Geneva, Ill. ? The beginning of the end of the Cold War started 23 years ago with a meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva.

While that famous summit convened in Geneva, Switzerland, Gorbachev recently was in Geneva, Ill., where the former Soviet leader dined at a restaurant and left with a salad named in his honor.

Visiting the Fox Valley to speak in St. Charles, Gorbachev made an impression on April 17 and 18 at Atwater’s, a restaurant known for attracting high-profile clientele.

Traveling with an entourage of security guards, Gorbachev ordered a salad consisting of Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, seedless cucumbers, avocado, virgin olive oil and sea salt, said Atwater’s executive chef Thomas Hiestand.

“We asked him what you call it,” Hiestand said. “And he said, through his translator, ‘We call it the Gorbachev.”‘

Gorbachev told the restaurant staff that he couldn’t order some menu items – like foie gras – because he is president of Green Cross International, an environmental organization he founded.

Hiestand said the restaurant is sometimes frequented by celebrities, including Colin Powell, who visited the week before Gorbachev, and Bill Cosby, who came in while performing at the Paramount Arts Center in Aurora, Ill.

Gorbachev’s gregarious nature came as a surprise, Hiestand said.

“We thought we needed to be hands-off with one of the architects of the modern world,” he said. “But at one point, he was wearing my chef’s hat. It’s the first time a head of state has worn my chef’s hat.”