Foxfire in Geneva: Good for the Area (Chicago Area Restaurant Review No. 59)

We wanted to wander through Geneva's lovely antique and decorating shops, so we decided to make a reservation at one of the few restaurants we have not yet tried in that area. Unfortunately, the weather was not very conducive to walking between stores, but we did enjoy a visit to a wine shop and an antique shop before stopping for dinner at Foxfire. It is a steakhouse that has gotten good reviews, so we were hopeful that it would break the streak of bad Geneva-area restaurants we have previously tried (mostly before we started this blog). While we would not call Foxfire a top tier steakhouse, it was far better than anything else we have tried in the Geneva area.

We started with a bottle of Peter Franus Zinfandel, which had a nice grapey flavor and a slightly dry aftertaste that kept it from being too sweet. We really enjoyed the wine. For an appetizer, we ordered the baked goat cheese with cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves, served on toast points. The goat cheese was warm, but came in a different presentation from what we've seen before. Nonetheless, we thought the dish was quite good and was well complemented by the tomatoes and garlic. (A whole garlic clove and 2 cherry tomato halves per toast point is the ideal mix.)

Salads disappointed a bit. Steve's mixed green was wimpy and overpowered by the dressing. Lisa's tomato and mozzarella had what seemed to be particularly sweet thousand island dressing drizzled on the tomatoes, which distracted from their flavor. Still, she liked the mozzarella fairly well.

We had a divergence of opinion on the entrees. Steve's bone-in ribeye was cooked a perfect medium rare and he particularly liked it because it was heavily charcoaled. Lisa had a bleu cheese crusted filet, also cooked a perfect medium rare. The bleu cheese was a bit heavy and salty for her, and the charcoal -- probably the same as on Steve's ribeye -- was far too strong for her. Steve says that if you like an old-fashioned steakhouse experience (which always meant heavily-charcoaled steak), this is a good throwback. But the old steakhouse experience is not really for Lisa.

For dessert, Lisa had the Chocolate Explosion. It was a chocolate cake with a thick layer of dark chocolate mousee (served with whipped cream), and she found it heavenly. Steve ordered the pretentious-sounding rasperry creme brulee cheesecake. Inexplicably, there appeared to be no cheesecake or creme brulee. Rather, it turned out to be more like angel food cake with a pudding center, so Steve was not particularly impressed.

The bathrooms were nicely decorated and the Men's Room was fairly clean, but the Women's Room had some towels and paper strewn about. However, the Women's Room had fresh flowers, which was a nice touch.

Service was friendly if a bit uneven. For a restaurant of this type, however, things seemed a little amateurish.

Our total bill with a bottle of wine was $205 and would have been about $170 with wine by the glass (a fairly good value).

Our ratings for Foxfire, 17 W. State Street, Geneva, Illinois:

6.5 of 10 Steak Knives: 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes