While one restaurant in downtown Homewood has closed its doors, another is moving to take its place, and could also be getting company nearby.
La Voute Bistro closed at the end of June but the owner of a Tinley Park steakhouse is intending to lease the space for a restaurant, 69 Prime.
It would have a menu focusing on traditional surf-and-turf dishes along with Italian cuisine options, according to the village.
La Voute Bistro was on the first floor of La Banque, an 18-room boutique hotel, 2034 Ridge Road, that opened in June 2015, along with La Voute.
Claude Gendreau, owner of La Voute and La Banque, wrote on Facebook that the death of chef Dominique Tougne had “forced him to turn over the space to a restaurant owner much more experienced than I.”
La Voute had rolled out a new and expanded weekend brunch menu in April under the guidance of executive chef Juan Obando, and served an elaborate brunch for Mother’s Day.
The building La Banque is in was built in 1925, and most recently had been home to a branch of Great Lake Bank.
Paul Spass, owner of Primal Cut in Tinley Park, plans to lease space from Gendreau and has asked Homewood for a full liquor license to serve beverages on the premises as well as to allow video gambling.
Homewood trustees discussed the request June 25 and will consider the plan at a future board meeting.
Spass said Thursday he was traveling and not immediately available to discuss plans for 69 Prime.
Primal Cut in Tinley Park, 17344 Oak Park Ave., opened in late March 2017. It took over space that had been home to a number of restaurants, including El Coco Mio, Bogart’s Charhouse and Casablanca Steakhouse.
In Homewood, the restaurant would be just across the street from the recently opened Stoney Point Grill, on the main level of The Hartford. The 36-unit apartment building, 2033 Ridge Road, opened in September 2023.
Homewood officials are also supporting plans by Grace Yan Cui to open Gyumon, a planned Mongolian barbecue restaurant. She would buy, for $1, and rehab village owned space at 2018-2020 Ridge just to east of 69 Prime.
With La Voute, Gendreau incorporated elements of the former bank into the decor, including rows of safety deposit boxes and the bank’s original vault.
With 69 Prime, Spass also plans to use the bank’s covered drive-through space on the north side of the building for outdoor dining, according to Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld.
Gendreau is a veterinary orthopedic surgeon and founder of Veterinary Orthopedic Center in Highland, Indiana.
In 2009, he bought the Ravisloe Country Club in Homewood, which had closed due to declining membership.
In interviews, Gendreau has said he’s not a golfer, but bought the property in order to save it from possible redevelopment as well as to open the course and clubhouse to the public. It also hosts weddings.
Ravisloe was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021, and the grounds, in June 2022, became the first golf course to be accredited as an arboretum by the Morton Register of Arboreta, a global listing based at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.
