Fond
Oct 1, 2008 Illinois, restaurants
With the clothing store long gone and the butcher paper in the windows, Fond, Amy Zupanci’s soon to be opened restaurant in Edwardsville, grows nearer each week.
Some of you may recall that Zupanci tipped off a bit of an Edwardsville uproar earlier this year when she was quoted as saying that she’d be opening her restaurant because she wanted to “…bring back Main Street because our standards have raised.”
It would seem now, that if the RFT can be used as an any kind of barometer, (and I think it can), that the line should have read, “continuing the Main Street standards set by soon to be neighbors Erato on Main and 222 Artisan Bakery.” Both businesses received nods in the RFT’s 2008 Best Of (222 / Erato)
So while we’ll still have to wait a few more weeks to see Fond’s first crack at simulating Savoy’s style, here are a couple things to mull over:
- We’re going to get a flurry of cutesy headlines once the reviewing begins. Things like:
- There’s something to be Fond about in Edwardsville
- Fond of Fond
- Fondness is found in Edwardsville
- If you were opening a restaurant that the Edwardsville Journal said “will feature local fruits and vegetables, herbs, meats and chicken, with a seasonal menu,” would it not be best to open when these things are going to be in season for a while? Like, I don’t know, at the beginning of the growing season?
Tags: Edwardsville, Fond
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October 22nd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I hear this place is going to have really delicious food and a nice place to relax.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Oh believe me, we shall see.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I think the food will be very good. I just hope everyone drops ego and just gets along. It is a hard thing to do sometimes, including for me, but if it happens it makes for a better dining scene overall. We can never have enough good restaurants.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:08 am
here, here, Chef Gerard! Despite prior misconceptions, we are quite enthused regarding Chef Amy Zupanci’s arrival here on Main Street, and hope that she will, indeed, contribute nicely to the growing dining scene here in Edwardsville. Building upon the current market in Edwardsville is an awesome endeavor, and will challenge all of us to be the best that we can be. Good luck Fond!!
October 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I don’t know you or your blog, (I work in Edwardsville so I’ve heard of Fond). I hear big, jealous sour grapes in your post here. Fess up. Why so threatened?
October 27th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I’ve known Amy since High School and I’m really excited about her bringing some NYC flavor to Edwardsville. I know her restaurant and her food will be absolutely AMAZING! I can’t wait to see Amy and try out Fond for itself.
October 28th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Kudos to AZ she turned that corner of main into something really beautiful. the restraunt looks amazing from the outside and thanks for the valet parking we needed that down town. Best of luck to her.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Address??
October 29th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I was thrilled to attend the soft opening last weekend. Wow – she’s amazing! The food, atmosphere, service blew me away. I can’t wait for my next trip to Fond.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
A small group of us ate at Fond on Sat. Love the atmosphere and the menu was great. However, the food was quite over priced which was so disappointing. $12 for a small bowl of potato leek soup? Come on, what’s the food cost for that? The food was good, but not super memorable. I really want Amy and Fond to make it, we need another great restaurant in Eville, but with the high prices and small amount of food you get it is such a rip!!! I have eaten at a lot of great restaurants in STL and Fond’s food was not as good and a great deal more expensive. What gives? It’s not like the rent is high. We’re not in NYC any more.
November 5th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
LL,
I won’t take issue with your price concern ($12 is a lot for the soup you mentioned), but please give them a little time to get things straight. If you really want them to make it, maybe calling them a “rip” isn’t the greatest idea.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I have also eaten at Fond and want Amy to be successful. It is very noisy, which could mean she is having lots of reservations. I was disappointed of not having bread. The prices are very high, I have traveled all over the world and for what I ordered I did not taste the need for the prices. We had to send one very tough pork dish back, too rare. To be honest the portions were so small, I was still hungry after spending $70 per person for our meal. I hope it makes it, but it will have to listen to patrons and adjust accordingly.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
We have reservations to try Fond in the near future w/ some friends/business assoc. We have been planning this dinner for sometime and were planning on going to STL. After seeing the makeover on Main Street and reading the recent article in The Edge, I suggested we try Fond. Does anyone have any positive experience or should we cancel before we ask business associates to drive over here for dinner at Fond? And, on the portions/price, it has been a while but the one and only time we had dinner at Erato, we left feeling the same way –Food was really good, but a little overpriced for serving size. We also eat out at great places in STL regularly and love that more “upscale” restaurants are opening in this area. I would prefer to give Fond our business, but do have concerns with the above experiences.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I have not eaten at Fond so I cannot provide any thoughts as to the taste/quality of the cuisine, but I did stop in for a few drinks after eating at Erato on Saturday and I looked over the menu that was printed for that night. My initial impressions (and I acknowledge that this is definitely judging a book by its cover and should not be the deciding factor in your decision) is that the menu was very brief on options and the prices seemed in the higher range given the ingredients listed in the options. I personally find Erato to be well worth the money for the quantity/quality of the items and my thoughts was that Fond seemed a little overpriced given the types of dishes on the menu. I will say that the restaurant space is very nice and we had great service at the bar. I had been very eager to try Fond, but after looking over the menu my first thought was that if I’m going to drive to Edwardsville, I’m definitely just going to go to Erato.
Once again, I just looked over the menu (which was much shorter than the one posted online) and am making some big assumptions. I may be completely off and I definitely would be open to reconsider my position if others have different thoughts/experiences as I’m not trying to get people to avoid Fond, I’m just stating my initial impression after the brief time I was there (My initial thoughts after looking at the menu on the Fond website was very positive, but the menu that was actually at the website was very limited in comparison).
November 14th, 2008 at 11:30 am
To SS,
I live in E-ville and love to eat and go out to enjoy food and service. I have eaten at Fond, the atmosphere is great, the food is good but nothing spectacular for its price range. I thought that $50 for the market dish was way over the top, but I had to try it. Not very impressive. If you are going there soon with your clients the service will probally still be rough, I know that my server had no idea about great service when I went, hopefully that will change. I am though a fan of Erato, which is still a high in price for what you get, and the service is good. My favorite resturant in town is, and has been, Bella Milano. The price per portion is fantastic, the food is always very good and consistant. The main reason that I would suggest Bella Milano is the outstanding service, I went the other night and was served by a young man who went above and beyond to meet my needs with out me even having to ask, I was very impressed. I guess, in my opinion service is what makes the experince a great one. Out of all the resturants in E-ville I continue to go where I know I will be treated the best, and thats at Bella Milano.
Hope this helps you out.
The food addict
November 20th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
To Food Addict.
Seriously? You have spent too much time in Edwardsville then.
November 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
A Quick peek at the thesaurus indicates “Food Addict” is synonymous with “Bella Milano Employee.”
November 24th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Living in the Metro East and constantly having to venture to MO for fine dining is sad.
I’m so excited about having a CIA chef in our backyard.
Localvore cuisine is new to most. Grazing over your overcooked steaks and bottomless pastas your missing out on what food is all about, TASTE.
Cherish what you have and get past your egos.
LIVE,LOVE,EAT.
To the Staff at Fond
Keep up the GREAT WORK!
August 8th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
OVER—RATED…OVER—RATED…
August 10th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
We dined here Saturday night…it was okay, but I sure didn’t see what would deserve Best New Restaurant.The prices are way to high for the quality and selection given. I also do NOT believe that Chef is living up to her philosophy stated on the website. Sustainable? I sure didn’t see anything of that nature on the menu. We went down the street to Erato for desserts. Like it was night and day. Fond empty…Erato packed. Looks like 1 of the 2 might survive.
[Note from Bill: This is not Ian Froeb]