“Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something blue.” This applies to weddings and the Tri-Cities, where a combination of new and historic restaurants boosts an already-delicious dining scene. Here, Kane County Magazine looks at two such restaurants bringing great flavors to the area.

Bocaditos adds South American flair to Downtown Batavia

Bocaditos Cafe opened in downtown Batavia less than a year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and since has transitioned to curbside pickup amid statewide mitigations. While customers may be unable to physically enter the space at 109 E. Wilson St., co-owner Juliana Cancelo assures them the kindred spirits of many patrons swirl about the shop.

“We always laugh, because we’ll get phone calls from people who will have ordered, you know, shortly after they order,” Cancelo says. “Every time the phone rings, we think, ‘Oh my gosh, what did we mess up?’”

Not a thing, it turns out, and in fact, quite the opposite. The callers simply are bypassing the familiar social media review to relay appreciation for Bocaditos’ authentic South American cuisine, which includes empanadas, salads, sandwiches, desserts and pastries.

“For someone to give you a phone call is just such a personal, really positive response,” Cancelo says.

Whatever their medium, customers frequently weigh in on Bocaditos’ empanadas, available for $3.25 or in a combo option. Choose from carne (beef), pollo (chicken), jamon and queso (ham and cheese), humita (corn) and espinaca (spinach). The restaurant’s top seller, the baked, flaky, meat- and vegetable-filled turnovers are prepared with a nod to the family’s native Argentina. Cancelo and Silvia Sanchez, her mother and fellow co-owner, frequently remind guests that while most every South American locale offers its own spin on empanadas, the ones available at Bocaditos honor old recipes in a collaborative neighborhood cookbook that belonged to Cancelo’s grandfather in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city.

Sanchez and Cancelo view Bocaditos as an opportunity to share with Batavia and surrounding communities the food they have long enjoyed at home. A work opportunity at Fermilab drew the family patriarch, Gustavo Cancelo, to Batavia in the late 1980s. Following a relocation to Argentina in the early 1990s, the family returned to suburban Chicago and has called Batavia home for about the past two decades.

“We want to continue to be part of this thriving business center and cultural center,” Juliana Cancelo says, “and bring a little more of that to this wonderful community.”

BOCADITOS CAFE

109 E. Wilson St., Batavia

630-937-4002

www.bocaditos.cafe

The Patten House brings rich history and flavors to Geneva

While Geneva’s Patten House, 124 S. Second St., is approaching its seventh anniversary as a restaurant in June 2021, the site of the eatery with a southern flair carries a bit deeper heritage.

The house, built in 1857 by lumber man George Patten, has been around for more than a century and a half, providing a backdrop that owner Nancy Luyten feels is a natural to at least try — and, ideally, frequent.

“We’re very consistent in the quality of the food, in the service and the atmosphere,” Luyten says. “It’s a beautiful, 1857 house and very unique. We have a beautiful property, beautiful outside. Just a very unusual and unique property.

“But any business has to be a combination of everything, you know. That’s what makes Geneva kind of unique, too, the fact that we have a lot of great businesses, good restaurants, good little shops. That’s what keeps us different than a lot of places. We’re not corporate.”

It’s difficult to imagine anything in Geneva’s historic district carrying such a cookie-cutter feel, and the Patten House hardly fits that label.

Throughout a 2013 renovation to the property, Luyten pledged to maintain the stately feel of the old home that would soon double as a multiple-dining room restaurant and lounge. Upon settling in to the digs following a self-guided tour of the home in summer 2014, the Kane County Chronicle’s Mystery Diner wrote: “I felt as though I had escaped to another place in a simpler time.”

Guests over the years have particularly savored the Patten House Jambalaya — andouille sausage, chicken and tiger shrimp with roasted tomatoes and holy trinity mirepoix served with rice and toast points. “The jambalaya is just right on,” says Luyten.

Other mainstays include the Berkshire double-bone pork chop, served with pistachio cream sauce, fried egg and spinach, as well as the grouper and salmon. A wide variety of sandwiches and small plates await diners who may not be seeking an entree.

While Luyten says navigating the ever-shifting business model presented by the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been “very, very trying and hard,” she remains confident the Patten House’s wide base will remain loyal during tough times.

“We have people come from all over the Chicagoland area,” she says.

THE PATTEN HOUSE

124 S. Second St., Geneva

630-492-5040

Facebook: The Patten House Restaurant and Bar

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the January 2021 issue of Kane County Magazine.