Gene & Georgetti

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Chicago's Oldest Steakhouse, Still in the Family

Gene & Georgetti opened in 1941 when Gene Michelotti—born in the small Tuscan town of Lucca, Italy, and arrived in the United States at age 15—joined forces with Alfredo Federighi, a chef who had earned the nickname "Georgetti" after a famous Italian cyclist. Michelotti worked the front of house with a personality that drew politicians, celebrities, and regulars in equal measure, while Federighi commanded the kitchen. That division of labor laid the foundation for what is now Chicago's oldest steakhouse, operating continuously on North Franklin Street in River North for more than eight decades.

A Story Written in Three Generations

The family thread running through Gene & Georgetti is anything but incidental—it is the restaurant's defining characteristic. After Alfredo's death in 1969 and Gene's in 1989, Gene's daughter Marion and her husband Tony Durpetti chose to buy the restaurant rather than let it leave the family. Tony's own connection to the place runs deeper than marriage: he grew up 200 feet from the front door, opening it for customers as a boy to earn tips, before Gene himself chased him away. That full-circle story is immortalized in the historically accurate mural Tony commissioned for the second floor, depicting Franklin and Illinois Streets as he remembered them at age seven—with young Tony at the door and Gene in his apron across the scene. Today, the third generation—granddaughter Michelle Durpetti and her husband Collin Pierson—carries the tradition forward.

The Food and the Room

The menu sits at the intersection of Italian and steakhouse cooking, a combination the restaurant calls Tuscan steakhouse. Steaks and chops are wet-aged and broiled until a crust forms, served without pre-seasoning. Alongside them, the kitchen offers Italian classics: Chicken Vesuvio, Veal Parmesan, and homemade lasagna on weekends. Chicken alla Joe—created originally at a customer's request—has become a menu staple in its own right. The walls are lined with signed celebrity photographs and familiar local faces, giving the dining room the feel of a genuine Chicago institution rather than a themed one.

Recognition That Reflects the Cellar and the Kitchen

The restaurant's wine program earned Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence in 2025, recognized for offering a well-curated selection of approximately 90 or more wines that complement the Tuscan steakhouse menu in both style and price. That recognition sits alongside the DiRōNA Achievement of Distinction in Dining award—held since 2011—and the Banchet Awards' designation as an "Iconic Restaurant," the first time that honor has been given. The Italian Government's Marche Ospitalità Italiana endorsement further underscores the authenticity of the hospitality here. Legends from Frank Sinatra to Keanu Reeves have passed through; some regulars have been coming for more than 50 years.