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Remembering George Badonsky's Chicago restaurants

Remembering George Badonsky's Chicago restaurants
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  • Remembering George Badonsky's Chicago restaurants

    Post #1 - December 20th, 2014, 2:42 pm
    Post #1 - December 20th, 2014, 2:42 pm Post #1 - December 20th, 2014, 2:42 pm
    George Badonsky's The Brewery, Tango, Le Bastille, George's, Maxim's

    It made me very sad to learn the passing earlier this week of a man who was arguably one of the most creative, courageous, successful, but too often unlucky restaurateurs of the last 40 years in Chicago. I am talking about George Badonsky who for the last two decades had retired in southern Michigan. He had been ill for a while but according to a common friend had kept his fabulous sense of, sometimes self deprecating, humor. He always remained a bon vivant and hedonist even in times of hardship.
    I will keep great memories of all his restaurants, except for the short-lived last one Maxim's where I never went.
    I discovered the first one in 1970, The Brewery on Broadway, by chance. With its selection of good beers, contemporary salads and great burgers, in a very hip and young environment, full of greenery, it was way ahead of its time in the field of what would be called later gastro-pubs for young and active crowds.
    My favorite Badonsky's creation was the great Tango opened in 1973 in the Belmont hotel, a very attractively designed double-room large place which combined a very good and creative blend of contemporary seafood and " nouvelle" cuisine and high quality entertainment. The art on the walls, parts of his own collection, and some occasional famous entertainers such as "Bricktop", a spectacular singer who had a great early career in Paris contributed to some of our memorable dinners in the 70s. The restaurant later on had financial and lease problems and had to close abruptly in 1986.
    And then, in 1976, he bought one of the most charming and successful French bistro ever in Chicago, Le Bastille, that was opened by two Frenchmen in 1971, at the corner of Superior and State. Under his direction this restaurant became incredibly popular, especially after it started to have big Bastille Day parties outside under a huge tent on its own parking lot with grilled food, wine, beer and dancing that attracted thousands of young and less young fun loving francophiles. He was also one of the first restaurateurs to organize special dinners on the occasion of the Beaujolais Nouveau arrival in November.
    But the real pillars of its success were the typical French bistro dishes such as "blanquette de veau" and "Coq au vin", and steaks with very good traditionally-made "frites", the small cheap but well chosen French regional wines, and the jolly ambiance helped by relaxed service from enthusiastic young waiters.
    But unfortunately Badonsky did not supervised personally the restaurant as closely as he should have in the late 80's and many flaws and inconsistencies ocasionnally damaged the reputation of this otherwise successful place. It closed its doors in the late 80's.
    I personally loved his next creation in1978, George's, on Kinzie, next door to the Merchandise Mart. It was a very lively restaurant and jazz club which offered very flavorful contemporary Italian food, and a great casting of musicians and singers. But with this attractive and good restaurant, which included a very popular bar late at night with beautiful people and celebrities, Badonsky once again showed that he was a pioneer to open such a place at that time when this part of River North was not yet a fancy entertainment district. Unfortunately it burned in the mid 80s and Badonsky was the victim of a bankruptcy of its insurance company. He rebuilt the restaurant but in 1991 after George's closing, Badonsky started to feel a bit disillusioned when he had to deal with too many problems in his personal and professional life and moved definitively out of town to Michigan in 1992.
    But in 1984 he had taken another gamble in restoring Maxim's on Astor, which had opened in 1963 and closed in 1982, to its original splendor, and spent a fortune in the process. He also hired a young chef from France, Jean Joho, who would become one of the most celebrated French chefs in America. Joho created for him a very spectacular but expensive menu where caviar was a star. Maxim's in its early months attracted an appreciative crowd of moneyed customers.
    But this time it is a legal problem, added to the too large and uncontrolled expenses, that killed this perhaps overambitious project that lasted less than 2 years when the restaurant was forced to close in 1986: Pierre Cardin, the owner of Maxim's in Paris, sued Badonsky over the intellectual property of the name and concept of the restaurant.

    With Badonsky's disappearance, it is the whole Chicago restaurant scene and landscape that loses one of its most valuable architects.

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