By Helen Karakoudas
Special to the Rock River Current
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ROSCOE — The restaurant that won Best Experience for Rockford Region Restaurant Week 2024 didn’t start out as a restaurant. In fact, though Hidden Creek Estates has been in business nearly three years, its restaurant is eight months old.
The speakeasy-style boutique eatery on the ground floor of a two–story yellow barn in northeastern Winnebago County is the latest chapter in what a Roscoe couple — whose last business venture was developing software for airports — is doing to make farmland near their family home a family destination.
Some Rockfordians already knew, as millennials say, getting to 13276 White School Road was a vibe. Others discovered this during Restaurant Week. Followers of Thrillist, a national online travel publication, had a heads-up in November when it was named among seven impressive Midwest venues.
How it started
Lloyd “Dude” Frank, who likes sharing stories about history, can recount how in June 2020 he and his wife, Kerry, bought 30 acres of farmland near their home so that developers interested in the parcel wouldn’t take away woods, a pond, a prairie and trails to put in a subdivision.
“We got this property, looked at each other, and said, ‘OK, what do we do next?’”
That purchase was in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. As state and local governments began instituting pandemic protocols, weddings at commercial event spaces were being canceled. Kerry Frank’s sister was a bride that got such news.
The Franks offered to host her wedding on their new parcel.
“As a private property at the time,” Dude Frank said, “it was us as a family wanting to help people go ahead with their wedding plans.”
They did the same for two family friends whose weddings were also canceled. An idea about what to do with the property took shape. After months of zoning hearings, first with the village of Roscoe and then with the city of South Beloit, the Franks had the approvals needed to launch a wine bar and event space, primarily for weddings.
Their grand opening was at the end of July 2021.
By then, the first phase of construction on the 1940s barn anchoring the property was complete. The speakeasy-themed wine and whiskey bar was appointed with tin ceilings and an 1860s cast-iron fireplace from a home in Milwaukee. That’s on the barn’s ground floor. An 8-foot crystal chandelier, meticulously cleaned and reassembled, was found to crown the barn’s second story.
A three-car garage was made into a catering kitchen for weddings. For meals during other events, food trucks were invited in. As the popularity of those events grew, food trucks occasionally couldn’t make all the dates scheduled or would arrive and start running out of ingredients.
“It became clear we had to move forward with our own food program,” Frank said.
Through connections that Jared Malavolti, the Franks’ son-in-law and the property’s general manager, had in the hospitality industry, Hidden Creek Estates was able to hire two chefs who had worked at boutique restaurants.
“That elevated what we could offer from simple food to much–better food,” Frank said.
That change came in June 2023.
How it’s going
“We’ve got the restaurant. We’ve got small events. We’ve got large events. We’ve got community events. We’ve got weddings. If you look at it from a larger picture, we’re building a destination,” said Frank, who during a tour pointed to ongoing work on the barn and on the grounds, where the prairie is being restored.
They also have vacation rentals — four of them: The Cottage, Oak View, That 70’s House and The French Hen. The rentals— which total can sleep 47, a fact noted for destination weddings — include the house that was on the original 30-acre parcel plus houses on three adjoining lots the Franks have since bought when neighbors were moving. Together with the 18 acres of their own homes sits on, the Franks’ property is 62 acres with 5 miles of hiking trails.
With lodging, dining and outdoor recreation all on the same property as the rehearsal and reception areas for weddings, Frank talks about safety rather than saying Hidden Creek Estates is a one-stop wedding venue.
“Safety is always forefront in our minds,” Frank said, referring to a family member who was killed by a drunk driver. “When you can sleep 47 on property, you’re not worrying too much about people drinking and then driving.”
One travel brand recently noticed Hidden Creek Estates’ next-level lodging options. In a November 2023, in a post on the Thrillist website headlined “7 Midwestern Hotels That Will Impress Your Inner Interior Designer,” Hidden Creek Estates is among recommendations that include an art deco hotel on the Chicago River and a museum hotel in St. Louis. The writer notes, “not technically a hotel but … Airbnbs at this wedding venue … were too cool not to include.”
As a wedding venue, Hidden Creek Estates is also drawing people from beyond the region. “Seventy-five percent of our weddings are from over 50 miles away,” Frank said. “They’re either from Chicago, Milwaukee or Madison.”
Locally, finding Hidden Creek Estates for one of its offerings can mean the yearn to come back for another.
Kaye Busse-Kleber, who owns Bark on Mulford pet supplies boutique in Rockford, had been following Hidden Creek Estates on Instagram before visiting in October during NewfiePalooza, an event put on by the North Central Newfoundland Club. (Yes, this is a pet-friendly venue for well-mannered dogs and their people. The last three photos and bios on Hidden Creek Estates’ about page are the family’s dogs; their portraits are also to the right of the door frame inside the restaurant.)
“We spent the day there as a vendor and utilized their services: golf cart transport, heated tent, wine bar and delicious lunch. The grounds and landscaping are gorgeous, and the sangria was excellent,” Busse-Kleber said in a text, adding she wants to return for s’mores at a firepit or dining inside an igloo.
For Heather Blecker of Machesney Park, finding Hidden Creek Estates for a craft cocktail class meant coming back with her office crew for dinner (where she had a watermelon gazpacho she becomes emotional about in describing), and then coming back with her husband — repeatedly — for dinner, too. Seated at the edge of the bar on a Wednesday night, Heather and Matt Blecker each agreed they’re Hidden Creek Estates’ Norm and Cliff.
“I was just blown away by how interesting everything was. The barn is beautiful and so well put together,” Heather Blecker said about her first visit last summer with a girlfriend for a cocktail class Malavolti was hosting. “We came here for a drink first and then went up for the class, and I was hooked.”
The experience
Heather Blecker said she and here husband often visit more than twice a week.
“We walk in and they’re like, ‘Here’s your drink.’ You just become part of the family. And that’s part of the overall experience,” Blecker said. “It’s an elevated, very homey feel here. Completely a labor of love.”
Malavolti, an engineer who is married to Kim, the Franks’ older daughter, runs the venue’s day-to-day operations and presides over the wine bar. If you don’t hear Dude Frank introducing Malavolti as a sommelier, or you hadn’t read that on Hidden Creek Estates’ website, you wouldn’t suspect he’s earned a certification sometimes associated with snobs. Malavolti puts on no airs.
He takes pride in the niche that the family business fills, but is humble about his role.
“There are great restaurants in our community as we saw on Restaurant Week. But there can never be a shortage of great restaurants that provide a space to foster a kind of environment where you can have a two- to three-hour experience, European-style, and just feel like you’re not being rushed or taken out for the next group,” Malavolti said, referring to Europe in his choice of wines too.
“When you look at our selection of wines, and your criteria is if it’s well-known, you probably won’t find it here. My favorite thing is going to Europe and finding producers with stories to tell. We’re a family-owned business. I love trying to find the family-owned wineries and learning their stories to share,” Malavolti said, referring to annual family trips and the wine dinners he and the team organize after every trip.
The culture for a passionate experience echoes in the waitstaff.
In bringing a cheese and charcuterie board to the table, Rahiem Soto, who proudly says he has been a server there since Sept. 1, identifies every ingredient in relishing detail, offering suggestions for making the most of the fig mostarda. When bringing dessert — a dark chocolate semifreddo — Soto presents a port and evokes Ratatouille.
“You know, he’s trying all those different things like the cheeses and the meats together, separately, and how they had their own independent note of music. This wine pairing with the dessert is going to be like that: symphonic. The pavlova complements the dark chocolate, the citrus, and the raspberries macerated in Chambord. Every piece of it is like an independent note of music put together into a course. What she makes is not just food,” Soto said, referring to the chef. “She makes art.”
Dining must-knows
Because the idea of one party a night for table carries over to one wedding a day for the venue, the restaurant is closed to the public on Saturdays during wedding season, which starts in May and runs through October, possibly November, weather permitting.
So, during wedding season, the restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, from 4 to 10 p.m., and for Sunday brunch. The hours for brunch this year have yet to be determined; Malavolti said they’ll likely at least be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Winters hours for the restaurant are Wednesday through Saturday. There’s no brunch during the winter month.
Igloo season is usually November through April, which means that if you don’t want dine at one of the tables inside the wine bar, you can reserve a heated bubble tent outside.
Firepit season is whenever it’s cold enough to need a fire, Malavolti said.
The menu, which features locally sourced and seasonal foods, changes every two weeks. Food is served on an eclectic collection of fine and vintage china. Expect soup in a tea cup.
If a vegan option isn’t a menu, a Yelp review from October 2023 confirms that one can be prepared.
A meal for two on February 21, 2024 that included one starter, two main dishes, a cheese and charcuterie board (classified as a snack), a shared dessert, a soda, and one glass of wine came to $104.
Where exactly is Hidden Creek Estates?
Hidden Creek Estates is just south of Rockton Road, less than 2 miles east of Exit 3 off Interstate 90.
If you’re heading north on Illinois Route 2, it’s just south of Rockton Road about 5 miles east of the Lubrisol plant.
If you’re at Historic Auto Attractions when it opens for the season, this is a dinner option about 4 miles away.
There are no big businesses nearby, nor big signage; once you take the turn on White School Road, look for a sandwich board near the driveway entrance. If you can’t immediately see the yellow barn in the distance, look for a miniature version of it on a mailbox post.
About | Hidden Creek Estates
Where: 13276 White School Road, Roscoe
Phone: 815-242-2099
On the web: hiddencrk.com
Reservations: Go HERE
On social: facebook.com/hiddencrk; instagram.com/hiddencrk
This article is by freelance journalist Helen Karakoudas. Email feedback to news@rockrivercurrent.com