Lexington Social
Rural Lexington, Illinois doesn’t seem like an obvious place to start a gourmet restaurant. It’s smack in the middle of the cornfields. Population just north of 2000 people. But when Jon Fritzen saw the empty former train station sitting in the center of town, he knew it would be the perfect place to see his dream of starting his own restaurant come to life.
Fritzen was raised in nearby Bloomington, Illinois in a close-knit family. His German father, Bodo Fritzen, was a longtime professor at Illinois State University. His mother was a baker and an entrepreneur. Both parents shared a European sensibility to food at home. Sunday meals were sit down affairs with beautiful dishes from both his parents and German grandmother.
Jon, who describes himself as “not much of a student”, was unmoored after high school. He traveled, joined his brother Steve’s African funk band as a bassist and worked as a housepainter between music gigs. But he found a sense of purpose when a coworker took him to an out-of-the-way taco kitchen in a trailer park in Bloomington.
“It was one of those places where you had to know somebody who knew somebody who knew about it, Fritzen says. “It was a totally new culture for me – and the tacos were unlike anything I’d ever tasted.”
Fritzen decided to try to replicate the authentic recipes for his own family and friends. His love of cooking just grew. He taught himself to cook using recipe books and YouTube, honed his skills at Epiphany Farms and eventually started an English-themed food truck cum double-decker bus with a partner called “Two Blokes and a Bus.”
After “Two Blokes” ended its multi-year run, Jon experimented with upscale dishes in concept he called “The Underground.” He served what he calls “haute low” cuisine to large groups of family, friends and other guests who “knew somebody who knew somebody” who gathered at long tables in his home. From there, he knew he had the skills and the vision to do something big.
Lexington Social, which has operated since 2000, serves Jon’s “haute low” cuisine in the bright, modern atmosphere of the old Lexington Station. The layout has everything Fritzen values about a great dining experience: lots of light and an open kitchen that flows right into an intimate dining area. He and his small staff use locally produced meats, grains and vegetables. They source fish from producers in Chicago. The menu varies depending on what’s fresh. There’s always a handmade pasta on the menu and veggies from the Lexington Social garden out back. Fritzen says the idea is to order a bunch of dishes (called “shareables”) and pass them around. It’s the way he loves to eat. And so far, it’s working. Tables go fast, and customers come from miles away.
Visit their website at www.lexington-social.com for more information.
