It’s a Saturday afternoon in Western Springs, a town about 30 minutes west of Downtown Chicago. A table in the back private dining room is filled with women enjoying brunch. The acoustics carry the laughter through the restaurant. Most wouldn’t expect this type of energy for a brunch service in the city, not to mention a suburb of about 13,000.
Petite Vie Brasserie provides them a venue for such meals, with a French brasserie with dishes like foie gras mousse, a goat cheese-filled mushroom tart, and plenty of wine and cocktails. A service staff member goes out of his way to tout a special espresso martini not on the menu.
Paul Virant is no stranger to the suburbs. Virant is one of Chicago’s most celebrated chefs. His first restaurant, Vie, debuted in 2004 in Western Springs. He went on to partner with Boka Restaurant Group on Perrenial Virant at the prominent Lincoln Park corner of Clark and Wells, before detouring toward Japanese cuisine with Gaijin in Fulton Market. He also wrote a book devoted to pickling, Preservation Kitchen. Virant remains dedicated to protecting the environment, appearing on a panel earlier in November at Daisies in Logan Square. Virant demonstrated a rare understanding of the connections between food waste, food insecurity, and how solutions will cost money that could further inflate how much people pay for meals: “Is the consumer ready for food to cost what it should cost, reflected on the menus of our restaurants?” he says. “I don’t think so.”
After 19 years, Vie closed in October 2023; Virant blamed a dispute with the landlord. But this spring Virant reloaded. He bought the building around the corner and opened Petite Vie, just 300 feet away from the original. Without Vie and Mon Ami Gabi’s 2021 closure at Oakbrook Center, Virant felt like this was a great opportunity to fill a void for French food. They’ve been opening in phases, adding brunch over the summer. Virant has watched families come in with young children who try escargot for the first time. His cooks are focused on the regular menu while Virant concentrates on specials like a white veal stew (blanquette de Veau). The specials are a little bit more adventurous, well, actually special. Virant doesn’t want to tip his hand too much, but the chef has some dishes he’d rather have diners discover at the restaurant versus publicizing them online.
There’s a burger that’s garnered some buzz, with perfect frites. French onion soup is stellar The mushroom tart might be one of the most delectable bites of 2024. Earlier this month, the restaurant drew an all-star crowd to celebrate esteemed chef Jean Joho who helped make Everest one of the biggest restaurants in America.
Virant calls it a new chapter, reflecting on how diverse Chicago’s French scene has become. He’s playing around in the kitchen with classic recipes — he shares how he’s started to use garlic in his haricot vert amandine recipe. Subtle adjustments can be real “game changers”: “We’re not reinventing the wheel, as they say,” Virant says.
When Virant opened Vie two decades ago, he was 35. There wasn’t a shortage of diners who would travel from the city to the suburbs, but since then Chicago’s food scene has exploded. Virant has a suggestion: “You know, it’s a quick, easy train from Union Station, and then you can Uber home,” he says. “And you can cocktail on the train.”
Petite Vie Brasserie, 909 Burlington Avenue, Western Springs, open 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for weekend brunch; and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for weekend dinner, reservations via OpenTable