The Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center will welcome Paul Virant, executive chef of Vie restaurant in Western Springs, Ill. at the next spring 2009 Visiting Chef Series event March 11-12.
Virant will give a cooking demonstration on March 11 and then prepare a dinner on March 12. The cooking demonstration will consist of a lecture/demonstration of a four-course meal with samplings of each course served to attendees. Two wines also will be served. The following evening, guests will enjoy a four-course meal, different from the cooking demonstration, prepared by the chef and served with wine pairings.
Virant earned a degree in nutrition from Wesleyan University and attended the Culinary Institute of America. He spent time working at March restaurant in New York after culinary school, and then had a brief stint in Oahu before landing in Chicago. After putting in time at some of Chicago’s top restaurants, Virant opened Vie in 2004, which specializes in seasonal contemporary American. Virant was named Best New Chef 2007 by Food & Wine magazine and Best New Chef by Chicago magazine in 2005. Vie was awarded three stars by Phil Vettel of The Chicago Tribune in 2005.
This year’s Visiting Chef Series has already hosted Ali Barker, executive chef of The Boulevard Inn & Bistro, of Cleveland, Ohio. The final chef scheduled to present in the spring 2009 Visiting Chef Series will be Carrie Nahabedian, chef and co-owner of Naha, on April 1-2.
Tickets for the cooking demonstration are $60 per person and tickets for dinner with the chef are $75 per person. For more information and to make reservations, call (517) 432-5049 or visit www.kellogcenter.com.