Despite its name, the suburban village of Western Springs has endured a long dry spell — lasting since the days of Prohibition, actually. So it wouldn’t have been terribly surprising if there had been dancing in the streets on Aug. 15, the day 34-year-old chef Paul Virant opened his elegant restaurant Vie, recipient of the hamlet’s first modern-day liquor license. It’s just so nice to have a glass of wine with dinner without breaking the law.
But an even better reason to rejoice would be Virant’s elegant but earthy food — especially his gnocchi. You can always procure a fine bottle of wine, but good gnocchi like these — full of flavor and not gloppy — are a truly rare and wonderful gift to any town.
I called Virant to find out the secret to his version of the Italian dumplings (which he serves as an appetizer, topped with braised fall mushrooms and their juices, a bit of ricotta and soft herbs). I first told him how much I’d enjoyed my trip out (the Cheeveresque train ride, the charming Playskool town) and the atmosphere in his new space (black-and-white photography, crystal sconces, late afternoon sun through tall windows, well-heeled couples sipping wine). And, of course, I told him how much I liked the food (I tried the herb breaded pork loin with grits, spinach and smoked tomato vinaigrette; my dinner mate had the chicken three ways — roasted and stuffed with goat cheese and herbs, braised with local peppers and olives, and pan fried with pesto; that gnocchi; a wonderful chilled sweet corn soup with crab and smoked paprika, and a Hawaiian hearts of palm salad).
“So charming; it reminds me of Paris,” I said. “I’d definitely take the train out just to eat there again.”
This is all quite true, but I was definitely buttering him up; I wanted all the gnocchi information I could get.
“We wanted it to err on the elegant side, but be comfortable,” he said of the decor, which seemed to me, the longer we talked, to be representative of his culinary ethos as well. He’s got the pristine pedigree (Culinary Institute of America, stints with Wayne Nish at March in New York and at Ambria, Charlie Trotter’s and Blackbird in Chicago), the refined menu and presentation, and the upscale local ingredients, but there’s a homespun aspect that keeps things from getting too prissy.
Virant describes his food as “kind of French-inspired or Western European-inspired seasonal American.” I’d describe it as food you can tuck into with both gusto and grace: fried quail with grilled onions and arugula with buttermilk chive dressing; pan-roasted halibut with creamed local beets and a warm horseradish potato salad; blueberry brown butter cake for dessert.
And the homespun elements really do come from Virant’s home. He grew up in a big food-loving family in St. Louis. “Both my grandmothers were wonderful cooks, and my mother is an outstanding cook too. She made Midwestern comfort food — pot roast, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings,” Virant said. A lot of people have vivid food memories, of course, but Virant actually puts his to work.
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This is a man who enjoys the art of pickling (pickled fennel with wood-grilled shrimp saffron aioli, and pickled asparagus with house-cured salmon and dill creme fraiche were on the menu the night I was there).
“Yeah, I am into pickles. I picked that up from my mom’s mom–she did a lot of preserves and jams, and my dad’s mom always made applesauce. I just finished making our last batch of actual pickles,” he said, meaning the kind made with cucumber. “I’m gearing up for a poached halibut dish, with a pickle salad.”
And for dessert, while his menu has featured almond panna cotta with thyme roasted peaches, a local melon semifreddo with honey wafers and the requisite molten lava cake, Virant loves the old-fashioned butter cakes of his childhood. “We had a party on Friday, and [my pastry chef] Mary Bodach and I made my grandmother’s pound cake and served it with fresh peaches and blueberries.” He’s not sure about adding her banana cream pie to the menu, but I think it’s a great idea.
But the amazing gnocchi? It didn’t sound to me like the kind of dish you’d discover in a meatloaf, pickle, cream pie kind of family.
“I dated an Italian girl all through high school whose father taught me to make gnocchi and pasta,” he said. “Dominic Troiani was his name.”
Virant remembers his first gnocchi as a transformative experience; how he broached the topic of gnocchi lessons with his girlfriend’s father, however, is a little fuzzy.
“Maybe I was just brown-nosing at the time,” Virant said, laughing. “I don’t really remember.”
And I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. You do what you have to do. I finally got the recipe for Virant’s refined version of Troiani’s gnocchi (Yukon gold potatoes; a whole egg rather than a single yolk — that’s as much as I’m willing to share). I remember it exactly; it’s going to be a permanent food memory.
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Vie is at 4471 Lawn Ave., Western Springs; 708-246-2082. Open Mondays through Saturdays for dinner only. Entrees $17-$27.