Breakfast is served (deliciously!) in downtown St. Charles

It's the second restaurant Rob Mondi has opened in St. Charles in the past few years.

His first, Slider Franks on the east side, didn't fare well, he says, because he also was working as a stockbroker and couldn't devote a full-time effort to it.

His newest offering, Abby's Breakfast and Lunch, 11 N. Third St., is promising. It opened three months ago and not only brings a breakfast joint back to the heart of downtown St. Charles, it delivers some tasty dishes from experienced chefs: Abednego "Abby" Mejia and Matt McCoy, who both worked at Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery in Warrenville, where Mejia was head chef.

Plus, Mondi now is back in the restaurant world full-time. He used to operate Dunkin' Donuts franchises, so he knows what it takes to operate a restaurant or doughnut shop.

"It's been amazing; people love the food," Mondi of Abby's.

While it hasn't quite caught on enough for the restaurant to be busy every morning or afternoon, word is starting to get out that you can't go wrong with the French toast, pancakes, waffles or eggs Benedict for breakfast or the Reuben sandwich for lunch.

Sunday morning is the busiest time for Abby's, as it catches the after-church crowd, Mondi said. Abby's seats between 50 and 60 people, so Mondi welcomes the church crowds as well as clubs or organizations having breakfast or lunch outings.

Abby's offers a pleasant setting, with historic photos of Pottawatomie Park and various art pieces on the walls.

But it's the food and the Bloody Marys that will have people coming back. The interesting assortment of craft beers and wine should also be a draw.

"When thinking about opening this, we just said, 'Let's do a breakfast place,'" Mondi said. "There hasn't been a good breakfast spot right downtown in about eight years."

Happy for colleagues

It was great to see my late friend and longtime colleague Les Hodge among the impressive list of people to be honored in the first class of the Batavia Hall of Honor, along with the late Marilyn Robinson, who wrote a local history column for me during my newspaper editor years.

Both were so important in their community by being the walking and talking history books that are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

I met Les Hodge in 1978, when I became a local sports editor. He covered Batavia for the area papers for years before I came around, but we quickly became good friends with the same passion for local sports programs.

Of course, he wore Bulldog red and yellow on his sleeve, but he respected and appreciated all local coaches and athletes. That's what landed him in the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.

Les was always grateful I could help his story along with some copy editing, and I was always grateful I could count on him to be at most any event at any time. That's a strong combination in the world of reporting on prep sports.

Marilyn simply had a story for every school, church, store or house in Batavia. She knew it all. If for some reason she did not, she knew where to look to connect the dots and learn even more.

To think they did most of this in the days of sitting down and banging out a story at a typewriter and driving it over to the newspaper office makes it even more impressive.

The Batavia Foundation and public schools are presenting the Hall of Honor the night of Sept. 19.

An audio tour

In case you haven't noticed, the path along the Fox River from Mount St. Mary Park to downtown St. Charles represents one of the most impressive beautification projects in the region.

This was a fairly unsightly, goose poop-ridden path for years, but the work of the St. Charles River Corridor Foundation in spiffing it up in memory of the late Bob Leonard has been impressive indeed.

The foundation is having its ninth annual Riverwalk event Aug. 15 to continue its efforts to make a beautiful setting out of the Fox River bank. This year's event is a self-guided tour during the walk. When walkers register at stcrivercorridor.org, they will get instructions to download an MP3 file to a smartphone or tablet for the tour.

Caring for elders

Watching the people at work in a memory loss care center was an eye-opening experience for us when my mother-in-law became ill.

It takes a certain type of person to show constant compassion for those who have unfortunately lost touch to some degree because of illness.

It wasn't that long ago, really, that families with a member suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia had to care for them as best they could on their own. Or worse, that ill person ended up tucked away in a nursing home ill-prepared to deal with that type of illness.

Elderday Center in Batavia has been caring for people with dementia and other age-related illnesses for 25 years.

The center, 328 W. Wilson St., is hosting an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday to celebrate that longevity with tours of the facility and various therapy presentations.

It would be a worthwhile visit for anyone who knows a senior citizen suffering from any number of diseases that attack the brain.

'Night out' chase

What might be fairly common in many communities just seemed ironic in Geneva. Just as many residents were celebrating the anti-crime event National Night Out last Tuesday, Geneva police were busy hunting down a man who escaped their custody near the train station.

dheun@sbcglobal.net