New restaurants add to Tri-Cities' attraction

With so many new restaurants opening in the area and the developers at The Quad, or current Charlestowne Mall, surely considering some new eateries in or around that site, it leaves this impression: It's like moving into a new city without moving at all.

We were hearing rave reviews about the new sushi place, Shakou, in downtown St. Charles during the soft opening at 312 W. Main St.

We've also seen a robust business at Buttermilk in downtown Geneva. In the meantime, along Third Street, the Gratto Italian Tapas bar suddenly closed, but a restaurant called Rascal's Tavern and Grill will move into that spot at 207 S. Third.

A fairly common theme of this column the past several years has been to highlight the comings and goings of restaurants in the Tri-Cities and surrounding villages.

Obviously, we'd like to see really good restaurants stay in business here. But as they keep changing hands, it does project the feeling of suddenly living in a new town without the expense of hiring a moving van.

When you think about it, that's what the whole First Street project in St. Charles had in mind - a downtown facelift that would deliver a different image for the city.

A new one

One new restaurant we have been curious about because it opened just before the winter set in is Top Table in the former Erik and Me and Sage Bistro location at 1 W. Illinois Ave. in St. Charles.

Though some diners had concerns about the wait staff early on, many visitors have declared Top Table provides the city with an excellent steakhouse.

Owners Nate and Amanda Drafall acknowledged it was a tough start when opening last September. "Those winter months are scary, and it was a heck of a struggle," Nate Drafall said.

The restaurant is "gearing up for using the patio and featuring live entertainment when the weather turns for us," Drafall said. The beautiful setting the site has along the Fox River for outdoor dining was a factor that drew them to the site, he added.

Looking to improve every week, Drafall said he recently contracted with a new butcher to supply the quality of meat one would see at a Gibsons or Morton's. In addition, the restaurant gets a weekly delivery of the freshest fish available, he added.

Training the wait staff at a new restaurant to operate at high standards takes some time, Drafall said. "We are happy with the core we have now."

Shops pull her in

It didn't take long for a couple of stores on Third Street in Geneva to become part of my wife's "favorites" list.

Angelo Dangles opened Her Art Shoppe at 12 S. Third St. a couple of years ago, and it seems that most women would find his interesting assortment of jewelry, scarves and other artistic pieces worth the visit.

You can tell Dangles caught the Geneva "bug" pretty quickly, as he is quick to point out to his customers other places in town that they should visit. "I always recommend visitors check out the All-Chocolate Kitchen and Stockholm's," Dangles said.

Another spot that pulls my wife in as if she were on a string is Flair on 3rd, 426 S. Third St., which is celebrating its anniversary this month.

The women's and children's clothing, jewelry and various other items catch a lady's attention, but the customer service that owner Geanna Gattuso and her staff provide is excellent. They helped me with some choices for Christmas gifts last year that ended up being perfect. Any guy appreciates that sort of coaching when it comes to jewelry for the woman in his life.

"We like setting ourselves apart with our customer service and remembering everyone when they come in," Gattuso said. "We really take pride in knowing our customers."

No bragging this time

There is no doubt that Chicago and its suburbs have much to offer vistors. Weather, however, is not one of those things.

While covering a recent conference in the city for my full-time job, once again the weather was so lousy - it was during the week of rain and even violent weather in the far west regions - everyone was stuck in the hotel.

Now there are worse things in life than being stuck in a Marriott hotel in downtown Chicago.

But for those of us who have lived in this part of Illinois all of our lives, you like to brag about Chicago a little bit to people who are rarely, if ever, here.

It all convinces me that, if not for the stretches of bogus weather, Chicago would most surely be one of the greatest places on Earth.

Fix that tire

I'm not a bike rider, but it's not hard to spot a lot of them on our trails and roads. On occasion, you might spot one sidetracked by a flat tire.

Mill Race Cyclery in Geneva is offering a "Fix a Flat" class from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the shop at 11 E. State St.

Not a bad idea if you spend a lot of time relying on getting from point A to point B on a bicycle.

Won't be long

Commuting to work on Metra trains is a tiring grind. I did it for about three years, and that was plenty. Thankfully, I no longer have to do that, and I missed most of the stress related to the parking garage being closed during construction of a third deck and then partially reopening.

The city is hoping you can mark May 31 on your calendars as the day the third deck will officially open, bringing the garage capacity to 540 spaces.

dheun@sbcglobal.net