Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.
One Saturday, after talking about food for 27 minutes on our Huntley Community Radio Show, Jim and I were starving. Since Jim loves breakfast and I’m more of a lunch person, we compromised and visited Egg Harbor Cafe in Geneva which specializes in both. The after- Christmas shopping close by had absolutely nothing to do with me suggesting this restaurant. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
In 1985, the first Egg Harbor Cafe was hatched by owners who loved breakfast. They dreamed of a special cafe that served gourmet breakfast and lunch in a cozy country setting. When you enter, what you see is “here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick-chick.” Egg baskets and greenery abound, giving this upscale restaurant a country charm.
This “eggciting” menu gave Nancy too many choices, but she finally decided on the Door County Chicken Salad ($10.99). This was two scoops of all white meat chicken salad blended with toasted pecans, dried cranberries, and crunchy apples on mesclun (weedy looking greens). This was garnished with mandarin oranges and sugared pecans and served with an English muffin. Nancy ordered the jalapeno poppy seed dressing on the side instead of the poppy seed dressing it normally comes with. She is one spicy lady! I normally wouldn’t give chicken salad a second thought, but upon Nancy’s insistence, I tried it and have to admit it was delicious.
Jim really loves grits. If you’ve never had grits, they are ground corn “stuff” cooked to the consistency of oatmeal. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? Now for the good part … he loads it with so much butter and salt, he can’t taste the corn “stuff,” so why bother eating it? To each his own. That is why he ordered the Georgia Cheese Grits and Eggs ($8.49). It was a bowl of grits mixed with Monterey Jack cheese, bacon, jalapenos, onion, and tomatoes served with two eggs and an English muffin. Jim wanted me to try it, but I respectfully declined it with a “yuck!” If you have to put that much stuff in it to make it taste good, I’m not eating it!
I did notice that Jim’s “sweat head meter” was active that day. In case you don’t know, his extra-large forehead (and scalp) glistens with beads of sweat in direct proportion to the spiciness of the meal. I would give this meal a 6.0 on a scale from one to 10. I’m getting myself psyched up for the Olympics!
This “eggceptional” restaurant has one of the largest menus we have ever seen. The service does not lay an egg either. That’s the last egg pun, I promise.
FYI: Egg Harbor is totally handicap accessible.
Our total bill came to $26.83, which included Jim’s caramel coffee and my peach iced tea. That was an eggceptional deal! O.K., I lied, this is the last pun.
He said/she said:
Jim’s take: A very tasty and unusual breakfast combination, but boy was it spicy! I’m not a fan of flavored coffee, but I tried it anyway, and to me it smelled better than it tasted.
Nancy’s take: This is the best chicken salad I’ve ever had. The jalapeno dressing was extremely spicy, and I loved it! I couldn’t keep my nose out of Jim’s coffee, it smelled so good.
Egg Harbor Cafe
477 S. Third Street
Geneva, IL 60134
630-208-8940
www.eggharborcafe.com
Directions: 47 south to 38 east to Third Street south
Estimated Travel Time: 37 minutes
Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at thediningduo@gmail.com.
