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Le Francais, the Wheeling restaurant that was the gold standard of fine dining in the Chicago area during its heyday, closed down during Memorial Day. The Sun-Times reports today that the restaurant filed a notice with the Wheeling fire department that it was no longer operating. A busboy and food runner who requested anonymity said that owner Michael Moran did not tell his staff of the closing ahead of time, and that he only found out about the closing via a phone call from Moran after Memorial Day.
Le Francais opened in 1973 under the guidance of the legendary chef Jean Banchet, who was initially questioned for opening a French restaurant in Wheeling. But foodies will be foodies, even in the '70s, and by the end of the decade Le Francais was named the best restaurant in America by Bon Appetit magazine. Roland Liccioni took over in 1989 and maintained the standard set by Banchet while building his own reputation, earning a five-star rating from the Mobil restaurant guide and a Beard award for best chef in the Midwest in 1997. Liccioni left Le Francais eight years ago to open Le Lan, but returned to Wheeling three years ago.
Le Francais' influence is felt on the local dining scene to this day. By proving that high-end French cuisine could work, especially in a suburb, Le Francais set the stage for all the great restaurants that have come since, from Charlie Trotter's to Trio to Alinea.
Image courtesy of Le Francais web site.
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I hear that Wheeling Town officials are opening
a "four star French Fry restaurant" in its place
to continue the tradition of haute cuisine in Wheeling but until the folding card tables- with checkered colored table cloths- arrive, former patrons can be found at the Wheeling V.F.W Hall “Wednesday All you can Eat Speggite Dinner”
and let the elitist hipster suburb bashing begin...
IIRC, le francais started my love affair with pumpkin soup. we went for a class trip my freshman year in high school. each of us could pick between two or three things for each course. i was the only weirdo who picked pumpkin soup for an appetizer.. and damn, was it good. everything else was pretty underwhelming, though, especially the tiny desserts.
I know I know knoowwww. It was wrong! And I’m sorry, but honestly, I couldn’t help it! it’s in Wheeling after all! Wheeeeeeellling Illinois!
It's close proximity to Palwaukee (sp) made it easy for the rich and famous to fly in to eat there.
I think I remember a story that Harrison Ford used to fly in frequently during the restaurant's heyday.
It's a bit of a stretch to claim that a good restaurant doing well in the burbs led to three of the best restaurants in the world being located in the center of Chicago. If the were all out in the burbs you'd have a good point - but they aren't.
Tom: I didn't mean that Le Francais' suburban location led to Trotter's, et al. I meant that its overall success laid the foundation for them to succeed.
BTW, Trio was in Evanston, not "the center of Chicago."
Thanks NSH, you L.B.J-ed all the Hipsters away! And we could have had so much fun with this :-(
This is really too bad. Tom, you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
NSH:
really I'm not trying to be funny......but was Le Francais in a double wide? I mean it looks like a boublewide trailor with a blue awning, how clever!
spook casual ranch style architecture was all the rage in the 70's, so I can't bash them for the double wide look. But it does look like someone went a little overboard on a recent facade treatment to make it look like a greek owned banquet hall.
Wait, are you saying you've never been there? Then, why is the world are you even commmenting?