Fanny's Restaurant was a notable eatery located at 1601 Simpson Street
Evanston, IL
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
60201 USA (the first suburb north of the
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
City Limits) between 1946 and 1987.
It was an anomaly in that it was located in a working-class neighborhood and yet known the world over. Patrons included the
Marshall Field
Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of quality and customer ...
Family, of department store fame.
Both the salad dressing and meat sauce won the International Epicurian Award of France. It was cited by
Chicago Magazine
''Chicago'' is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, ...
as one of the top 40 Chicago restaurants ever. According to that same Chicago Magazine article
Kraft Foods
The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015.
A merger with Heinz, arra ...
offered $75,000 in 1948 to buy Fanny's salad dressing recipe. This offer was refused. The restaurant was closed due to the deteriorating health of the founder, Fanny Lazar née Bianucci. According to the May 11, 1991
Chicago Sun Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
and
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
obituaries, Fanny Lazar died at
Saint Francis Hospital of Evanston
Ascension Saint Francis Hospital is a teaching hospital in Evanston, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago. Its facilities include a Level 1 Trauma and Heart Center, and it has 270 general Acute care beds.
History
Saint Francis Hospital of Ev ...
. At some point, possibly in the 1960s, Fanny's products became available on grocery shelves and the business continues on today through mail order. For several years the restaurant building at Simpson Street and Ashland Avenue was shuttered, then later occupied by rental tenants. During this period there was difficulty maintaining tenants because of what was described as ‘strange happenings’ and the claims that the building was haunted. However, during the condominium boom which occurred in the United States during the first ten years of the 21st Century it was heavily altered and converted into loft spaces. According to a July 5, 1998 Chicago Sun Times article a second version of the restaurant was opened in
Union Pier, MI. It appears to remain in business as of 2011, as it can be found through searching local tourism web sites. Fanny's in Union Pier Michigan was located in the Gordon Beach Inn, It's no longer in business. Fanny's meat sauce and salad dressing can still be purchased through World Wide Food Products in Evanston, IL
References
External links
*Memories of Fanny's Restaurant on WTTW Channel 11 Chicago: https://web.archive.org/web/20091106032511/https://www.wttw.com/main.taf?erube_fh=wttw&wttw.submit.getThread=1&wttw.threadid=1754&wttw.threadPath=1,49,3,1,1
*Fanny's Fried Chicken Recipe on Lost Recipes Found: https://web.archive.org/web/20120425154123/http://www.lostrecipesfound.com/recipes/fannyschicken.html
*Recollections from former patrons on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=45289276596&topic=7737
{{coord, 42.0559, -87.6944, type:landmark, display=title
Restaurants established in 1946
Buildings and structures in Cook County, Illinois
1946 establishments in Illinois