in town, said Claboltz, a 38-year-old resident of the Fox Valley area.

“Initially, the idea was to have a spot for craft beer and do something different with cocktails in general, like a Tiki bar,” Claboltz said.

Bad Alice owners stuck with that premise, but emphasized the friendly bar aura — just what Claboltz and his partners wanted.

“When I came in last September to start the project, we started talking about it, and I thought the best move was to do like a neighborhood bar, like a ‘Cheers’ bar,” Claboltz explained.

Claboltz had established a relationship with the Geneva restaurateurs because a company he co-owns, Manbot Coffee Roasters, sold coffee to them. But he did come with plenty of experience in working as a chef and assistant director of operations for Bourbon Belly Hospitality, which operates spots like Barrel + Rye and Burger Local in Geneva.

That made it easier for his new partners to take his suggestions for Bad Alice and run with them.

“We wanted something affordable and friendly,” Claboltz noted. “It’s like something you can call your own when you go there, and you are not breaking the bank to have a drink there.”

Bad Alice has an aura of a clean, cozy bar, with comfortable furniture in the front entrance, about 20 bar stool seats, and a recessed wall that includes room for a few table settings.

Claboltz acknowledges if the bar had 70 people on a busy weekend night, “that would be a full house.”

There is a TV, but this isn’t a sports bar, though a Chicago sports team doing well can be put on if patrons request it. In the background, you’re likely to hear music playing at Bad Alice, creating an atmosphere for people to just “hang out.”

Bad Alice has Vinyl Sundays in which patrons can bring in their own vinyl albums to share on a turntable, near what Claboltz calls a “shrine” of odd things overlooking the bar.

The emphasis on vinyl records reminds me of a place called Seve’s Tavern in St. Charles in the 1980s, where great records were almost always playing.

The setting encourages patrons to come up to the bar and have a beer or cocktail, but some food choices are available.

Bad Alice offers pizzas from East Side Café in Warrenville, Chicago hot dogs, and what might be called the house special in the Spam melt. That’s a couple of fried Spam slices on toasted bread with Thousand Island dressing, Swiss and American cheese, shredded lettuce and tomato,

“The Spam melt is my favorite food we have,” Claboltz noted.

Business has been good at Bad Alice, he added. “It has been interesting to see how this new concept has been taken by patrons, as there are other dive bars or full-service restaurants around.

“But this is just a good, old neighborhood bar,” he said. “We want good people and good times in here.”

As such, the bar offers bingo nights on Tuesdays, and trivia nights on Wednesdays, while Thursdays offer special tiki cocktails.

Bad Alice is open seven days a week, from 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays, 5 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays, noon to 2 a.m. Saturdays, and noon to 10 p.m. Sundays.

And the name, Bad Alice? What’s that all about?

“The Walrus Room has sort of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme, and Bad Alice is a play on that,” Claboltz explained. “It was a name they had in the back of their heads to maybe use at some point.”

Clabotlz suggested that the best neighborhood bars always seemed to be named after a person.

“My daughter’s name is actually Alice, so we thought the name was perfect.”

Vargo’s Dance reaches 15

It was about 20 years ago when Jamie Vargo’s name first popped up on the radar of local people who enjoyed dancing and were on the hunt for places to dance.

Vargo was teaching swing, Latin and other ballroom dances at a restaurant in Campton Township at the time. But she had a lot of training on her resume and it wasn’t long before she opened her own studio, Vargo’s Dance, at 205 W. State St. in Geneva.

And here we are now as the studio celebrates its 15th anniversary with a party from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, at Preservation in Geneva.

By that time, Vargo will be well along in organizing another “Thriller on 38” event just before Halloween, as dancers from her studio and others perform the famous Michael Jackson “dance of the undead” routine in downtown Geneva.

But that’s what she’s done all of these years. Getting people out on a dance floor — or a street — to have a great time.

Reasons aplenty for closures

Thorabella’s restaurant in Batavia, by all accounts, was a popular eatery in the downtown district.

As usual, upon word spreading that the Italian restaurant was closing, social media posts lamented the loss of another dining location at this particular spot at 15 E. Wilson St.

In looking over the restaurant’s social media sites, there was nothing indicating it had indeed closed, other than a telltale sign. There was a real estate ad citing the spot as being available for the next suitor.

This closing again illustrates the difficulty in a restaurant enjoying longevity and, most importantly, financial success. This is not to say it is impossible, as we have many examples of long-standing restaurants in the Tri-Cities. It does say there are sometimes unknown reasons and apparent hurdles for dining establishments.

First, the unknowns. By that, we mean unknown financial woes or family problems, even when the restaurant seemed busy and popular. Then there are the unforeseen health issues or business partner breakups. An upside unknown might be a well-deserved retirement that results in a closing.

Second, the apparent hurdles. The Thorabella’s social media feedback zeroed in on consumers cutting back or restaurant owners struggling because of inflation, but also pointed out downtown parking woes.

Batavia is not alone in facing these problems, but parking complaints were flipped around to note Batavia has only one bridge through downtown.

The point was maybe all of the traffic being in the same place at the same time means people seeking parking also do it in the same congested place and time.

The population growth in the area results in this reality: In some cases, you may have to walk a bit to get from your car to your dining location.

Did you know?

The 8th Illinois Cavalry regiment trained near the Fox River at Camp Kane, near what is now Langum Park in St. Charles, in preparation for advancement to the south to engage in Civil War confrontations.

John Farnsworth and his nephew Elon Farnsworth were notable Civil War veterans in that regiment, with John recruiting and overseeing the recruits in his role as colonel.

He was a friend of President Abraham Lincoln and was nearly promoted to the rank of general, but went back to Washington, D.C. to serve as a congressman, before Congress approved his commission. He went on to serve seven terms in Congress.

Elon suffered a different fate, but is remembered as a heroic soldier, one in the line of the young officers like George Armstrong Custer and Wesley Merritt, known as the “boy generals.”

Elon was in the process of being appointed by Lincoln to the rank of brigadier general at age 25 in late June 1863. Unfortunately, the Senate never confirmed that appointment as Lincoln’s intentions were made known just days before Farnsworth was killed under a hail of Confederate soldiers’ bullets on July 3, 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg. His death is looked upon by historians as a result of poor decisions by commanders for Elon’s regiment to charge the Confederate front lines.

John Farnsworth’s mansion sat for decades on land just west of what is now Mount St. Mary Park in St. Charles — even when nearby Mount St. Mary High School and then Valley Lutheran High School were in operation.

The school building and mansion both were removed to make way for the Viewpointe homes atop the hill along Geneva Road (Route 31) in St. Charles in the early 1990s.

The St. Charles History Museum recently received an 1868 oil portrait of John Farnsworth and is raising funds to restore it.

dheun@sbcglobal.net