Road Tips

Cannova's Pizzeria - Galena, IL

Thanks to our furnace and air conditioner getting replaced earlier this summer, the money that we had saved up for a vacation up to Michigan was used to pay for the down-payment on the new H/VAC system we had installed.  Instead, we took a week off and just didn't do much of anything.  But we did take a day trip up into Southwest Wisconsin and Northwest Illinois.  We stopped in Galena late in the afternoon on our way back home and decided to get some dinner at Cannova's Pizzeria, a little place that has a long history.

The original Cannova's was opened in Freeport, IL in 1921 by Sicilian immigrant Anthony Cannova.  Actually, the Cannova family ran a grocery store, but had a little pizza tavern in the back of the place.  Anthony ran the place for nearly 25 years before his son, Frank, took over the family business just after World War II.  Frank eventually closed down the grocery store part of Cannova's and focused upon just running his little pizza restaurant.  

The original Cannova's store with Anthony Cannova and two of his children.

Frank Cannova moved the pizzeria to Cannova's present day location on Empire Street in Freeport in 1964.  (See map)  Nearly 20 years later, he transferred controlling ownership over to his daughter, Linda Beckman, and her husband, Patrick.  The Beckman's later opened the Galena location in 1994, and a sister, Debbie Rasmus, and her husband, Kyle, opened a location in Neenah, WI in 2005.  And earlier this year, the Beckman's announced that they were looking to open a fourth Cannova's Pizzeria in Monroe, WI, about 25 miles north of Freeport.  I don't know if that place has opened yet.

I understand the menu at all the Cannova's locations is about the same.   All their restaurants use the same recipes for pizza and sauces that Anthony Cannova used when he opened his original pizza tavern 90 years ago. Cannova's Pizzeria features pizza and pasta dishes, as well as a Sicilian steak and an Italian seafood dish with shrimp.  

Many of the shops along North Main Street in Galena were beginning to shut down for the day when we got into town.  Cindy and I walked along the street doing some window shopping and stopping into the occasional store that would still be up open past 5 p.m. (and some stores weren't open at all on Tuesdays).  We had walked past Cannova's Pizzeria earlier (see map) and Cindy said, "Oh, this is the place that Marcia and I had eaten at when we came up to Galena that one day!"  Cindy said she had an outstanding muffaletta sandwich that was made with Cannova's homemade bread on her previous visit.  She told me that she always wanted to go back and try their pasta.  We decided to do just that.

In previous trips to Galena, I remember walking past Cannova's and seeing people eating their thin-crust pizza through the windows.  Although we had pizza on Sunday night, and were planning on having pizza in a couple nights with our niece in Chicago, I was up for getting a pizza at Cannova's.  

 We walked in around 6 p.m. and the restaurant was less than full of people who were eating early like we were that day.  Cannova's  is a small, narrow place with a lot of dark wood paneling and subdued lighting.  The large front windows allow for a lot of light to come in during the daylight hours, but it has a nice comfy and cozy feel to the place.  The only thing that makes the Galena location somewhat different from the Cannova's in Freeport is the lack of the signature grand piano that is played most nights by local musicians during the dinner hours.  

A very amiable, yet hulking waiter came over to greet us after we found an open table for two next to the wall.  He welcomed us to Cannova's in a soft and soothing voice that betrayed his 6'3" and over 250 pound size.  I ordered up a beer from the bar  and Cindy got a glass of wine as we looked over the menu.

Even though I was going to get pizza, I couldn't help but look over the rest of the menu to see if there could be anything that would change my mind.  The pasta dishes sounded wonderful including the meat filled (or cheese filled) tortellini that could be made with Anthony Cannova's original recipe alfredo sauce.  I'm a big fan of tortellini, especially meat filled tortellini as it's somewhat difficult to find restaurants that feature that type of pasta.  

Cindy was set on pasta and she decided to get a half-size portion of Fettuccine Alfredo.  Along with her fettuccine, she got a house salad with Cannova's homemade creamy Italian dressing.  I got the Sicilian pizza, a small, that featured fennel sausage, roasted garlic, pepperoni and a chunky tomato sauce.

Even before I tell you about the rest of the meal, the highlight of the whole evening was the homemade bread our waiter brought to our table along with Cindy's salad.  The bread was just outstanding, so much so that I was worried that I'd pig out just on the bread and wouldn't be able to enjoy my pizza.  The bread is made in Cannova's oven daily and placed on racks just outside the kitchen.  Individual loaves are then sliced and served as warranted.  I told the waiter, "Man, I can't stop eating this bread!  This is wonderful!"

He said, "I know."  He patted his somewhat ample stomach and said, "the bread can be addicting..."  And he gave out a hearty laugh.

Cooked in a brick oven at a high temperature, it didn't take long for my pizza to make it to the table.  Cut into triangle slices, it was swimming in garlic, pepperoni, sliced homemade sausage and large chunks of tomato sauce with fresh oregano all over the top.  Our waiter also brought fresh parmesan cheese in a bowl, along with fresh hot red pepper flakes alongside.  That was a very nice touch and a great alternative to having to use shakers to help accent the pizza.  

Not that the pizza needed any additional taste accent.  The Sicilian pizza was just outstanding.  However, the taste of the garlic was somewhat overpowering.  I couldn't taste any of the homemade fennel sausage on the pizza.  I finally picked off a chunk of sausage and popped it in my mouth.  "Oh, there's the taste," I exclaimed.  The sausage was great.  

Cindy's fettuccine alfredo was equally loaded with garlic and topped with fresh parsley.  She said, "Oh, my God!  This is some of the best fettuccine alfredo I've ever had!"  She offered me a bite after she took a slice of the pizza.  I have to say that the taste explosion in my mouth was almost overwhelming.  She was right, it was some of the best alfredo sauce I've ever had.  And I'm a sucker for a good alfredo sauce.  

Cindy was amazed at the size of the portion of fettuccine alfredo that she got.  "Boy, I'd hate to see what a full order of fettuccine looked like," as she struggled to finish all the pasta in the bowl.  

I too, was having trouble finishing off a small pizza at Cannova's.  The waiter came around and asked if I needed a box for the remaining five or six slices.  I said, "I had so much bread that I knew if I didn't stop eating that I wouldn't be hungry for my pizza.  You're right, that bread IS addictive!"  

He laughed and said, "I'm tellin' you.  You can't believe how many people gorge on the bread before their meal and are absolutely stuffed halfway through their main entree."  

Our waiter brought back the pizza in a to-go box and had wrapped an additional five or six slices of their homemade bread and placed them on top of the pizza box.  "I figured that you'd like to have some more at home with your pizza."  I about kissed him.

Then he asked if we would be interested in any dessert - cheesecake, tiramisu, spumoni.  I howled in protest because I was so full.  Cindy asked him if their tiramisu was homemade.  "Made fresh every day in our kitchen," he replied.  So Cindy ordered a piece with two forks.  And I have to say that even though I was stuffed, the tiramisu didn't go to waste.  It was a little dried out, but still delectable enough that were able to finish the whole generous slice he brought out.  

 We loved everything about Cannova's Pizzeria in  Galena.  The food was excellent, the service above par, the atmosphere was relaxing, the bread was...  Good God, the bread was worth the price of admission, alone! (Although a day later, it had dried out even though we put it in a ziploc baggie.  But it was still good for toast!)  Every day, I lament not having any really great Italian restaurants in the Quad Cities and I really wish the Beckman's would one day consider bringing their great menu to the area.  Until then, we'll just have to make the hour and 20 minute drive up to Galena to get a great pizza and some great pasta at Cannova's.  

 

Vinny Vanucchi's - Galena, IL

Cindy and I had decided to go back up to historic downtown Galena at some point in the summertime after our visit there over her birthday back in December.  While the downtown was all lit up and festive for the Christmas holiday, we decided we'd like to go back up some Saturday afternoon when the weather was warm, walk the streets, then have dinner at one of the restaurants the town has to offer.  I'd known about Vinny Vanucchi's from reviews and talking to people who had eaten there in the past.  While most of the people I'd talked to and from the reviews I read tabbed the restaurant as very good, I still had a little bit of trepidation about going there.  Something just kept telling me it was more of a tourist trap than anything.  But Cindy wanted to go there, so we ended up dining there one night earlier this summer.

Vinny Vanucchi's is part of the CoCo Enterprises group of restaurants that are owned by Jack and Deb Coulter.  In addition to Vinny Vanucchi's, the Coulters also run One Eleven Main in downtown Galena, and Frank O'Dowd's Irish Pub which is connected to The Irish Cottage boutique hotel they own and run with Jack's cousin Basil Conroy on the east side of Galena.  Vinny Vanucchi's opened in 1992 in historic downtown Galena.  A second Vinny's restaurant is scheduled to open this month in Dubuque, IA. 

Many of Vinny Vanucchi's recipes are family recipes from Deb Coulter's side of the family which was part Italian.  Deb's grandmother Lucille LaCorte Finnen was a second-generation Sicilian who was born in Chicago in the mid-20's.  Deb's family lived below "Nana Lu" and she remembers the great smells of Italian/Sicilian food that her grandmother would cook when Deb was a little girl.  Deb took many of those handed-down family recipes and turned them into the basics of the main menu at Vinny Vanucchi's today. 

Chef Robin Fleetwood is the executive chef at Vinny Vanucchi's bringing years of experience to the kitchen at Vinny's.  Fleetwood grew up in the Midwest and learned how to cook at an early age from his mother.  As a couple stints in the Navy as a cook aboard a naval vessel, Fleetwood traveled the world learning about different types of cuisine.  Upon his discharge from the Navy, Fleetwood went to cooking school and became a full-fledged chef.  Fleetwood makes the food at Vinny's from scratch, using only the freshest ingredients in his food.  He features a series of "seasonal items" on his menu, procuring locally grown items during the course of the year. 

Vinny Vanucchi's is located on Main Street in downtown Galena, situated on a hillside with steps that go up to the restaurant (see map).  Actually, the back of Vinny's abuts up to S. Bench Street and parking is more readily available on that street than on Main Street.  We parked up on Bench Street and took the steps down to Vinny's hostess stand.  They feature outdoor seating at Vinny's, but the tables were full that nice evening.  Our hostess took us to the upper level of Vinny Vanucchi's and we were seated at a table against a brick wall in a small dining area that featured three four-person booths and three two-person tables. 

The dining room was uncomfortably warm.  Our waiter came around with a basket of Vinny's signature Italian bread with infused garlic oil and Cindy told him that she thought the room was awfully warm.  For Cindy to say that - she's perpetually cold even when it's 72 degrees outside - the room was almost unbearable for me.  He said, "Yes, it does seem to be a little warm up here.  I believe it was getting too cold for some patrons earlier and we may have shut down the air conditioning.  Let me go check on that." 

As we sweated while we looked through the menu, Cindy took a piece of the Italian bread with the infused garlic oil.  She said, "Oh, my God!  This is great bread!"  And it was.  We made short work of the basket of bread - there were only like four pieces in the basket.  But we were careful not to order any more right away so it wouldn't fill us up before the main entree hit the table.   

I looked through the wine list which wasn't extensive and was sort of mediocre.  We both decided we were going to get something with a tomato sauce for the evening's meal and I ordered up a bottle of the Chateau St. Jean Cabernet, a medium-priced wine out of the Sonoma Valley vineyards. 

Actually, the dinner menu at Vinny's was far from pedestrian with a number of Italian dishes to choose from.  The menu featured eight different types of fettuccine dishes, baked and stuffed pasta dishes, different types of chicken and veal entrees and a handful of house specialties such as Seafood Italiano - a "Nana Lu" inspired dish that featured shrimp, scallops, lobster and Surimi crabmeat in a cream sauce and topped with three cheeses.  There was also something called Pollo Compomare - boneless chicken breast sautéed with broccoli, mushrooms and tomatoes in a cream sauce with wine, lemon, garlic and a hot sauce, then served over a bed of pasta.  Cindy almost got that until she realized it had mushrooms in it and the sauce may have resembled cream of mushroom soup - a big no-no in her diet (tracing back to her days of growing up with all different types of meals featuring cream of mushroom soup). 

One thing that caught my eye on the feature menu was the baked sausage ragu - penne pasta, spicy Italian sausage, green peppers and mushrooms that is slowly cooked in Vinny's homemade marinara sauce, then topped with mozzarella and parmesan and baked in the oven.  That's what I ended up getting. 

Cindy was in a quandary because the descriptions of the food on the menu all sounded very good to her.  She ended up opting for the Chicken Vinito - a boneless chicken breast sautéed with a combination of artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and fresh basil, then served with a tomato-cream sauce over linguini.  A family style Italian salad came with the meal, as well. 

By the time we'd ordered, we felt the cool breeze of the air conditioner kick in.  It had begun to get more comfortable in the dining room and it was fine within 15 minutes. 

Our salad came to the table, served in a large bowl and topped with a homemade vinaigrette.  It was OK, at best.  The vinaigrette really didn't knock my socks off with its taste sensation.  But the greens and chopped veggies they had were fresh and flavorful.  It was an average salad. 

Our main entrees showed up soon after we finished our salads and I was sort of astounded at the large portion of the baked sausage ragu that landed in front of me.  There was going to be no way that I would be able to finish even half of the entree.  So I decided to concentrate on the sausage, veggies and the cheese in the dish and have a few bites of the penne pasta along the way.  I will say the entree was pretty good - surprisingly good, considering that I had some preconceived notions about Vinny's before I sat down.  The sausage tasted like it was home made and had a nice kick in taste, the mushrooms were fresh and I really liked the sweet and tangy marinara sauce that Vinny Vanucchi's makes. 

Cindy said that her Chicken Vinito was "very good."  It wasn't over-cooked and the sauce didn't detract from the overall taste.  The chicken breast was large and there were ample helpings of the artichoke hearts along with it.  The basil was very fresh and I could easily smell it from across the table.

We ate what we could, but decided not to take any of what we had left home.  Cindy always said, "Italian food never tastes as good after it's been boxed up and reheated."  And with pasta dishes, she's usually right.  I had made a huge dent in my dinner, leaving only about half the dish full of penne pasta.  It wasn't worth boxing up penne pasta.  

OK, so I was pleasantly surprised with Vinny Vanucchi's.  It didn't quite have the tourist-trap ring to the place once we got in there.  The service was adequate, the food was above average and we liked the ambiance of the place.  There's some other places in Galena that I'd like to try, but if you're hungry for family style Italian food, Vinny Vanucchi's would be a place to try.  

Fried Green Tomatoes - Galena, IL

It was Cindy's birthday just before Christmas.  Since it was on a weekend, she wanted to go away somewhere for her birthday.  And we always seem to go to Chicago, so this time I wanted to go somewhere we hadn't been for quite some time.  A buddy of mine had recently gone up to Galena over the Thanksgiving holiday.  That gave me an idea.  Cindy has always wanted to go eat at a restaurant near Galena called Fried Green Tomatoes.  So I surprised her with a trip to Galena and dinner at the restaurant.

Fried Green Tomatoes was opened in 1993 by Fred Bonnet, a local commodities broker who once worked in the kitchen at the Eagle Ridge Resort near Galena.  When a local restaurant owner decided that he wanted to slow down, he contacted Bonnet and asked if Bonnet would be interested in taking over his restaurant situated in a historic building south of Galena.  The building was formerly the "Poor Farm" for Jo Daviess County dating back to the 1870's.  Bonnet moved into the restaurant and named it after the film Fried Green Tomatoes, which had been released a couple years before. 

Bonnet was renting the building out south of Galena and he wanted to move to a building that he could own.  A building on Main Street in Galena came available.  The building was a former leather store that was owned by Jesse Grant, the father of President Ulysses S. Grant.  U.S. Grant, fresh out of West Point, moved to Galena in 1860 to help his father's growing business.  When the U.S. Civil War broke out, the younger Grant left to fight for the U.S. Army.  

Over the years, the building has been used as a theater, a saloon, a grocery store and a dozen other businesses since 1838.  Fred Bonnet, and his wife, Mari-Kristen, bought the building in 2004 and moved the restaurant into Galena.  Soon after vacating the old farm building south of town, the owner of that property had the building demolished, much to the consternation of many locals who viewed the structure as historic. 

Fried Green Tomatoes is situated on two floors in downtown Galena (see map).  The main floor has an ornate bar and a dining room area.  Upstairs is a larger dining room, a smaller room that can be used for private dining and a large reception room.  The Bonnet's purposely stripped the walls down to the original bricks and gave it a rustic look, similar to the old farm the restaurant used to be in. 

We had reservations that I made through the Open Table web site for 7:45 p.m.  Actually, Cindy had no idea that we were going to Fried Green Tomatoes for dinner.  It was a big surprise for her .  Downtown Galena was packed with holiday shoppers and people walking around participating in the annual holiday lumenaria celebration.  Parking was going to be tight, but we found that Fried Green Tomatoes has valet parking for $5.00.  We did that and went into the restaurant.  The restaurant was full, there were a ton of people in the bar area and I wondered if our table would be ready at our requested time.  The hostess told me that it would be a short wait and directed us to leave our coats at the coat check room.  Fancy place! 

It wasn't more than two minutes later that the hostess told us to go to the top of the stairs and we'd be seated in the upstairs dining room.  We were met at the top of the stairs by a man who directed us to a table back in the corner, a nice and cozy location.  He left off menus for us, as well as a wine list. 

Our waitress came over to greet us and asked if we wanted anything to drink.  I told her we were going to get a bottle of wine at some point.  She asked, "Have you dined with us before?"  We told her we had not, but were looking forward to it.  She explained that their Fried Green Tomatoes appetizer was something that most people ordered to start their meal.  "It's our most requested item on the menu."  She said they lightly bread and saute green tomato slices in olive oil, then cover them with a homemade marinara and mozzarella cheese, then bake them until the cheese is melted and caramelized.  Ohhhh....  That sounded good.  We signed up for a plate of those while we looked through the menu. 

Fried Green Tomatoes is probably more of an Italian restaurant than anything.  They feature a number of Italian entrees and pasta on the menu.  They also have steaks, chicken and seafood to choose from.  The special that evening was a 6 oz. filet topped with butterflied prawns and served over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes.  A dinner salad and soup also come with the meal. 

When the waitress came back with our Fried Green Tomatoes, she took our order.  Cindy went with the special.  I was torn between veal marsala, veal piccata or the seared scallops.  The waitress said, "Our veal dishes are very good.  You get a large portion of veal with it."  So I went with the veal marsala.  For our wine, we went with a bottle of the Ruffino Chianti, a good hearty Italian red that I like and it was fairly priced at $59 a bottle. 

Now, I recently got a new Blackberry Tour with a camera in it.  I've been wanting to get a camera phone for a long time to be able to take pictures of places where I'm eating and plates of food that I'm having.  The only problem is that the Blackberry Tour has a flash feature that is pretty damn bright and lights up everything for about two seconds before the picture is taken.  If it flashed when the picture was taken, that would be better.  In a fancy place like Fried Green Tomatoes, it's rather intrusive and obnoxious.  Here is a picture of the plate of Fried Green Tomatoes.  In a dark room with the flash feature off, the camera doesn't take very good pictures.   

The Fried Green Tomatoes with the marinara and mozzarella were extremely rich.  It was way too much for two people.  But we finished up the plate by the time our waitress brought out the salad, which was served family style.  It was a large bowl of mixed greens and some veggies topped with a raspberry vinaigrette salad.  It was a good salad, but more than we could finish.  

The waitress took the salad away and then came out with two cups of a homemade pepper/tomato cream soup that was filled with ham, chicken and green peppers.  It was very good, but, once again, very rich.  We weren't certain how we were going to be able to eat our meal with all we'd had up to this point. 

As we were finishing up our soup, a large group of people came up the stairs and began to filter through the dining room.  I looked over and saw the only open table in the room was a four-seater.  There were more than four people heading to that end of the dining room.  By the time the last person in the large group came up the stairs there were about 25 to 30 people.  I wondered what the deal was and suddenly a man in the group announced, "Merry Christmas from the Main Street Carolers!"  And they launched into a Christmas carol.  They sang two carols and then sang, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" as they exited the dining area.  It was kind of a nice touch during the holiday season.   

Not long after that, our main entrees were brought out by the waitress and a helper.  She wasn't kidding that the veal portions were large at Fried Green Tomatoes.  I had two rather large veal cutlets topped with sauteed fresh mushrooms and swimming in a marsala sauce that seemed to be darker than marsala sauces I've had before. 

Cindy's filet with butterflied prawns looked great and she said the steak was cooked perfectly to her liking.  My veal marsala, however...  Well...

Years ago, my grandmother used to make Swiss steak for nearly every family dinner that she had.  It got to a point that it became a family joke, fully knowing that for every birthday dinner she'd have for one of our immediate family, she'd have Swiss steak.  My sister was born two weeks before me, my cousin was born a week before me and I was born in late April.  Each time my grandmother would have a dinner for our April birthdays - each week - we'd have Swiss steak.  But no one could bring themselves to tell her that we were really burned out on Swiss steak.  To this day, I have a strong aversion to Swiss steak.

The marsala sauce at Fried Green Tomatoes had a tomato base to it, something I'd never ever had before with a veal marsala.  The first bites brought back bitter memories of my grandmother's Swiss steak.  To me, it was almost repulsive.  Not that it was bad, it was very flavorful and the veal was very tender.  But I'd never had a marsala sauce that was so tomato-heavy. 

The waitress came around and asked how our meals were.  I said, "I should have gotten the veal piccata." 

"You don't like it," she asked.

I said, "Well, it's not that it's bad, it's just that I was sort of surprised to find your marsala sauce was a tomato base.  It's sort of heavy and it's tastes like my grandmother's Swiss steak." 

Cindy said, "Oh, God!  And that's not a good thing!"  She knows the story of my grandmother's Swiss steak by heart.  She knows to never make Swiss steak in our house.

She said, "Well, we can certainly rectify that situation.  I can get you the veal piccata."

I replied, "Oh, no.  No, no.  I ordered this, I'll eat this.  I'll just remember the next time I come here I won't order the veal marsala." 

Actually, I have been spoiled by the veal marsala at Ristorante DeMarco's in the western Chicago suburbs.  It's, by far, the best veal marsala I've ever had.  I should just not order veal marsala at any other place because I know I'll be highly disappointed.

The heavy marsala sauce was very rich and filling.  The veal cutlets were served on top of broasted potato wedges.  I didn't have a bite of the potatoes.

(By the way, Fried Green Tomatoes does not have a child's menu.  They also do not have high chairs or booster seats.  Head chef Joe Kuhse doesn't have a deep fryer in the kitchen so they don't make french fries.  Fred Bonnet has said that it isn't that they don't like to have children in the restaurant, it's just that they don't fully accommodate to people with young children.  "If a kid needs fries and a hamburger," Bonnet once said, "we'd go next door to the Paradise bar and get them a burger and fries from there."  In other words, Fried Green Tomatoes is a grown up place.)

Our waitress came around when we were finished with our meals and tempted us with the dessert tray.  We were both stuffed from the meal and I wasn't certain that could do any dessert.  But she said, "All our desserts are made in house.  We're especially known for our tiramisu." 

I began to cave in.  I said, "OK, bring us a piece of tiramisu with two forks."

Cindy said, "Hold on a second, buddy.  I think I want to try the creme brulee."  

I kind of groaned and said, "I don't know if I want creme brulee."  

She said, "OK, get the tiramisu and I'll get the creme brulee.  Then we can share."  

When the waitress brought out the desserts I about died.  The piece of tiramisu was huge.  Cindy's dish of creme brulee was manageable, but I knew there was no way I could even finish the tiramisu, even with Cindy's help.  And we couldn't finish either the tiramisu and creme brulee, but we made a big dent in it.

Other than the veal marsala - which, I'm sure, most people would absolutely love - everything about Fried Green Tomatoes was excellent.  The service was wonderful, the waitress was friendly and accommodating, the food was great, the ambiance was wonderful.  Our car was right by the back door ready for us when we went down to leave the restaurant.  The only thing Cindy regretted over the whole night was that she never got a chance to eat at the original Fried Green Tomatoes out in the country.  Oh well.  Sorry, babe.  We just didn't get it done.  But in the grand scheme fo things, I have little to complain about with this version of Fried Green Tomatoes. 

We remarked many times during our visit to Galena that we were amazed why we didn't come up more often.  We're only 75 minutes away and we've gone a lot further just for dinner before.  With a place like Fried Green Tomatoes, it will be easy to get back up there more often.  And I can't wait to get back.