NORFOLK, Va. — When the doors at the corner of York and Botetourt Streets finally open, it will be fulfilling a lifelong dream of Zach Close.
By the end of September, Close expects to open his new restaurant venture ILO Bistro in the old space of the long-time Voila restaurant. The property has remained vacant since the owners decided to close the restaurant last summer after roughly 20 years of business in the Freemason district.
Close, the former Executive Chef of the Glass Light Restaurant in downtown Norfolk, brings Michelin-star restaurant experience as the sous chef for Café Boulud in New York City.
He chatted with 13News Now about the expectations for this restaurant, which will seat roughly 30 people plus eight bar seats.
Have you been looking at this location for a while, or did the opportunity just present itself?
Yes, I've always had my eye like on this location a little bit. I think it is definitely a combination of both. I mean, my dream as a cook and chef was always to come back home and open up a restaurant. I started out at Glass Light as the sous chef and then got promoted to the executive chef and still always having my goal to open up my own place. I thought it had a good opportunity to it and, you know, it kind of just worked out from there.
Did you ever think after being in the New York food scene you’d wind up back in Norfolk?
I didn't really think that I went up there to get Michelin star experience necessarily, but I wanted to go to the culinary school up there, the French Culinary Institute at the time. I knew that I wanted to work in New York City after that. My first job at a culinary school was at a neighborhood kind of restaurant in Tribeca.
I think after being in New York for almost 10 years, I think I just wanted to get back home close to the family. I always had the interest of coming back here and kind of contributing to the dining scene. So, we really wanted to have, like, that neighborhood feel to it, you know? Being here in Freemason and with all the foot traffic and people, walkability and whatnot, I wanted to have that welcoming feel for neighborhood people and also for people that are coming from other areas.
What kind of food can we expect here?
High-quality food, prepared well, creative. Somewhere you can go on a Wednesday and have a glass of wine and maybe pasta or something, but also could come in and have a little bit of a celebration.
I think balance and approachability was the main goal to kind of being welcoming and yes, we're going to be kind of a mix between French and Mediterranean. We’re calling it a neighborhood bistro with French and Mediterranean influence.
When will you be open?
We want to do Tuesday through Saturday, probably 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for Tuesday through Thursday and then 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. But eventually, we want to add in Monday to get up to the six days.