Down by the River

It’s hard not to judge things by their cover.

From books to magazines and even with restaurants we look at things on the outside with one glance and within seconds have made a decision about how the “experience” is going to be.

With this is mind, you can imagine how I felt when we drove up to a brown colored and run down local restaurant in St. Charles, Illinois by the name of Francesca’s by the River.

On our way to Francesca’s, the people we were worth raved about the “fresh ingredients” and “made from scratch” offerings, however I couldn’t help but forget everything they told me once we pulled up to the rather ugly building with 2 feet of brown snow around the perimeter.

Upon walking inside however, it was a completed different story. With clean brick walls, high ceilings, cool lighting and polished tables I couldn’t help but be immediately impressed with the atmosphere.

As we sat down at our table our server handed us each a two sided paper menu that was completely hand written. What kind of place is this? It’s near a river in an ugly brown building, with a really cool interior and a hand written photocopied menu.

Normally when you think of a hand written menu one word comes to mind: ghetto.

For some reason however this hand written menu felt completely different. Maybe it was the polished atmosphere or our enthusiastic server but for some unusual reason this menu felt authentic, real, captivating and exclusive.

With about 20 Italian menu choices, each item was carefully written out in a simple fashion. There was no need to use fancy words or “menu marketing jargon”. The concept was simple and to the point: we make authentic, good tasting Italian food, we change our menu out every 2 weeks, and trust us you’ll love it.

With such a simple menu it’s amazing it was so hard for me to decide, however I finally landed on the "Panino Con Polpelte" or better known as a meatball sub….and yes I did love it. Before I get into the meatball fantasy that occurred in my mouth let me first begin with the bruschette.

Generally speaking, bruschette is extremely overrated. I mean come on people it’s toast with cheese and tomatoes!

Francesca’s bruschette however is far more unique. The fresh cheese was piled high like a mountain on top of the lightly toasted bread and fresh cut tomatoes. The portion was so big I had to eat it with a fork and every bite was sensual and satisfying.

The homemade cheese chicken soup came out next. Unlike most chicken soups I’ve had previously with dry chewy chicken, Francesca’s chicken soup had chunks of chicken in it that were as smooth as butter. This moist chicken paired with a creamy cheese broth and soft veggies resulted in me basically drinking it directly from the bowl.

Finally the meatball sub, which had homemade meatballs the size of your head with grilled onions, homemade marinara and melted cheese….to die for. It’s hard to put into words how truly phenomenal this food was….which is probably why Francesca’s keeps their menu descriptions so simple. You almost have to taste it to believe it.

We finished all of this off with a café latte and homemade banana bread pudding that was topped with banana fudge gelato – this is any banana lover’s dream desert.

All of this…the amazing food, the authentic menu, the unpretentious service inside of an ugly brown building down by the river in a small town outside of Chicago…

Last time I checked we need more ugly restaurants like Francesca’s in Tampa….that’s the problem when you find diamonds in the rough like this. To duplicate them would be an injustice.