🚫 Scottsdale diners got a gut-punch Tuesday when Francine, the coastal French-Mediterranean restaurant that’s called Scottsdale Fashion Square’s luxury wing home since 2020, went dark without so much as a farewell post.
No press release. No Instagram story. No heartfelt “it’s been an honor” email to the reservation list. Just hand-lettered CLOSED signs on the doors and a warm, beautifully set dining room that nobody is eating in.
The silence is especially jarring given how much goodwill Francine had built up over the years. Chef-founder Laurent Halasz, who named the restaurant after his mother, created something genuinely special: branzino baked in sea salt, grilled octopus, rosemary lamb chops, and a happy hour that reliably packed the marble bar.
Fashion Square and Halasz’s team have not responded to requests for comment. Whether this is a temporary pause or a permanent goodbye, nobody’s saying – and that silence, frankly, is its own kind of answer.
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