David closes bistro in Des Plaines after decade

Bob and Barb White received the bad news last week when the sous-chef of David's Bistro arrived at their Des Plaines home with a refund check.

As they do every year, the Whites had hired the Des Plaines restaurant to cater their annual summer dance party.

Now, they have their money back -- and have lost one of their favorite restaurants.

"He said David's had to close," Bob White said. "I was really choked up."

Chef David Maish closed his storefront restaurant at 623 N. Wolf Road March 31 after more than 10 years of serving French-American cuisine.

In an e-mail to the Daily Herald, he cited a steady drop in business because of the sour economy.

The snow-drenched winter also drove away customers, he wrote. In December, the restaurant served 1,000 fewer patrons than the previous year.

Those factors, in combination with the $8,000-a-month rent, led to his decision to shutter the restaurant, he wrote.

Maish sent e-mails to regulars and posted a message on the David's Bistro Web site to say goodbye.

For the Whites, the ambience was just as much a draw as the food. Bird's-eye maple and red oak walls set the decor, and the quaint bistro feel kept fans, like the Whites, coming back.

"I'd say more than the food; it was David and the atmosphere," White said.

David's Bistro, which replaced a pancake house in a strip mall in 1997, had become an institution and local diners already are feeling the void.

"I have received hundreds of thank yous and 'you will be missed' e-mails from my clients. I am going to print them out and make a book of all the amazing people I have made happy," Maish wrote.

As for his future plans, Maish wrote he would like to pursue a TV cooking show.