Around town: New restaurants opening in Geneva

Hacienda looks busy

It was good to see a full parking lot near the new Mexican restaurant, Hacienda Real, in the Geneva Commons the past two weekends.

Empty restaurant buildings near an outdoor mall are never a good look. The area just to the west of the Commons parking lots was humming for years with Houlihan's, Bar Louie and Claddagh Irish Pub.

For the past two COVID years or more, all of those sites along Commons Drive have been empty. However, Hacienda Real opened this month in the empty Bar Louie's location.

We haven't heard much about Houlihan's site, and word that breakfast restaurant First Watch was going to move into the Claddagh site seems to have hit a roadblock.

It could be a matter of higher-ups just monitoring their other sites, as First Watch moved into the Chicago-area market with its first location in Oak Brook about two years ago now. A second site opened in Kildeer in June of 2021. The company also has a location on Ogden Avenue in Naperville.

Coming of The James

A restaurant called The James is preparing to occupy the former Fiora's location at 317 S. Third St. in Geneva, marking the third restaurant for the ownership team.

Todd McWethy and Gretchen Hupke, a resident of Geneva, are the owners, who also operate McWethy's Tavern at the Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville and McWethy's Sports Bar at the Mistwood Golf Dome in Bolingbrook. They also operate a private event site, The Grand Ballroom, at Joliet Union Station.

Jim Koklas, director of food and beverage, noted in an email response that Gretchen and her husband, Chris, have always wanted to bring a place that would emphasize the food and fun of McWethy's Tavern into Geneva.

Hoping to open in mid-May, Koklas said his team is remodeling the interior, interviewing staff and working with Haven Interiors of Geneva "to bring our vision to life."

Koklas will be busy in the coming weeks, looking to hire many positions, including a sous chef, servers, bartenders and line cooks.

For now, I do recall playing golf at Mistwood a few years ago and noting the food at the club was quite good.

Funny for Progressive

Actor Chris Witaske plays a buffoon taking on the traits of his father in the humorous Progressive Insurance advertisements on TV in which an adviser is trying to convince young people not to turn into their parents in social settings.

Witaske, who grew up in St. Charles, has been highlighted in a couple of Daily Herald stories the past decade because he's been a Second City alum and, in late 2021, began writing and producing episodes of the Netflix animated comedy titled "Chicago Party Aunt."

He also appeared in "Love," a Netflix series about the most unlikely of romances among young people struggling to find their way as working adults.

We bring him up again because he's pretty funny on the Progressive commercials. He's the guy on the elevator making idiotic remarks - as a way to generate small talk - to others jammed inside.

In another ad, he's just getting out of a car with others and starts talking about the best parking space for making a quick getaway from the stadium at a sports event. The teacher trying to break parents' habits, tells him not to start talking about leaving a parking lot before they have even been inside the stadium.

In past Herald articles, Witaske, 39, said his interest in comedy started when his father took him to Second City at the age of 13. He started working on comedy as an art while studying theater at the University of Iowa and moved back to Chicago, where he worked in various comedy venues before earning a spot on the Second City stage.

Wedding bliss coming

Some call this the wedding planning season, viewing it as a ritual as spring nears.

That would be one way to look at the Geneva Chamber of Commerce's 2023 Wedding event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, February 26. If you need information about that event, you should call the Chamber today at (630) 232-6060.

Geneva Commons is in on wedding planning as well, offering its Quinceanera, Sweet Sixteen and Wedding Expo from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 19.

Marketing folks at the Geneva Commons on Randall Road say this is the first time the shopping center is offering this type of expo.

The free, one-day expo takes place near the J. Jill store at Geneva Commons and will feature fashion, beauty, food and entertainment vendors for all of those occasions.

dheun@sbcglobal.net