August, 2007 Update: Hennessey’s has been re-opened and is now called Giorgio’s Grill.

With sad news we report that Hennessey’s Steakhouse in Zion, Illinois has shut its doors. Their website just states:

Hennessey’s Steakhouse has closed its doors.

You were not our customers, you were our friends.

Thank you for the privilege of serving you.

While it is a tragedy to see their doors shut, it wasn’t unexpected. The residents of Zion, Illinois are currently experiencing a terrible recession — jobs lost, mortgages going up and foreclosures following. An upper-end steakhouse just didn’t seem to be in the cards. This is bad news for the city of Zion which dropped tens of thousands of dollars on a TIF fo Hennessey’s — in hopes of seeing sales tax income to pay down the investment.

Co-owners John Hennessey and Jimmy Mantzoros tried incredibly hard to find an upper-end clientele, but the restaurant just didn’t have the community around it to support it. Zion’s city leaders have done a fine job of running out most of the higher end businesses, and their irresponsible management of the town’s infrastructure have left the town with a large number of below-poverty level residents who wouldn’t be eating at a steakhouse any time soon.

We’ll miss you, Hennessey’s, and we hope to see you again soon.