Isacco Kitchen in St. Charles

My fiancee and I were in St. Charles yesterday looking for a place to eat lunch, and we happened upon this new place.

The restaurant is owned and run by Chef Isacco from Lombardy, outside of Milan, and the cuisine can be described as "Italian fusion". After working in restaurants in the UK, on cruise ships and as a private chef, he and his wife (a native of Oak Park) opened this spot. The location formerly housed a barbecue place, but the erstwhile rustic interior has been totally transformed into a sleek, modern environment. While service was a little touch-and-go, the chef's passion and personability are obvious.

I started with a delicious cream of carrot soup with sesame seeds and ponzu (this is an example of some of the Asian touches). My fiancee enjoyed her green salad with honey Dijon dressing (a very nice rendition of this omnipresent starter). I then had the wonderful "deconstructed osso-bucco", which consisted of off-the-bone veal shank with veal jus, cranberries (!) and saffron risotto (whose texture had just the right amount of "bite", without any mushiness) - this dish was ordered off the dinner menu, by the way. The better half partook in the delightful ravioli stuffed with veal stew, spinach and bacon and lightly dressed in vodka sauce.

While the portions aren't huge, the prices are certainly spot-on (e.g. my entree was $15).

Isacco Kitchen is worth a special trip, and I urge folks to support this restaurant. It's a Chicago-quality restaurant far away from the city.

Isacco Kitchen
210 Cedar Street (intersection of 2nd Street/Route 31 and Cedar Street)
St. Charles, Illinois 60174
(630) 444-0202
http://www.isaccokitchen.com

The wife and I stopped here for a drink and an appetizer last week, and were also impressed. The real stand out was a crab cake served on top of a jalapeno waffle (the latter is as it sounds--a waffle with bits of jalapeno mixed into the batter--added just the right amount of heat). The lounge area is nice to chill out in, although they decided to crank up the music (some Sirius 80s pop music channel) AND turn the volume up on the lone TV in there, which was odd. Not sure if they were just trying to make the bar area seem more lively (we were the only 2 in there at the time) to the various people who were seated in the separate dining area.

We will definitely be back, though, as some of the items on the dinner menu (which, after talking with the chef, sounds like it will be changing frequently) sounded pretty amazing--and as stated above, the prices all seemed very reasonable--I don't recall anything being more than $18.

Ate here tonight for the first time after hearing some good things. We were not disappointed.

Several good glasses of wine can be had for $7 and up. The service, while fine, was unpolished.

However, onto the food. We were in for a late dinner so we skipped appetizers and dove straight into the entrees. I had homemade raviolis filled with veal in a tomato, vodka, bacon and sage sauce. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the filling had a nice balance and the sauce was amazing. The wife had kobe beef wrapped with pasta, which was also an excellent dish.

Probably one of the better Italian meals we've had in or around the Fox Valley and the space was warm and intimate. As stated above, the prices were reasonable for the quality - none above $18, save for a ribeye steak dish, which was $23. A side salad was one of the better I've had for a mere $5. Fresh greens, supplemented by cherry tomatoes, shaved pears, thinly sliced radish and topped with slightly carmelized red onions and cheese nips - yes, cheese nips, which provided a nice crunch and saltiness.

A tiramisu cup finished the evening, which was very good until we got to the bottom of the cup, which had ladyfingers that were soggy in watered-down cappucino.

Overall, a fantastic meal.

My partner had 12/30 off so we finally made it here because she is always in search for good Italian. First off, we used to visit this location when it was The BBQ Shack so happily the interior of Isacco Kitchen has been totally transformed from cowboy log cabin to urban hip though it seems a lot smaller. The area to the left of the entrance is now a lounge with couches and a large flat coffee type table. The right side is the dining area and is quite "cozy" for seating though it was comfortable with only 2 other tables occupied at lunch.

For a starter we were given freshly baked Italian bread, sliced and served in a paper lunch sack. We were given a nice dollop of butter but I heard the couple eating in the lounge ask for some olive oil for their bread and were given a bottle. The lunch menu was very diverse with 10 or so entrees and 10 or so starters which ranged from soup, salads to appetizers. I could have easily made a meal from the starter selections. My partner chose the risotto with seafood and got a very large bowl of wonderful risotto topped with mussels, shrimp, scallops and calamari. All very fresh and properly cooked. I chose grilled flank steak with fingerling potatoes. While I liked the steak, I did not like the presentation and I think it took away from the steak. The steak was sliced into strips and served over the potatoes, mushrooms and brussel sprouts> I hate brussel sprouts! Worse, the whole thing was topped with cold spring greens and shaved cheese. The cold greens brought down the temperature of the meat and I pushed them to the side and did not eat them, they're not my favorite either but there was so much of it that it hide the steak and I had to go digging for it!

All in all, we will probably go back, I know my partner will want to but I may next stick with the starters. The service was pleasant with one waiter handling everything.

A sample menu, it changes daily:

http://www.isaccokitchen.com/wp-content ... 8.2010.jpg