Small Cheval gets liquor license, hopes for fall opening

Small Cheval’s progress toward opening in downtown Wilmette continued Tuesday night as village trustees granted the restaurant’s request for a liquor license. 

The anticipated eatery — which will be located in the historic building at 1139 Wilmette Ave., the former home of Depot Nuevo restaurant — submitted an application for a Class A-1 Liquor License. 

That classification allows “the sale of alcoholic liquor by restaurants without a bar when such sale is incidental and complementary to the consumption of meals,” according to a village memo detailing the request. 

The Class A-1 license also permits the delivery and/or carry-out of alcoholic averages in their original packaging and premixed cocktails, per the memo. The filling of growlers or crowlers is also acceptable under the classification. Small Cheval officials have not yet given an indication as to whether they plan on offering either of those provisions.

In 2023, Small Cheval — a spinoff of renowned burger restaurant Au Cheval that has several Chicago locations — announced that it had purchased the building from the Village of Wilmette, as first reported by The Record. 

The building that will house the new restaurant is a local landmark that was built in 1874. Small Cheval ownership first targeted an opening in spring of this year, but that date has since been pushed back to this fall, according to a communication from the village. 

One aspect that stalled the restaurant’s opening plans was its request for a sign on its roof, which first received a recommendation of denial from Wilmette’s Appearance Review Commission before ultimately gaining approval from village trustees earlier this summer. 

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