Come inside the cozy Café Pyrenees and feel at home in the comfort of the Loustaunau family restaurant. Your taste buds will be delighted when served delectable entrees and mouth-watering desserts. Before, during or after your meal, sip on refreshing wine, hand-picked by Mari Loustaunau, to relax your mind and body.

We bring 18 years of experience in selecting our World of Wines that are found throughout the restaurant for your ease in choosing wines to take home.  We feature varietals from the most fertile vineyards on earth, and our wall bins are chocked full of the newest selections personally chosen by Mari’s discerning palate.

Be sure to visit us during our weekday theme nights and discover tremendous values and new wine choices each week!

Café Pyrenees is the perfect spot for any occasion -- romantic dinner, family celebration, a wine tasting, private party and weekend escape with cocktails and live jazz entertainment.

Make plans to visit Café Pyrenees today, where this modern day French bistro meets European chic to the delight of a legion of fans.

Hours of Operation:

Tuesday through Friday              11:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m.  Late Night Menu Served

Saturday                                    5 p.m. until Midnight            Late Night Menu Served

Sunday                                      5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.

WEEKDAY THEME NIGHTS

Tuesday: Come in every Tuesday and celebrate like it’s 1999…or any year in the 90s with “1990 Nights”. Chef Loustaunau offers a menu with the same prices as offered originally at Café Pyrenees the day they opened. Come in and have the savory rack of lamb for a mere $16.75 (compared to its 2007 price of $29).

In addition, we will be offering our regular menu (current prices) for those who can't stand to do without their favorite dish.

Wednesday: Come in every Wednesday for “Wild Wine Wednesday” and buy Mari’s selected tasting wines for only $3 a glass or $8 a bottle.

Thursday: Get in touch with your Mediterranean spirit for “Twisted Tap” night, and feast on a eight-course tapas menu for $27 per person and beer specials that start at $2 per bottle or draft.

ABOUT US

A hidden gem for those with a taste for fine French cuisine at affordable prices, Café Pyrenees is the love child of French-born chef Jean-Marc Loustaunau and his American wife, Mari.

Located in north suburban Libertyville , the Café Pyrenees family has been dishing out gourmet, authentic French cuisine for more than 17 years. 

With an inviting bar, a “tasting room”, an expanded retail wine shop and an intimate dining area, Café Pyrenees is the perfect place to dine or relax over a great glass of wine. Chef Loustaunau uses French and Spanish influences for his eclectic and delicious menu fare, which includes crabcake appetizers, braised lamb shank, roasted sea scallops wrapped in Nueske’s bacon, Piquillo Pepper Basquaise and homemade ice creams. 

BIOGRAPHY

Diners who equate French cooking with heavy, butter-laden sauces have not met Chef Jean-Marc Loustaunau. Chef Jean-Marc grew up in the Bearn region of France , known for its lighter, flavorful sauces, confits, country pates and the influence of nearby Spain , which is just a short drive through the Pyrenees Mountains .

By age 11, Loustanau knew he wanted to be a chef and began cooking for his family. After he graduated high school he attended the highly regarded Ecole Hotelierede Toulouse, and went on to apprentice at two quintessential, haute cuisine Paris restaurant where he refined his culinary expertise.

In 1978, the famed Le Titi de Paris in a suburb of Chicago was looking for an assistant chef and Loustaunau was brought on board. Twelve years later, Loustaunau realized his own dreams of opening up a restaurant and Café Pyrenees was born. He and his wife Mari, whom he met while working at Le Titi de Paris, run the casual, friendly, family style restaurant with their three grown children.

MENUS

Our delicious cuisine is served for lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Fridays, and Saturdays and Sundays for dinner. In addition to our menus noted here, we feature daily specials that are available by calling us at 847.362.2233. 

We are known for sharing the holidays with our patrons, so please ask about our menu offerings for these special family celebrations.

See our menu page

CATERING

Whether you’re dining at your home, hosting an event at a venue or flying to Mexico on your private airplane, we can bring the delicious taste sensation of Café Pyrenees to you. 

Our catering menu is presented here for your reference, and we stand ready to create a personalized menu to meet your needs.

[CATERING MENU COMING SOON]

GRAPE VINE

Join Café Pyrenees Grape Vine Club and receive unbelievable discounts on all of your favorite wines. Membership perks include pre-sale wine offerings, wine tasting, wine dinners and more wine news than you could imagine. For more information, click here (Gordon:  Please have interested patrons click here to automatically open into an email which has copy imbedded asking for additional information.).

UPCOMING EVENTS

We offer an array of events on a weekly, monthly and special occasion basis.  Be sure the check in with us often to learn about the newest Wine Dinners or wine specials we are featuring for the week.

See our events page for a list of events

CURRENT WINE INVENTORY

We are closely connected with vineyards around the world and therefore are able to buy tremendous wines at incredible values, which we share with our customers.  We try to maintain online a current status of our inventory that allows us to bring to you the most recent purchases on a daily basis. We suggest you visit us often to learn about wines that have just been received!