Craft Urban owner reflects on first year in Geneva
One of my first columns of 2018 sort of monitored the first two months of business for Craft Urban on James Street in Geneva. It was really cold during that time period, but co-owner Francisco Chavez said he was pleased with the early response to his new restaurant.
When Nov. 16 rolls around, Craft Urban will be marking a year on Geneva's busy restaurant landscape. Because so many restaurants come and go within that first year, I checked in with Chavez to get his current take on whether the Tri-Cities have embraced his local-resource dining experience.
"The best part for us has been the reception we have received from the general public," Chavez said. "Being able to add vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free to the menu has been good, as not all places offer that."
But the restaurant patrons also continue to gravitate to the two most popular dishes - the Craft Urban Burger and the shrimp and grits.
"That's been the rewarding part of this, the positive feedback," Chavez said. "It's all culminated in us being considered the best new restaurant in the area (through a newspaper poll)."
From a strictly personal standpoint, I would say our visit to Craft Urban a couple of months ago was quite enjoyable, and we are certain to go back.
But it is the restaurant business, so it has its ups and downs. For Chavez, that means still trying to get a read on when diners in the Tri-Cities tend to come out.
"The most challenging part for us has been trying to figure out traffic flow," he said. "It's one of those things where one week we are extremely busy on a Tuesday night, and the next week we increase staff for that night and it turns out to be a miss, because it's just not as busy."
Using some modern management tools and analytics built into some of the restaurant point-of-sale terminals or back-end office software is helping Chavez and his partners closely monitor those trends.
"It will help keep us going into 2019, and we know there is some fine-tuning needed and more thinking about what the key is to this," he added.
Chavez said his dealings with city officials has been excellent, particularly when it was pointed out to him that the fancy painted mural on his building was fine, but the name of the restaurant could not be painted on. So, the Craft Urban name now is on a stainless steel panel attached to the brick.
So, what's the bottom line for Craft Urban?
"Things can always be better in the restaurant business, I have found out, and it can be like a roller-coaster ride," Chavez said. "We are doing fine now, but who's to say the economy isn't going to tank tomorrow and people will stop going out to eat?
"There is a lot of competition in Geneva, but that is why we came here," he added. "We didn't want to be complacent and we want to challenge ourselves."
A best in the U.S.:
To say you rank 88th out of 100 in any type of category may not sound like a tremendous feat - unless that 100 covers the entire United States and Canada.
That's where Wasco Nursery and Garden Center finds itself again after being tabbed one of the top independent garden centers in the country for the fifth year in a row.
Those of us who have lived in this area a long time already know about this nursery's reputation, but it never hurts for a business like this to say that it is nationally recognized as well.
The ranking comes from Garden Center magazine, which based its 2018 rankings on the 2017 sales volume from independent garden centers.
And how long has Wasco Nursery been in business? Lynn Jay founded it in 1925 on farmland along LaFox Road.
Today, the nursery is located on Route 64, about 5½ miles west of Randall Road.
It's the costumes:
All of the area high schools stage wonderful plays during the school year, but a few always catch my attention - mostly from the standpoint of envisioning the costumes from a certain era.
That's why I liked the St. Charles East production of "Guys and Dolls," probably a decade ago at this point. But I still remember the classy suits the boys were wearing and the flashy dresses of the young ladies.
The same has to be coming Friday, Nov. 9, and Saturday, Nov. 10, when Batavia High School brings the "Chicago" high school edition to the Batavia Fine Arts Centre stage.
The costumes aside, "Chicago" has always been an interesting tale of truth vs. fiction, with smooth-talking lawyers and a celebrity client facing murder charges - all trying to spin their yarns for favorable coverage through the press.
It's been fun for thousands of theatergoers since it first appeared on Broadway in 1996 and in versions prior to that. It's a safe bet that the 45 Batavia students cast in this production will bring that same energy.
Tickets are available at (630) 937-8930.
The show of shows:
Many people asked what I thought of the The Three Stooges show last weekend at the Arcada Theatre in downtown St. Charles. I talked about it for weeks, so it's only fair that I share my opinion.
It was the show of shows, and just a great afternoon in the historic theater. Did you expect me to think anything less?
Truthfully, this show was far beyond my expectations. The impersonators and Curly Howard's grandson, Bradley Server, put on a funny show that included many of the great routines, one-liners and slapstick mayhem.
Even Arcada frontman Ron Onesti was quite pleased with the crowds and the show. He came out for the show introduction with a colorful sport coat that one might see on a clown during one of those famous crowded clown car routines.
He explained that the Stooges show was the only occasion in which he felt he could wear something so silly.
When a carnival barker touts a show for "all ages," he must have had this one in mind. My unscientific estimate would be that those in attendance ranged from 5 to 95.
When Onesti called for all kids in the house to come up for a photo with the cast, even he was amazed as the kids poured onto the stage.
"Oh, oh! If I would have known there were this many kids, I might not have done this," he laughed, as the stage filled up with smiling youngsters.
dheun@sbcglobal.net