Paul Virant

Chef/Owner

Paul Virant is the chef and owner of Michelin-star restaurant Vie in Western Springs, Ill. and Perennial Virant in Chicago. His philosophy of local, seasonal eating stems from his childhood spent on his family’s
farm in Missouri. He credits his grandmothers, both avid canners, for instilling in him a reverence for local ingredients and serving as the inspiring force behind his becoming a chef.

After graduating with a degree in nutrition from West Virginia Wesleyan College, he enrolled at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, N.Y. Following culinary school, he joined March in New York where he further refined his skills under the tutelage of chefs Wayne Nish and Hilary Gregg. A move to Chicago two years later marked a turning point in his career as he worked at some of the nation’s most famed restaurants, including Charlie Trotter’s, Ambria, Everest and Blackbird.

In 2004, a desire to return to his roots led to his opening of Vie in a nearby suburb of Chicago. Utilizing his methods of canning and preserving, Virant serves up his contemporary American cuisine with a focus on the ingredients – their origin, production and quality. Since opening, the restaurant has garnered regional and national attention, including a three-star review by Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune and a spot on Gayot’s list of Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. In the spring of 2012, Virant’s award-winning fare culminated into the release of his cookbook The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking with Pickles, Preserves, and Aigre-doux. It is the first canning manual and cookbook authored by a Michelin-starred chef and restaurant owner and creatively combines the technical aspects of canning with a chef’s expertise on flavor.

“I wanted to create an extension of my home, where people can come and enjoy good food and drink in the company of people they care about. My goal is to be a small part of my guests’ enjoyment of every morsel and drop of life.” – Paul Virant.

He has been featured in the Sun-Times, Time Out Chicago and was named the city’s Best New Chef by Chicago Magazine in 2005. In 2007, he was named among Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs and was a 2011 James Beard Foundation nominee for Best Chef: Great Lakes. He has also appeared on NBC’s Today Show and competed on Food Network’s Iron Chef America.

Prestigious awards to Chef Paul Virant include:

  • Best New Chef, Food and Wine Magazine
  • Best New Chef, Chicago Magazine
  • Jean Banchet Rising Star Chef
  • Rising Star Chef, Restaurant Hospitality Magazine
  • Rising Star Chef, StarChefs.com

Elissa Narow

Pastry Chef

An accomplished pastry chef and teacher, Narow crafts her desserts centered on seasonal ingredients and complementary flavor profiles. Having worked in some of the top kitchens in Chicago including Paul Kahan’s Blackbird and Avec as well as Shawn McClain’s Custom House and Spring, this award winning chef found a nice balance working with both of Chef Paul Virant’s restaurants as she can present more rustic desserts at Perennial Virant and more refined and composed desserts at Vie.

New York native Narow has always been drawn to the creative side of baking. After graduating with a business degree from Washington University (St. Louis, MO.), Narow decided to pursue her passion and enrolled at the esteemed Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago.

Narow received the “Rising Star Pastry Chef of the Year” at the Jean Banchet Awards 2004 and was honored with the Jean Banchet Best Pastry Chef Award in 2007 as well as being tapped by StarChefs as a Rising Star Pastry Chef in 2008.

As of summer 2011, Narow’s desserts have delighted diners at Vie and Perennial Virant and if her past success is an indicator of the future, the best is yet to come.

Amber Blatt

Sous-Chef

Sous- chef Amber Blatt is a force in the kitchen.
Having worked at some amazing restaurants in the Chicagoland area including The Publican and Sepia, she has found her way back to Vie.
She first started as a line cook at Vie in 2006 after graduating with a degree in Culinary Arts from Joliet Junior College and working at Courtright’s in Willow Springs.
Chef Paul Virant invited her back as sous-chef in 2011 feeling that she was the best candidate for the position due to her strong culinary skills, great work ethic, and ability to make a fun work environment.

Dan Compton

Sous-Chef

After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism, Dan headed west to seek his fortune in San Francisco. It didn’t pan out. But the move did change his life all the same. It was there that he met his wife, Charlotte. It was also there, possibly sifting through an overflowing pile of tomatoes at his farmers market, or perhaps in the bathroom of one of the city’s less reputable yet still delicious eating establishments, that he was bitten by the cooking bug.

The onset of symptoms was swift and irreversible: Dan moved back to Chicago, enrolled in the culinary arts program at Kendall College, and pledged himself to a life of long hours and poverty for a second time. As part of his Kendall education, Dan interned at Vie, found his culinary-spiritual home, and hasn’t looked back. After completing his culinary degree, Dan returned to Vie and worked his way up through the kitchen, eventually being named sous chef in February 2013.