A brand-new wine bar and bistro called Gigi will be making its debut in Barrington, located at 131 Park Ave.
The new restaurant will move into the former home of the Bread Basket family restaurant, which closed during the pandemic. Father-son duo David and Jessen Koelling will use the space to open Gigi in mid-December, according to The Daily Herald. Before the two can open, they must first get approval from the village for planned interior work, which is described as an update, not a “gut job.” When the bistro opens, customers can expect plenty of fresh fish, roasted chicken, duck confit, and many other seafood dishes.
“We have designed it around what we felt the town needs, which is a neighborhood bistro,” David Koelling tells the Daily Herald. “It’s just a place you can go and get a great meal and some fine wines without a lot of fluff. We have some great sourcing lines with seafood and are going to have beautiful seafood.”
David Koelling is no stranger to the restaurant industry. The Barrington chef earned the first Chef Legacy Award in 2018 from Meals on Wheels Chicago’s Chef Council. On top of that, he also owned the fine dining restaurant The Greenery on North Avenue between the 1980s and 1990s. During that time, he also opened Biloxi Grill in Wauconda before becoming the president and COO of Odyssey Cruises. Now, David, who currently serves as the president of Strategic Dining Services, a dining management company, is ready to try his luck within the restaurant industry once more.
“I have wanted to get back in the game for some time, just trying to find the right time and the right opportunity, and when Jessen was ready from a developmental standpoint, it just was like a perfect storm,” David Koelling continues. “It was just like, all right, let’s do this together and have some fun.”
