Dec. 08--Sad news for lovers of classic bistro food: Bistrot Margot (1437 N. Wells St.), a mainstay of the Old Town dining scene since 1999, will close at the end of the year.
The bistro "was always the Little Engine That Could," said Annie Flanagan Doppes, who owns the business with her husband, chef Joe Doppes. "It was just time to move on."
Bistrot Margot had its roots in Taylor Street, when the couple opened Taylor Street Bistro in 1990. Opening a French bistro in the middle of an Italian-restaurant district seemed foolhardy, but Joe's meticulous cooking and Annie's wisecracking front-room persona drew customers anyway. The restaurant was particularly favored by other French chefs; the late Jean Banchet, who was Doppes' boss at Le Francais, brought the legendary Paul Bocuse to Taylor Street Bistro.
"Joe was speechless," Annie said at the time. "It was like meeting the pope."
In 1996, the husband-and-wife team partnered with restaurateur Scott Harris and turned the restaurant into Francesca's on Taylor, at the time only the fourth Francesca in Harris' soon-to-be-booming empire. Largely due to Doppes' cooking, I labeled it "my favorite Francesca" in a review later that year. But the bistro bug proved too strong, and the pair headed to Old Town to open Bistrot Margot (named for their daughter) in 1999. Bistrot Margot earned three stars from the Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times, and briefly opened a second location, in downtown Naperville, in 2005.
"It's really hard and really sad," said Annie Doppes of the imminent closing. "There's no such thing as mom-and-pop places any more; it's all restaurant groups. Little guys just don't stand a chance."
Joe and Annie Doppes own the building and are close to finalizing a sale. It's expected the building will be torn down to make room for a condo project.
"We're definitely closing by the end of the year," Doppes said. "We're going out with a blast, not with a whimper. This was really a special place. This has been a great street, a great neighborhood, a lot of magic happening here. We're very, very thankful."
Phil Vettel is a Tribune critic.
