Avance to close Saturday: 'We gave it a shot'

Avance, the ambitious restaurant that succeeded Le Bec-Fin at 1523 Walnut St., will end its 10-month run after dinner service Saturday.

The impending closing was not unexpected. Troubled by tepid reviews, crippled by weak summer sales, and slapped with an eviction notice after the sale of the building in spring, Avance will "bow out gracefully," chef-partner Justin Bogle said Tuesday night. He said investors made the decision that afternoon to pull the plug. "We will have a great service Saturday," Bogle said.

The reason is pure economics. The house required 120 patrons a night to be sustainable, Bogle said.

"We can't continue operating at this pace," said Bogle, a Philadelphia native who at age 28 in 2009 became the youngest chef to earn two Michelin stars, for his work at New York's Gilt, which closed in 2012.

"We just don't have time to wait and see when it could turn a corner. I can't say this was the wrong decision."

As an independent restaurant, Avance is largely an anomaly on the Rittenhouse Square stretch of Walnut Street. Once Philadelphia's restaurant row, with such one-offs over the last two decades as Susanna Foo, Il Portico, Circa, Alfa, and Striped Bass, the street is now largely a collection of national retail and restaurant chains that can afford high rent.

Le Bec-Fin closed under Georges Perrier in 2012. It was extensively renovated and briefly revived under the same name with new management, but it too suffered from low turnout. The decision to reconfigure the storied address yet again into Avance, which opened in December, was met with cautious optimism in this era of less-expensive dining.

The lamb burger served at the bar got the lion's share of positive notice.

To Bogle's credit, he never backed down from his edgy, gorgeously plated American fare, whose ambition, alas, did not square with the economics.

"We gave it a shot," Bogle said, sounding not a trace bitter. "We have an awesome team. We'll all land on our feet."

The future of 1523 Walnut St. is not known. Perrier, who had owned the bricks for four decades, lost it in a sheriff's sale in spring. New owner Pearl Properties does have restaurants in its portfolio, but conventional wisdom suggests a retailer would pay more rent. A representative of Pearl did not return a request for comment.

Avance's rent is $28,000, according to a court filing.

As for Bogle's own future: "Zero clue. I have a lot of thinking to do."