Obituaries

Le Francais Chef Jean Banchet Dies

Banchet, who opened the Wheeling restaurant in 1973, was considered one of the best chefs in the country.

Chef Jean Banchet, whose Le Francais restaurant in Wheeling was a culinary destination for Chicagoans as well as visitors who would fly into the nearby airport for a meal, died Sunday, the Chicago Tribune reports.

He was 70 and had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer a month ago, the Tribune says. The Chicago Sun-Times put his age at 72.

Banchet opened Le Francais in 1973 and was regarded as one of the country’s best chefs for much of his tenure there, according to Wine Spectator. The small, nearby airport was often packed with corporate jets so that diners from around the country could enjoy his creations.

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He took a break from the restaurant from 1989 to 1999, then left for good in 2001. The restaurant closed six years later, the Tribune reports.

Banchet was lured from his native France to the Midwest in 1968 when Hugh Hefner invited him a position with the Playboy Club’s resort at Lake Geneva, according to the Chicago Culinary Museum.

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Banchet was living in Florida, where his funeral will be held Dec. 2, according to the Sun-Times. A Chicago memorial will be held in a few weeks, his widow told the Sun-Times.


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