Les Nomades chef part of French brasserie slated for Hyatt in Loop

A brasserie called Cochon Volant is slated for the Hyatt hotel planned at 100 W. Monroe St. Photo from CoStar Group Inc.

Acclaimed Chicago chef Roland Liccioni and the restaurant unit of a fast-growing foodservice company are teaming up on a French spot in a forthcoming downtown hotel.

WellDone Hospitality Inc., part of Chicago-based OrganicLife LLC, signed a lease to open a brasserie called Cochon Volant French for flying pig in a 6,000-square-foot space in the 257-room Hyatt hotel under construction in the vintage office building at 100 W. Monroe St., said OrganicLife CEO Jonas Falk.

Mr. Liccioni, who built a name for himself at Le Franais in Wheeling and now runs Les Nomades in Streeterville, will oversee the kitchen, Mr. Falk said.

The restaurant will open in a corner space at Monroe and Clark streets, he said, offering all-day breakfast with French specialties like croissants and, in the evening, Mr. Liccioni's interpretation of dinner classics like steak frites. There will be about 180 seats, plus an outdoor seating area.

The Loop has been rapidly transforming in recent years with new apartment towers and hotel projects. The development boom has spurred a spate of new restaurants, including Chicago-based DineAmic Group's planned steakhouse at LaSalle Street and Wacker Drive and additional dining options in Block 37.

Yet pulling off a restaurant in a downtown hotel isn't easy, since guests often prefer to eat at places different than where they're staying. And the Loop still sees traffic in the area dip when office workers head home.

'TREMENDOUS AMOUNTS OF CHALLENGES'

At a lot of hotels in the area, restaurants have had tremendous amounts of challenges, and the Loop, on nights and weekends, is very, very quiet, said Chuck Hamburg, principal at Chicago-based consultancy Creative Hospitality Associates and a professor of restaurant management at Roosevelt University. They're going to have to market it as a restaurant that happens to be located in a hotel.

Having Mr. Licconi on board, however, is a huge asset for the restaurant and should help Mr. Falk and OrganicLife President Justin Rolls attract locals, said Mr. Hamburg, who once employed Mr. Rolls.

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Les Nomades chef part of French brasserie slated for Hyatt in Loop