Mystery Diner: Lunch at Prasino in St. Charles couldn’t be better
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| The vegetable whole wheat flatbread is served with corn, caramelized onions, tomatoes, pesto and mozzarella cheese with a balsamic glaze. (Kane County Chronicle photo) |
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Prasino
Address: 51 S. First St., St. Charles
Phone: 630-908-5200
Website: www.prasino.com
Hours: 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Opened: October 2010
ST. CHARLES – Prasino, a restaurant that opened last year in downtown St. Charles, is a must-visit establishment in the area.
It is billed as an eco-chic neighborhood restaurant. It was so good that they could call the restaurant anything they wanted and I’d still buy into what they are offering.
A previous mystery diner visited Prasino for breakfast – this time, though, I wanted to try out its lunch offerings.
The entrance is just off First Street in the First Street Plaza, a delightfully modern space that fits in quite nicely with the inside of the restaurant. Now in its second year, the decor gives off a small neighborhood feel, even though it’s right in the middle of a bustling downtown scene.
My companion and I decided to visit just after we thought the lunch rush would be over on an early Saturday afternoon. We didn’t want to wait for a table and we knew that if we visited any earlier, there would be a high likelihood of that. Our server quickly brought over a beautiful carafe of water. The menu features a wide variety of interesting drink combinations but we decided to stick with water.
Although, for my next visit, I intend to try one of the smoothies or quenchers that are listed on the menu.
The brunch menu consisted of many different, tasty sounding options. We decided to order something off of the small plates category on the menu as an appetizer. For lobster lovers, I’m sure the lobster stuffed avocado with a mango salsa and chili beurre fondue would be fantastic. Unfortunately, lobster isn’t my cup of tea – but hummus is. So, we ordered the chef’s whim hummus – where the chef decides what type of hummus he wants to serve that day. In addition to the hummus, the item is served with grilled pita, lavash cracker and crudités. The chef’s choice for our visit was a spinach and feta hummus.
It came out and my companion and I were pleasantly surprised at the amount of hummus and abundance of vegetables that were on the plate – the cucumbers and bell peppers in particular were fresh and crunchy. It set up our pallets perfectly for what was to come.
After browsing through the options for our main dishes, my companion narrowed down her choice to the vegetable whole wheat flatbread. The item is served with corn, caramelized onions, tomatoes, pesto and mozzarella cheese with a balsamic glaze.
Across the table, I was debating between the classic burger and the bruschetta panini. I went with the classic burger and only because it was labeled as a “Prasino Signature Item.” When a restaurant notes something like that on its menu, I always enjoy ordering it. They are usually the items that put the restaurant on the map. The burger is served with arugula, tomato and onion, all on a pretzel bun.
My companion felt the caramelized onions were a tremendous topping on the flatbread and told me the pesto was very tasty. The crust was good, she said, crispy but not overcooked.
The burger was cooked very well; the arugula was a nice, different topping for the sandwich, and the pretzel bun is just so much better than a traditional bun, in my opinion. The ground beef itself was fantastic – you could tell the ingredients were of the utmost quality.
After peeking at the full dinner menu on the way out, I cannot wait to go back and try something outside of my comfort zone because I’m sure Prasino will come through for me.
• The Mystery Diner is a newsroom employee at the Kane County Chronicle. The diner’s identity is not revealed to the restaurant staff before or during the meal. The Mystery Diner visits a different restaurant each week and then reports on the experience. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a review.
