Dinner with a ‘foxy’ lady

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.

There has been a restaurant that Nancy has been wanting to go to for some time now, but we never got around to it. What can be more romantic than a nice dinner with a moonlit view of the Fox River? I decided to step up and have a date night with my “foxy” lady. Reservations were made, and off we went to Salerno’s on the Fox in St. Charles.

While driving to our romantic repast, Jim noticed the clouds were thickening, and it started to rain. There goes the moonlight ambiance. Luckily, the restaurant had a covered area to drive up and drop me off so as not to ruin my coiffure.

To Nancy’s delight, we were seated at a window table. While we were looking over the menu, we were treated to the sight of a fisherman with waders in the middle of the river, how romantic…

This venue is very spacious and just about every table has a view of the Fox River. When we were seated, the waitress brought over a basket with warm bread, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.

We were torn between two appetizers, the Antipasto and the Calamari. We agreed to let our waitress decide for us, and she chose the Fried Calamari ($13.25). A short while later we saw our waitress winding her way through the restaurant pushing a cart with our appetizer on top. Interesting Note: Everything is brought to your table by a serving cart, even a glass of Club Soda. The portion size of calamari was huge, half went home in a doggie bag. It was crunchy and tender and served with two dipping sauces, marinara and a cocktail sauce.

Jim has been watching too many cooking shows lately and ordered something different. He tried the Steak Risotto ($33) which was Italian rice, spinach, mushrooms, and marscapone. What arrived was a humongous bowl of the risotto topped with 12 slices of steak, cooked to perfection. The risotto was chock full of mushrooms and very creamy and rich. Half of the portion was stuffed in his very content belly and the other half came home for another meal.

Nancy has not had a good meat ravioli in a very long time and decided to try the Meat Ravioli ($19.75) for her entrée. She ordered it topped with meat sauce. When the waitress placed her meal in front of her, she said it looked like big pasta pillows. These meat-filled ravioli were so stuffed with meat, they had to average about 1-1/2” thick. She was presented with seven raviolis on her plate and could only eat three. She took the rest home in our ever-increasing doggie bag. These are now her favorite ravioli of all time. The meat sauce was delicious and not acidic.

All entrees come with either soup or salad. Jim had a huge bowl of minestrone with vegetable slices to match. I, of course, had a salad and can you guess what dressing I chose? If you guessed garlic, you are right!!! It was delicious.

The waitress asked if we wanted dessert, and Nancy actually looked ill, but I, being the trained professional, said, “sure, bring me the Tiramisu” ($5.50). Nancy took one forkful and left the rest for me. I was in heaven… Isn’t it funny how our doggie bags somehow never contain a dessert?

All pasta in this restaurant is homemade and served al dente. They also serve the largest portions we have ever seen. This restaurant is also known for its pizza, and although we can’t vouch for it, there were a lot of them coming out of the kitchen.

FYI: This restaurant is handicap accessible. We needed that serving cart to wheel out all the doggie bags this evening. Seriously, they were really heavy.

The price for our rained out romantic moonlit dinner was $84.67; date night with my “foxy” lady, priceless…

Jim’s take: From the appetizer to the dessert, this place WOWED me.

Nancy’s take: I agree with Jim and I just want to say I never saw ravioli stuffed with so much meat.

Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at: thediningduo@gmail.com

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