• old building
  • workers on the fundations

About us

About us

Cheyenne may not immediately come to mind when thinking about France! However, in the late 1800's Cheyenne was actually nicknamed Paris of the West because it was deemed to be so fancy. This was because when the railroad was being built, Cheyenne was its longest stop of construction. That hiatus resulted in an extraordinary boom and the building of very ornate buildings to include an opera house and a social club. As a result, locals and visitors commented "it is such a fancy restaurant, it is just like Paris West."

Our French Restaurant Location:
While the building of the railroad resulted in the name, our actual location at 1719 Central also has a rich railroad connection. The building, originally known as The Downtowner, was commissioned by the Union Pacific and built-in 1961. The Downtowner was the Union Pacific's lodging and dining destination for train personnel. It was quite common to see conductors and engineers with suitcases in hand walk the two blocks from the train depot to The Downtowner to layover.