Vie restaurant is a Michelin Star restaurant located in the Southwest Chicago suburb of Western Springs, Illinois. Convienently located Just a block away from the metra station and less than 10 mins from from I-294 http://www.vierestaurant.com/
We dined at Vie on Saturday, August 20, 2011. We decided to do the 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings. Here's a rundown of what we had:
Amuse Bouche: Ricotta and Ramp fritter. Perfect mix of textures of creamy center with crunch fried outside - quite tasty.
1st course - Heritage Heirloom tomatoes, house preserved smelts, string beans, pickled ramp vinaigrette topped with toasted breadcrumbs served with NV Jeio, Desiderio, Prosecco Brut, Italy . Incredibly fresh and tasty tomatoes, with chiffonade of basil running throughout. Great flavor in the salad - the vinaigrette was really bright. This was the first time Mark or I had had smelt. Great way to start the meal.
2nd course - Crispy barramundi, braised snails, eggplant caponata served on a buckwheat frainata served with a 2009 Massaya Vineyards, Rosé, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Fish was done really well and the best wine pairing of the evening. Nicely flavors throughout the whole dish. Surprisingly the servings were much bigger than expected.
3rd course - Wood grilled, dry aged beef loin with braised beef cheek, slow cooked tuscan kale, pickled artichokes and confit cherry tomatoes served with 07 Sean Minor's Four Bears, Cabernet Sauvignon,
Napa Valley. In a word - Divine. The beef cheek - another first for Mark and I - was incredible - tender and flavorful. While the pickled artichoke was tasty, it wasn't needed in this dish. The wine paired well with the beef. The kale was also very tasty.
4th course - Smoked goat cheese, cherry compote with house focaccia served with a Canadian Ice Wine. Really interesting pairing with the smoky cheese. Mark thought the sweet of the wine and the sweet of the cheeries, was too much sweet, but I thought it was fine.
Pallette Cleanser - Nectarice Sorbet - made, we believe, with a little bit of mint. Really nice.
5th course - Valrhona tainori chocolate cake, popcorn gelato, cocoa caramel with cocoa nib nougatine served with 09 Nieto Senetiner, Don Nicanor, Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina. Absolutely decadent - Fantastic way to end the evening.
The whole dining experience was about 2 hours. It was really nice and we will be heading back. Nick our server was attentive and willing to answer any of our questions. He seemed truly interested in how we liked our meals.
Vie also does an 8 course tasting menu upon request. That might be for our next trip out there. I think it will be interesting to visit during the different seasons as Executive Chef Paul Virant focuses his menu around local and in season ingredients.