Editor’s Note: Our columnist is not a trained or paid professional, nor does he get complimentary meals from the restaurants visited. He and his party arrive unannounced and do not reveal that they will be doing a review. Comments or questions may be sent to Sam Geati, greengeezer9@comcast.net
Recently, my wife and I, along with Grainery Lane neighbors and friends, Chuck and Jan, headed out for a restaurant in Marengo called Dino’s. When we arrived, it was closed. We also discovered that they only serve breakfast and lunch. What do we do now? Driving through Marengo, we noticed Café 20. Judy and I had been to their Octoberfest event previously and had a good time along with some excellent German dishes. From that experience, we had the impression that Café 20 specialized in German cuisine. This is where we encountered serendipity. Not only was this not a specialty restaurant, but they only serve German cuisine on Wednesdays. This was “Taco Tuesday!” Surprise, surprise, and more surprises to come. While the place is rather average looking, the food was definitely not. It was also half-price beer night! We sat down and were greeted promptly by our server, Laura, who after explaining the menu, gave us complimentary, tasty fresh chips and salsa, keeping with the “Taco Tuesday” theme. The menu was very impressive in terms of variety, as it included not only steaks, seafood, pasta dishes, sandwiches, and a variety of salad and appetizer choices, but there was another surprise — pizza from a wood-fired oven. We couldn’t resist trying a 10” sausage and veggie pizza along with our entrees.
Ratings Key:
5 stars: Excellent
4 stars: Above Average
3 stars: Average
2 stars: Below Average
1 star: Poor
Food: ★★★★★
Service: ★★★★★
Price/Value: ★★★★★
Ambience: ★★★★
Overall Rating: ★★★★★
Given a choice of soup or salad, Chuck and Jan ordered salads that were very large and included tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, and croutons on a bed of greens. They were very impressed with the freshness of all the ingredients. Judy ordered the cheesy broccoli soup, and I had the potato soup, each absolutely outstanding.
After some deliberation, Chuck chose the pork chops (2), which were cooked in the wood-fired oven that added great flavor to the juicy and tender pork. He couldn’t finish the extra-large bone-in chops, so he took a good portion home to enjoy another day. In fact, all of us brought home ample food for another meal. Chuck’s meal included a dipping au jus for his chops, choice of potato, fresh green beans, and fresh-baked garlic bread, which was included on all plates and was hot and very delicious. Chuck rated his meal, priced at $16.99, as superb!
Jan’s choice was the Linguini Carbonara, a rich cheese sauce flavored with sautéed ham, onions, and garlic, combined with the linguini. Priced at $10.99, she said it was such a treat that “it was calling her back to Café 20.”
Judy ordered Pasta Primavera, priced at $11.99. She said although her dish temperature could have been warmer, she still enjoyed the mixture of fresh vegetables, including squash, eggplant, green pepper, onion, and tomato all sautéed in garlic butter, tossed with bow-tie pasta, and finished with Asiago cheese.
I chose the Bow-Tie Sausage and Pepper dish that included fresh green peppers and sweet Italian sausage, a combination I can’t pass up when I see it on a menu. At $10.99, it proved to be just to my liking and way more food than I could come close to finishing.
As for the pizza, it was very thin crusted and tasty, due primarily to the Italian sausage, sweet onion, and mushroom toppings. The sauce wasn’t special but the total package was an enjoyable compliment to our entrees.
Overall, in addition to each of us thoroughly enjoying the serendipity of the evening and the great food served at Café 20, we also received great service from Laura. We all agreed to return for another adventure on one of their other special nights, which include Italian Mondays, German Wednesdays, BBQ ribs and all-you-can-eat roasted chicken Thursdays, all-you-can-eat fish fry Fridays (including cod and walleye), and Prime Rib Saturdays. Wow, that’s a lot of reasons to return to Café 20!!! Let me know when you are going; we’ll try to join you.
