Gourmet cocktails to be in the spotlight at new St. Charles bar

ST. CHARLES – The owners of R–House bar want their patrons to feel like they are at home.

Brian Rudowicz and Justin Allen plan to open R–House in a 1,800-square-foot space at 214 W. Main St. in downtown St. Charles that formerly housed Dawn’s Boatyard and Dawn’s Voodoo Room.

"It's a local place where you can feel comfortable, like you are at your house," Rudowicz said, in talking about the new venue.

This is their second St. Charles business venture. They opened St. Charles Motorcars in March 2014.

Plans are to open Dec. 1 following the St. Charles City Council's approval of their liquor license next month. Their concept is for R-House to be a place where one can go to get an after dinner cocktail.

The bar will have a limited menu.

'We'll have some specialty cocktails," Rudowicz said. "It will be a little bit of a different twist for downtown St. Charles. We're going to have different types of bar snacks and maybe some light appetizers."

R-House plans to sell beer, wine and gourmet cocktails. They want to carry locally brewed beer and are in the process of reaching out to local breweries.

Before it reopens as R-House, Rudowicz and Allen plan to extensively remodel the space.

"We're going to make it kind of more modern, with some nice furniture and we will redo the bar," Rudowicz said. "We're going to put some nice lighting in there and redo the patio with some fire pits and things like that, to make it really comfortable out there."

The patio would probably open in the spring, he said. Rudowicz and Allen are both Geneva residents and wanted to open a venue in the area.

"Because our car dealership is in St. Charles, we thought it would be kind of nice to have it right down the street so we could kind of run back and forth," Rudowicz said.

In addition to co-owning St. Charles Motorcars, Allen also has more than 11 years of experience in the restaurant and bar industry, including working at the House of Blues in Chicago.

Cocktails will be in the spotlight at R-House.

"It's really going to be more of a chef style of cocktail, with outstanding garnishes and great vessels to put the drinks in, so they're good-looking," Allen said. "Without having a kitchen, we're going to have to stand out someway and so the cocktails will speak for themselves."

Allen grew up in St. Charles.

"I have a love and passion for the city," he said. "We're super excited."