Gene & Georgetti VIP party Sunday in Rosemont
The new Gene & Georgetti restaurant in Rosemont is hosting a private VIP preview party this weekend in advance of its public grand opening July 22.
As many as 1,800 people - from family and friends of the restaurant owners, to longtime customers of the original restaurant in Chicago's River North neighborhood - are expected to attend the invite-only reception Sunday. It follows a ribbon cutting, champagne toast, and ceremonial cutting of the first steak at 5:15 p.m.
The 260-seat Rosemont restaurant at 9421 W. Higgins Road serves as the first expansion for the 75-year Chicago dining institution.
The restaurant's owners say they've been approached over the past 25 years with offers to open a second location in the suburbs, but it wasn't until three years ago that they seriously began considering the Rosemont location.
The timing worked out when Rosewood restaurant and banquet hall owner Jim Mandas announced his retirement and closed his business in January after 25 years on Higgins.
The village bought out the remaining 47 years on a 70-year land-lease agreement and the 18,000-square-foot building for $5.2 million. Gene & Georgetti then signed a 10-year lease deal for the building with Rosemont.
The official public grand opening has been pushed back about two weeks to July 22, but there are a number of preview events before then, including an investors' dinner.
A soft opening is scheduled for the weekend of July 17-19 to give staff time to settle in.
"It's becoming soup - and all the ingredients are going into the pot," said Michelle Durpetti, a third generation restaurant employee who is the marketing and special events manager. "Construction finished beautifully. Nothing like the nick of time, but still good. We're really excited and looking forward to getting in the space."
Attached to the restaurant will be a private events and wedding venue called "The Estate by Gene & Georgetti," an outgrowth of Durpetti's wedding and event planning business.
Durpetti's parents, Marion and Tony, are the restaurant proprietors, and her cousin Richard Ciota is a managing partner, who will serve as the restaurant's general manager.
Durpetti's grandfather was Gene Michelotti, one of the restaurant's co-founders. He's been on everyone's mind recently, she says.
"Twenty-plus years after his death, and we still have staff members who get a little teary," Durpetti said. "I think he would have been ecstatic. I don't know that he would have thought of this building. He was the 'I take my loaf of bread one sandwich at a time' kind of guy. He was really just a small business guy trying to do right by his family. I think he would be really proud."