Dear Friends

We thank you for your continued patronage the past thirty-eight years and are always grateful for including us in your special event CELEBRATIONS! Chez François will open Friday February 28 and Touché will open Friday January 31, 2025 just in time for the Fire & Ice Festival Saturday February 1, 2025.

We thank you for your continued patronage the past thirty-eight years and are always grateful for including us in your special CELEBRATIONS! We are back for our 39th Season in Vermilion, Ohio with a commitment to set the standard for Fine Dining and Hospitality in Ohio and the Midwest! Commitment is staying true to what you said you would do long after the mood that you said it in has left.

It’s been challenging especially after COVID finding a staff that is committed to excellence. All too often, failure blinds leaders and individuals to the greatness that lies just behind the bend in the road. It is only those with the determination and the will to be exceptional from within who realize you cannot have greatness without some resistance. Those who continually persist and discipline their minds and bodies to overcome obstacles ultimately achieve excellence.

Without question, it can be challenging to make sacrifices and persist. But that is why so many people are content to wallow in mediocrity. Many live in fear, never truly exploring and tapping into the different depths of who they authentically are. We can become complacent and end up accepting the smooth and comfortable path with less resistance. When we make that decision, we take the uneasy and inadequate contentment that comes with mediocrity. Too often people come to us and they want to be on the mountaintop before they go through the valley.

Realize it is only those who are willing to endure the pain of the struggle thought the valley who ultimately enjoy the rewards of greatness and see the fruits of their labor. Understand adversity is an experience, not a final act. The path of greatness and mastery in any field does not transpire overnight. It is a long transformative journey and meticulous process, not merely a destination.

Although Chez François and Touché are closed in the month of January it is a busy month for us as we plan for the spring and early summer. Spring is a busy time for us as we feature St. Patrick’s Day (March 14,15 & 16) the Tre Bicchieri Italian Wine Dinner (Sunday April 13, 2025), Easter (Sunday April 20, 2025), The Bordeaux Dinner (Sunday May 4, 2025), Mother’s Day (Sunday May 11, 2025), The Cigar Smoker (Monday May 19 & Tuesday May 20, 2025) and a few wine dinners along the way. We are excited about our 39th season this year and are busy hiring new candidates from around the world through the J-1 International Work & Travel Program and hiring some great new candidates.

We are very blessed to have great purveyors that provide Chez François and Touché with outstanding products, sourced from around the world from world class suppliers of Produce/Herbs (Chef’s Garden & Novotny’s Farm Market), Beef/Veal/Pork/Game ( Blue Ribbon Meats, D’Artagnan, Maple Leaf Farms, Bell & Evans) Seafood (Catanese Classic Seafood & Euro USA). Quality Always Trumps the Lackluster! The 555 Lounge will hosts special events & wine/whiskey tastings. The 555 is a perfect place to CELEBRATE with small gatherings of twenty-five guests or less.

Finally, as we have hosted in the past around St. Valentine’s Day, we are featuring our first wine dinner of 2025 on Friday February 14, 2025. The dinner will feature a Six-course wine dinner, with seven wines hand selected by Matthew Mars. In addition to our Touché Menu, we will also feature a five-course prix-fixe dinner.

We are back with RESY as our reservation host. We believe their platform serves our purpose better.

Sincerely,
Matthew N. Mars – Proprietor Chef John M. D’Amico – Proprietor