Dave's Italian Kitchen

David's Country French Bistro
10 W Jackson, Naperville, IL

After a glowing report in the chi.eats news group my wife and I decided t= o give this new Naperville place a try.  What a disappointment!  Where to=
 begin?  First finding the place is a problem.  There are no signs on the=
 outside.  We went past the place and around the block.  This was fun sin= ce we had to slog through week old snow that had not been shoveled.  Come=
 on David buy a snow shovel.  The door only says 10 W.  The door itself w= as filthy.  It looked like some drainpipe or something had discharged tan=
 crud all over the door, which hadn't been cleaned for some unknown reaso= n.  Once inside there were no business cards or matchbooks with a name on=
 them so we had to ask if we were in David's.  We were.  Our table in the=
 first floor dining room was next to the stairs going to the second floor=
=2E  I immediately noticed a sewer smell.  I recognized the smell because=
 a family member recently had a burst sewer pipe in their crawl space tha= t went undetected for a while.  Same smell.  Normally we would have walke= d out at that point but we didn't.  There was the good review and we real= ly want to find a nice place to go in Naperville so we stayed and decided=
 to give it a try.

 The one page menu didn't have the restaurant's name on it either.  We st= arted with a bottle of California Pinot Noir.  The wine service was fairl= y good.  I think most of the staff is new and is still learning.  One goo= d point was that the staff handled the glassware by the bottom half only.=
  A half loaf of bread was put on the table.  The bread was cold.  It was=
 not room temperature it was cold.  This could have been really good if i= t was warm.  My wife ordered the roasted red pepper soup ($4.50) and I or= dered the appetizer size bouillabaisse ($10.).  The bouillabaisse was ser= ved in a black skillet with a long handle.  Nice presentation but a littl= e tricky to eat from.  My wife called the busser over to see if he could = identify the film of oil floating on top of the red pepper soup.  He chec= ked with the kitchen.  It was chili oil.  Chili oil in a French Bistro?  = The oil completely overpowered any bell pepper taste.  My soup looked a l= ittle oily but the flavor was good.  (Several hours later my digestive tr= act let me know that the soup was indeed oily.)  My wife ordered the Sadd= le of Iowa Pork at $19.  I ordered the cassoulet of duck confit and grill= ed sausage at $16.  Our server didn't ask how we wanted the pork cooked. =
 When it was served it was RED!  Not pink, red.  We summoned the server a= nd asked to have it cooked more.  The server asked how we wanted it done.=
  My wife said, "Not pink."  My cassoulet was sizzling hot.  The oil (oil=
 again) was bubbling.  It looked rather strange.  The single link of saus= age was split lengthwise and put on top of the cassoulet in an "x" with t= he cut side up.  The whole dish was covered (not dusted, covered) with wh= at I decided later was ground pistachio nuts.  The whole thing had a kind=
 of drab green cast to it.  When I order something with meat in it I don'= t expect a green color.

 The pork dish was returned in a few minutes.  It was no longer red but i= t was still pink even though we had specified "Not pink."  The server cam= e by and asked, "Is that better?"  To this question we had to answer "yes= ".  It was better but it still was not what we asked for.  The server sho= uld have asked, "Is that alright?"  The pork was swimming in a sea of oil= y/watery liquid in the bottom of the plate.  The cabbage was in a hollowe= d out yellow bell pepper.  The cabbage inside was again swimming in some = liquid.  My cassoulet had no distinctive flavor.  The sausage was bland a= nd the beans were over cooked.  Throughout our meal we were entertained (= unknowingly) by the head server instructing a new busser.  This instructi= on was done beside the table next to us.  The server's deep resonant voic= e could easily be heard throughout the small room.  This kind of thing sh= ould be done out of earshot of customers.  To her credit, I will say the = server instructed the busser to only handle silverware by the handles onl= y and not the working end.  Also, we could hear the conversations of the = staff at the kitchen's pick-up window.  Maybe this is part of the "bistro= " atmosphere.  If I have to listen to the staff's personal conversations = I don't expect to see $19 for pork loin and $26 lamb on the menu.

David has a lot of work to do if he wants to be successful at this locati= on.  First and foremost he needs to get rid of the smell in the dining ro= om.  Next he needs to shovel his sidewalk and put up some signs so custom= ers can find the place and get in the door (which needs to be cleaned).  = Next, he needs to stop putting oil in everything.  Adding oil to a dish i= s not a substitute for making it flavorful in the first place.  Stop serv= ing dishes floating in some watery liquid.  If this is supposed to be a s= auce then reduce it until it is a sauce.  If he wants to continue chargin= g the prices he is charging his place must be outstanding.  David's is op= en for dinner only.  Right now we would rate this place below average.

Daves Bistro is a welcome addition to the area............. Dave is the  Chef/owner.... is young and learing fast to get things rolling. I thought the wine choices were adequate, there was no smell when I was there and I know he put a lot of money into refurbishing the restaurant. My biggest difficulty was the inexperienced staff, and the food was served too fast.

I would agree that the restaurant needs some improvement.... but I think and hope he will ultimately be successful. How many bland corporate restaurants with no character do we need in the western suburbs?

I am grateful that someone has even bothered to open a place to dine in the Western area... How many times can I eat at Emilios?

Tim and Karen K. wrote in message ...

David's Country French Bistro
10 W Jackson, Naperville, IL

After a glowing report in the chi.eats news group my wife and I decided to give this new Naperville place a try.  What a disappointment!  Where to begin?  .......................

NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Jan 1999 20:03:39 GMT
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Someone wrote:
Bigbite wrote:

: >For some of you who think this place has really good Italian food, you : >should eat out more often.

: I eat out often, I am able to differentiate between a restaurant that : is trying to capture an audience of college students and one that is : trying to appeal to people with more discretionary income for dining : out.

: Dave's does not pretend to be more than it is, Italian food that is as : good as possible for college students and families who are not able to : spend 50 or 75 dollars a person when they wish to go out for a meal.

I am part Italian, and I've eaten actual
Italian food made by real Italians.

It doesn't bother me, though, that there
are restaurants like Dave's.  When I was
an NU student, my friends and I often had
very little money with which to eat out.
Dave's was our mainstay.  No, it's not
authentic and the food is unremarkable,
but it beats overpriced and greasy diner
food by a mile.  It's not that bad, and they give
you a ton of food. We treasured the 75-cent
chocolate mousse (I'm sure it's more expensive
than that now).