Chef Paul Virant expands reach with Vistro in Hinsdale
HINSDALE, Ill. (WLS) -- One of Chicago's best chefs is expanding his reach into the suburbs. Paul Virant already has Perennial Virant in Lincoln Park and Vie in Western Springs, but now he's opened a brand new, casual concept in downtown Hinsdale.
Family-friendly is practically a requirement if you're going to open up in the picture postcard-worthy downtown Hinsdale, but who says you have to cook down to the kids? Paul Virant brings plenty of bold flavors to his casual Vistro on South Washington with his beloved Midwestern pedigree.
"We still try to source as much as we can from around the Midwest - from all the different farmers and artisans - but we do sort of take a global approach to the food and the menu," said Virant.
A starter of roasted vegetables - and hearty ones at that, think fennel, carrots, turnips and onions - swims in a light curry and is topped off with mini-rice balls, kind of a poor man's arancini. His pan-seared Wisconsin trout has even more of an international spin.
"There's a Madras curry, roasted apple and onion vinaigrette, so obviously that's more sort of Indian. But then we've taken some inspirations from the Japanese okonomiyaki - which is the cabbage pancake - but have added a Midwestern approach to it," said Virant.
That would be the ham and pecans embedded within the pancake. Skirt steak is perfect, just the right amount of grilled Angus, with sides of roasted potatoes, purple carrots and pickled mushrooms, topped off with herb butter. For dessert, an oven-roasted sticky toffee pudding should do the trick. That oven gets a workout, incidentally, with two pizzas always on the menu, featuring a puffier crust.
"There's bread flour, there is some 00 flour from Italy that we get, some all-purpose flour, whole wheat, a little bit of honey," he said.
Now if you like the idea of your pizza or your sticky toffee pudding coming out of the oven, get this: give 'em a call with a couple days' notice here at Vistro, six to eight people here at the back table, they'll cook a 5-course meal all out of that wood-burning oven.
Vistro
112 S Washington St., Hinsdale
(630) 537-1459
