Is Naperville, Illinois, having a moment? It’s not easy to get Chicagoans to trek to Naperville, which is located about 30 miles west of Chicago and since the best way to get there is by expressway (and it’s a solid hour and then some, depending on time and day you go). Still, food lovers will go wherever good food is to be enjoyed, and it seems like Naperville might be worth packing for provisions and heading westward. Here are three reasons why Naperville is having a foodie moment.
Bien Trucha Group has expanded with the opening of its fourth restaurant in downtown Naperville, Santo Cielo, which is conveniently located diagonally across from its third restaurant, Quiubo. Since 2006, husband-and-wife duo Ricardo and Dolores Garcia-Rubio (also known as “Loli”) have grown the brand’s portfolio from a tiny, four-table restaurant – Bien Trucha in Geneva, Illinois – to a reputable restaurant group renowned for its Mexican cuisine at Bien Trucha, A Toda Madre and Quiubo. Their motivation to open Santo Cielo, according to the duo, was their desire to offer an elevated restaurant concept unlike anything Naperville had seen.
To make that a reality, they enlisted restaurant experts Patrick Neary (owner of Wildwood restaurant in Geneva) and J.C. Gonzalez-Mendez (who held a 30-year career at McDonald’s Corporation) as well as sons Rodrigo Garcia-Rubio and Julio Cano, to carry on the family’s legacy while introducing a completely new menu infused with subtle notes of world cuisines from the family’s travels, such as scallop chowder, sweet cucumber brisket sliders, charred Spanish octopus, saffron tagliatelle, aji-miso glazed sea bass and more.
Santo Cielo hopes to take the group to new heights– quite literally, as the restaurant is located atop Hotel Indigo in Naperville, featuring sleek, monochromatic interiors and retractable windows that bring the views of Naperville’s downtown indoors year-round. You may also catch Rodrigo expressing his true passion as DJ in the VIP area on a good night.
Later this month, another restaurant, Che Figata, will be opening in Naperville. At the helm is Chef Mark Grimes, with more than 100 restaurant opening-credits to his name, who wants to offer patrons a truly unique Italian menu with carefully crafted homemade pastas, artisanal Roman-style pizzas, rustic dishes from the wood-burning grill and more. The culinary team is dedicated to recipes featuring not only fresh but rare ingredients that are flown in regularly and authentically represent Italian cuisine. As a special highlight, Che Figata features outdoor seating in the summer months as well as a European-style marketplace with ready-made dishes, pastas, sauces, wines and seasonal ingredients for the home cook.
Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention CityGate Centre. The multi-use campus is filled with retail shops and restaurants, a world-class spa, Hotel Arista, and office space. Coming up is CityGate Centre North Entertainment Complex, a new, 25-acre facility being developed at the CityGate Centre, which will be DuPage County’s largest multi-use entertainment facility.
Chicago is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great restaurants. To be sure, the hot restaurants in popular neighborhoods attract visitors because they’re great restaurants. But I’m on the hunt for those restaurants that are great but may not have those pedigree addresses, like the restaurants I mentioned in my article on this underrated Chicago neighborhood. Is Naperville the next foodie hot spot? If restaurants like newcomers Santo Cielo and Che Figata are any indication, we might find more people trekking out to the western suburb to find out.
