Though chef and owner Georges Perrier is denying it, Mallin Panchelli Nadel Realty is offering Le Bec-Fin up for sale for a reported $3.9 million, according to the Insider. The 40-year-old Restaurant Row flagship, which was once regarded as one of the country’s premier French restaurants and helped establish Philly as a worthy dining destination, has been in the same location on Walnut Street for 27 years. Prior to that it resided at what is now Vetri at 13th and Spruce. Countless rumors in recent years have intimated that Perrier, now 66, is considering retirement, and Le Bec Fin is calling it fin. Such speculation swelled when its sister restaurant Brasserie Perrier closed abruptly on New Years Eve in 2008, shortly after Perrier announced he was doing away with Le Bec’s strictly prix fixe dinners and set seatings in an effort to appeal to younger customers with a more casual vibe. [Insider]
