Kafe Kokopelli is not the sort of restaurant that ordinarily would demand much attention. Tucked inside a retail shop on the pristine streets of downtown Hinsdale, seating all of 40 when it’s packed to the rafters, Kafe Kokopelli is a handy place to know about if you’re in the area, though not a destination restaurant in its own right.
But fate has given Kafe Kokopelli a significant distinction. After years of heated debate and mostly failed voter initiatives, Hinsdale finally approved the creation of liquor licenses within its historically dry boundaries, and little Kafe Kokopelli is the proud holder of license No. 1 .
Hinsdale has been the last bastion of temperance in Du Page County for years; even Wheaton succumbed a few years ago (and what a nice little restaurant town Wheaton has become as a consequence). But last spring, voters overwhelming supported a referendum to permit liquor licenses, and when Hinsdale finished with the legal niceties, Kokopelli owners Tom and Lynette Lovelace were first in line.
And so now you can have beer or wine (and, sometime next year, cocktails) to go along with the careful cooking of Robert Kearley, whose menu is semi-Southwestern, with smatterings of Mediterranean influences.
Blue-crab cakes, well-made and matched to a classic remoulade sauce with a touch of Tabasco, is a reliable starter, as are garlic-rich sauteed shrimp in a classic beurre blanc. Hefty seared scallops won’t win points for presentation, floating in a messy marinara sauce with bacon and Parmesan. But the flavors meld very well.
The artichoke bake looks like something you’d lug to a suburban potluck buffet, but the casserole of artichoke hearts, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese is tasty enough, and served with flour-tortilla chips. Kafe Kokopelli provides carryout service, and Kearley says this is the dish most often carted out the door.
The daily soup might be clam chowder, a very respectable version. But what’s billed as tortilla soup is more of a corn chowder floating a few strips of crispy tortilla. It’s not bad, but not, I think, what most people would expect. A better bet is the prettily presented spinach salad with pears, kiwi and toasted pecans.
The closest thing to a signature entree is the chicken rigatoni, featuring strips of grilled chicken breast, chunks of portobello mushrooms and roasted red peppers over pasta; a chipotle cream sauce provides intermittent bursts of moderate heat. Curiously, that dish is considerably spicier than the shrimp arrabiata, which here presents sauteed tail-on shrimp with penne noodles and a tasty tomato-cream sauce. But arrabiata means “angry” in Italian, and implies an aggressive level of spice. Angry? These shrimp weren’t even irked. Presumably Kearley is moderating his cooking to appease a conservative audience, but to dub this “arrabiata” is to make a promise the dish can’t keep.
Elsewhere on the menu there’s a very good pork chasseur, on which Kearley bestows a contemporary and seasonal twist by incorporating a touch of cranberry into the dark chasseur sauce. The bright white flesh of New Zealand grouper is encased in a golden-brown potato crust and coddled with a creamy beurre blanc.
Kearley offers a handful of specials daily. Keep your eyes open for cashew-crusted chicken breast with roast-garlic mashed potatoes and beurre blanc (identical to the sauce under the grouper), a very tasty dish. Grilled veal chop, the priciest entree at nearly $28 (which is still less than others demand) is accompanied by a medley of rice with braised brussels sprouts, carrots and onions, and a rich port-wine demiglace inlaid with roasted hazelnuts and grapes.
Grilled swordfish with pineapple salsa sounds like a fine summer dish, but it’s odd to see on a specials card in late November.
Most of the desserts come from an area bakery, and they include a very good chocolate bombe and a chocolate truffle cake, both encased in chocolate ganache, and a delicious apple-frangipan tart. The creme brulee is made in-house but needs tweaking; in our sample, the sugar topping was under-broiled, and you really want that slight burnt flavor to balance the creme’s rich sweetness.
Adding beer and wine service to a restaurant that has been operating as a BYOB for an entire year requires a certain delicacy. Accordingly, Kokopelli’s 22-bottle list includes a dozen wines priced under $35. That list was assembled partly by buying those wines that customers had brought in during the restaurant’s BYOB days; thus the list is heavy with medium-bodied wines and familiar names.
Pleasant service could use a little polish. Waiters have a bad habit of clearing one patron’s plate while others at the same table are still eating.
Visitors might be a little confused the first time they dine here. From the street, the only thing you see is Kokopelli the retail shop, which carries Southwestern-themed knickknacks, artworks and other cool stuff. To reach Kafe Kokopelli the restaurant, one meanders past the aforementioned cool stuff to reach a compact, 36-seat interior space, drenched in Southwestern colors (echoed in the asymmetrical tableware) and clad in glass windows overlooking the retail area.
There are two tables set up in the retail shop itself, giving a select few diners the experience of having browsers wander by during the appetizer course. But one adapts. In summer, a few tables make up a small sidewalk cafe — and a reassuring sign to visitors that this, indeed, is the place.
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Kafe Kokopelli
(star)
30 E. 1st St., Hinsdale
630-325-1996
Open: Dinner Tues.-Sat., lunch Mon.-Sat.
Entree prices: $12.95-$27.95
Credit cards: M, V
Reservations: Strongly recommended
Noise: Conversation-friendly
Other: Wheelchair accessible; no smoking permitted
OUTSTANDING (star)(star)(star)(star)
EXCELLENT (star)(star)(star)
VERY GOOD (star)(star)
GOOD (star)
Reviews are based on no fewer than two visits. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
