Vie Chef Nominated Among Best in Country

Paul Virant, the chef/owner at Vie in Western Springs, has once again been honored by the James Beard Foundation, which recognizes culinary professionals for their work.

Vie Restaurant owner and chef Paul Virant continues to garner recognition for the Western Springs hotspot. He was recently nominated as a semifinalist among some of the best chefs in the country through the James Beard Foundation.  The Beard awards honor culinary progressionals, including chefs, restaurateurs, restaurant designers, cookbook authors, food journalists and more. Virant is a semifinalist in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. According to the Beard Foundation website, Virant was also a semifinalist in this category in 2012 and a nominee in 2011.  Write a review of Vie in Western Springs.  Three other Chicago area chefs are nominated in the category: Dave Beran of Next, …

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New Cooking School Has Tasty Opening

Chefs for a Day, which started in Burr Ridge, opens a place for classes and summer camp.

The opening of new home for a well-known Burr Ridge cooking school was celebrated with what else—food and a cooking lesson. Chef-owner Laura Valcour demonstrated how to cook the four-course meal with wine pairings that she served, ran the event with the help of her business partner, her assistant, and at least one relative, and organized the celebration with contributions of time and marketing skills from family and friends. “Our networks of friends wanted us to succeed,” Ruby Melliza, Valcour’s business partner, said about the June 23 event. Burr Ridge resident Valcour founded Chefs for a Day in 2003, and has been giving cooking lessons and demonstrations around town, including at park district locations and schools. However it was not …

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Green Living

Natural, Healthy Foods in the Neighborhood

Here are some places to find and learn about lean cooking.

The weather is erratically becoming warmer and sunnier. This creates prime opportunities for grilling outdoors, and might create the motivation to go the extra mile, ironically, to buy locally. You can contemplate places to buy and learn about local foods, and to find interesting, healthy ways to cook them. Opportunities to buy fresh produce abound. You could check-out the selection at Brookhaven Marketplace for grilling and, perhaps, eating outdoors. This could include peppers, tomatoes and lean hamburger meat for the grill, and berries that are available on the cheap for appetizers or smoothies. Brookhaven also has recipes and cooking tips available on its web site. There are many other healthy cooking ideas available online, too, …

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A Chef's Story

Laura Valcour started from scratch—and built her own cooking business.

The parking lot near Willowbrook’s Panera Bread is nearly full. Indoors, the bakery is noisy with the late-lunch crowd. Chef Laura Valcour enters the restaurant. She wears a pink paisley shirt and dark pants with pearl earrings. She says just came from an exercise class. She disappears into the seating area searching for a free booth, and returns a few minutes later, successful. After settling in, Chef Valcour’s confident, outgoing manner comes through immediately. One of the many aspects of her work that she enjoys is teaching individuals to care for themselves. She wants them to eat fresh foods and says that one of her “idols” is British Chef Jamie Oliver. Oliver began the TV show, "Jamie's Food Revolution," which teaches families how to…

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