Bien Trucha is Truly Wonderful, Unique

While out shopping during the afternoon of New Year's Eve, we decided to have a late lunch and spring for a culinary adventure. With the snow falling steadily and many shoppers hurrying around to get last-minute party supplies, we walked into the quiet, cozy nook that is Bien Trucha in Geneva, IL. This is a restaurant that's hard to spot, even though it's located on bustling State St. in downtown Geneva. To say it is tiny is an understatement. The restaurant maybe sits 12 people at the most. The bathroom is located in the back of the tiny kltchen, in which patrons are invited to wander if they need to use the facilities. The building's miniscule proportion compared to other businesses along this stretch is striking. It sits next to an empty lot that I think is destined for condos or large retail fronts. It is almost a shack of a building that holds Bien Trucha. But it is tidy and warmly decorated on the inside.

We'd tried to eat at Bien Trucha for dinner on several occasions, only to find people hovering outside in the cold waiting to get into the restaurant, which does not take reservations. So to find it open and empty, save one other diner, was something of a New Year's miracle. Our waitress was knowledgeable and explained the menu to us after asking if we'd dined there before. Her manner and thorough menu descriptions were as impeccable as that at any fine dining restaurant we've experienced.

The traditional chips and salsa brought to our table held the first delight and surprise of the meal. The homemade chips were accompanied by a warm salsa that had a creaminess to it -- and possibly the addition of pureed pinto beans. It had a kick of chipotle to it as well, and was unlike any salsa we'd ever tried. We decided to start out with the Guacamole del Dia, which the waitress informed us was the house guacamole with the chef's addition of red grapes. How intriguing! Jeff likened the concept to that of chicken salad, combining the creaminess of the avocados (like the mayo in chicken salad) with the sweet crunch of the grapes.

Jeff ordered the fish tacos (Tacos Pescado) as his entree, and they are literally the best tacos I have ever tasted. Each corn tortilla contained a hearty piece of battered and fried tilapia, topped with a red cabbage slaw with creamy chipotl-morita aioli and tomatoes. My entree was the one of the Cazuelitas, which is best described as a gooey dish of chihuahua cheese bearing vegetables and/or meat. I had the Championenes, containing wild mustrooms, chile dearbol, garlic , onion and crema fresca. It is presented in a square bowl along with a chipotle salsa that can be layered in corn tortillas to create your own quesadillas. The dinnerware and presentation for all the dishes was clean, modern and unexpected for such a small restaurant.

To drink, Jeff ordered the traditional margarita, while I had the fruit water of the day, pineapple. Because pregnancy has made ordering anything beyond water and soda almost impossible, I was excited to have a nutritious, non-alcoholic drink that also delighted my senses. It was a frothy pineapple water that even Jeff, who does not like most tropical fruit, tried and claimed to be refreshing.

As you can tell we were both thrilled with our lunch. We both needed to use the restrooms and were equally impressed by our journey through the small kitchen. Three people worked in a tiny, but very clean space with fresh produce and ingredients stacked against the walls. After being fans of Gordon Ramsey's TV show "Kitchen Nightmares," you never know what the kitchen of any restaurant holds behind closed doors, but I think even the very demanding Gordon would have approved of this setup.
I only hope Bien Trucha finds enough success to move into a space worthy of its culinary accomplishments.

A bistro for Thai in Geneva, IL

Still missing the neighborhood Thai restaurant we loved in our former Lincoln Square apartment, we set out with excitement to check out Bistro Thai (on State St.) in our new stomping grounds in the Western Suburbs. The restaurant opened just before the holidays, right across from one of our other favorites, Stockholm's. You never know when a restaurant has a fusion name like Bistro Thai if its cuisine might take more influence from one culture over another and what the end result will be. We were delighted to find that really the dessert menu, decor and the overall presentation was what was truly Bistro about Bistro Thai -- otherwise the food is familiar Thai dishes done well. Because I am four and a half months pregnant and currently craving lots of spice, I was excited to get some authentic curry, and the green curry with beef didn't disappoint. It contained ample green beans, eggplant and red pepper and was served in a beautiful wave-design bowl. The appetizers we ordered were a little over-the-top for two people, but were a lot of fun to try. Called the Bistro Thai sampler platter, it included rice-paper wrapped and fried tail-on shrimp that contained a chiffonade of Thai basil; Thai vegetable egg rolls; Golden Crab (fresh-tasting Crab Rangoon); tempura vegetables; deep-fried potstickers; chicken satay; little cakes that seemed to have chopped shrimp and coconut in them; and three sauces for dipping: peanut, a sweet soy sauce and a traditional Thai-style sweet-and-sour sauce. There was so much on the plate that I might be forgetting something. Jeff had the Panang Curry, and was pleased with it as well.

The atmosphere was just right and the prices were reasonable as well. Although we still will always wish we still had Chicago's Yes Thai right around the corner in our new home of Aurora, Bistro Thai in Geneva makes it much easier to find great Thai with a city atmosphere in the burbs.