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Le Vichyssois

Le Vichyssois
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  • Le Vichyssois

    Post #1 - July 28th, 2012, 9:54 pm
    Post #1 - July 28th, 2012, 9:54 pm Post #1 - July 28th, 2012, 9:54 pm
    My wife and I dined here tonight and our verict is "meh".

    The restaurant is located on Route 120 in far northwest Lakemoor, west of Volo and east of McHenry, so you need to make quite a trek if you live in Chicago (as my we do). We drove up to the area in the afternoon, had lunch at Lindy's Landing in Wauconda, walked around historic Woodstock and went over to the restaurant for our 6:30 p.m. reservation.

    First the dining room is is desperate need of a refresh - the metal-framed chairs and tables look like they came from a diner, the wooden column near our table had three noticeable gouges and the artwork (which is for sale) is kitschy. I was looking forward to an Escoffier-inspired classic French meal, and the food was generally solid but not great.

    My wife had the "mushroom cigar" appetizer, i.e. sautéed mushrooms wrapped in a phyllo-like wrapper, which was earthy and good. My appetizer was the tomato and onion tart - a pizza-like topping on a light pastry foundation, which was just OK (the pastry was quite light and nice but the topping was unmemorable).

    The complimentary romaine salad were very good - kind of like Caesar salads without the anchovies.

    Our entrees were solid. My wife had the braised lamb shanks with flageolets were very well-prepared: The meat was delectable. I enjoyed my veal kidneys Dijonnaise - the brown sauce was nice, the kidneys themselves were deeply-flavored and chewy and the onion custard and potatoes lyonnaise were solid and nice additions.

    The trio of desserts off a cart on a cart ranged from good to OK - we shared slices of an apricot tart, flourless chocolate cake and a Napoleon (which was the best of the three).

    Service was mediocre. Our waitress acted like she should be have been working at a T.G.I. Friday's...wait, I have had friendlier, prompter and more attentive service at a T.G.I. Friday's. The other servers kept trying to fill our water glasses after only a sip or two. My cappuccino came halfway through our dessert even though I ordered it five or more minutes prior to ordering dessert.

    The best thing is that the restaurant is priced relatively reasonably.


    Le Vichyssois
    220 Rand Road
    Lakemoor, Illinois 60051
    (815) 385-8221
    http://www.levichyssois.com/
  • Post #2 - March 20th, 2014, 8:09 pm
    Post #2 - March 20th, 2014, 8:09 pm Post #2 - March 20th, 2014, 8:09 pm
    Le Vichyssois to close at the end of March

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 2802.story
    Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard
  • Post #3 - March 23rd, 2014, 10:09 am
    Post #3 - March 23rd, 2014, 10:09 am Post #3 - March 23rd, 2014, 10:09 am
    We had many fine meals there in the mid to late 90's. Le Vichyssois was a very good value. At some point in the early 2000's, something changed. The quality and preparations dropped off significantly. The training of the servers seemed nonexistent and the service was indifferent. After a few mediocre meals we stopped going. BTW, The dining room needed a makeover 20 years ago, but we overlooked that when the food was good and reasonably priced.
  • Post #4 - March 23rd, 2014, 2:06 pm
    Post #4 - March 23rd, 2014, 2:06 pm Post #4 - March 23rd, 2014, 2:06 pm
    I have only rarely gotten to Le Vichyssois, and yet I'm sorry to lose it. It was part of a generation of great French restaurants -- and French chefs -- that for decades anchored the Chicago culinary scene.
    "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." Ronald Reagan

    http://midwestmaize.wordpress.com
  • Post #5 - March 23rd, 2014, 2:34 pm
    Post #5 - March 23rd, 2014, 2:34 pm Post #5 - March 23rd, 2014, 2:34 pm
    I agree. While Chicago has its share of French bistros, the number of traditional French restaurants offering more than simple bistro fare continues to dwindle. A few (Everest, Tallgrass, Michael) soldier on, and every once in a great while a new one (Brindille) opens, but there just aren't all that many left.
  • Post #6 - April 2nd, 2014, 9:34 am
    Post #6 - April 2nd, 2014, 9:34 am Post #6 - April 2nd, 2014, 9:34 am
    The 80-seat dining room at the well-worn Le Vichyssois restaurant in the northwest exurb of Lakemoor was packed all weekend as the founder and chef, Bernard Cretier, together with his wife and partner, Priscilla, bid goodbye to customers after nearly four decades in business.

    http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... nch-dining
    Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard
  • Post #7 - April 2nd, 2014, 2:46 pm
    Post #7 - April 2nd, 2014, 2:46 pm Post #7 - April 2nd, 2014, 2:46 pm
    nsxtasy wrote:I agree. While Chicago has its share of French bistros, the number of traditional French restaurants offering more than simple bistro fare continues to dwindle. A few (Everest, Tallgrass, Michael) soldier on, and every once in a great while a new one (Brindille) opens, but there just aren't all that many left.


    This precisely why I wanted to love this place. I hoped that it would be a bastion of pre-Paul Bocuse French haute cusine in the tradition of Escoffier. Le Vichyssois was in the ballpark, but it did not meet my (albeit inflated) expectations.

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