Publications: Counsel's Table: Vie is for Victory

Last week I ate dinner with clients. One came in from the way west suburbs, another from around O’Hare. My partner Ethan and I came from downtown. Having no real idea where West meets North in suburban food land I fell into Vie in Western Springs which — focus now — IS THE BEST PLACE I HAVE BEEN TO ALL YEAR!!

It is small. It is so inconveniently located that even when my GPS girlfriend insisted that I had arrived, I had to look around and make sure. It is warm, welcoming, open and friendly. Unlike nearly all small, inconveniently located places, it has a menu that will knock your socks off, hell, it would knock Charlie Trotter’s socks off.

It is one thing to write a nice menu — anyone with a key pad can talk about things nestled lovingly over other things, but can the chef deliver? Go and see for yourself.

Start with braised burgundy snails with crispy bone marrow dumplings, or the scotch egg swathed in chicken sausage, maybe the deep-fried baby artichokes served with smelts, Meyer lemons and pickled Buddha’s hand and you start to get the idea that this isn’t your father’s suburban steam table. Entrées include a wood-grilled goat loin served over warm arugula, olives, almonds and lemons. Or maybe a dry-aged rib eye and braised oxtail served with potato puree, roasted carrot, drizzled with sauerkraut beef jus. Whitefish, ocean trout and terrific-sounding vegetarian options were also available, as was an ample and fairly priced wine selection, a domestic cheese plate that was so good we had another and a dessert list to which you can’t just say no (but you can say brown butter waffle topped with cranberry crumble ice cream swimming in a cider caramel sauce). Vie gets most of its stuff locally and is so self-aware and unsnobby that its menu even has a little glossary so if you aren’t quite sure what stuff like Buddha’s hand is, you can just look. Ahhhhh.

Gage and Henri — one out of two ain’t bad. Billy Lawless, the restaurateur with the best name in town, has taken Michigan Avenue hostage with bold moves and an Irish aw-shucks genius usually reserved for mayors named Daley. Gage and Henri sit opposite the Millennium Park fountains and they have classed up the neighborhood. Gage is a happy, have-a-pint pub with a gastro menu that reeks foodie comfort food. Loud in the front dining room, quieter in back with a great downstairs space. The menu is full of stuff you should have given up for Lent. Fried chicken livers come a lot to an order, crunchy crisp with big-kick mustard. Fried zucchini cut long, not in disks, is light (sort of) with breaded olives and a nice tomato ragout. Don’t try to translate “House Poutine” — just get it — and see what happens when beef stew and cheese fries have a baby and that baby goes to private school. Warm, decadent and delicious.

The entrées sound familiar, but eschewing convention (Lawless, remember?) expect a surprise or two. The lamb stew is buttery, tender lamb chunks with traditional stew veggies, but steeped in Indian spices that blend and warm. Turkey leg confit turns out to be a rich po’boy on a crusty baguette. Fire-roasted chicken is sort of buffalo chicken but with a Frank’s (I put that s*#t on everything) hot sauce, blue cheese and basil. Sausages, pork belly and big boy mustards play prominently, but so do wild mushrooms. Brussels sprouts and smoked salmon. A varied and fearless array of tastes, combined with a deep beer list, pub-next-door service and great space. Gage is going to offer needed respite to visitors and regulars alike for a long, long time.

And then there was its fancy next-door cousin, Henri. I wanted to like it, I really did, but the soup was Puree of Stinging Nettles. Really? In Chicago? What it lacked in taste and temperature it made up for with its “Exorcist” green color. The room would be cavernous if it were bigger. As it is, it’s a little cold and overdone.

The escargot were lousy, underdone and underflavored. We tried the lobster club, croquet monsieur, skin-crisped yellow fin tuna sandwich and the Sullivan chicken. All seemed lonely on oversized plates. All were all okay, tuna bordering on quite good. The prime burger, with its layer of short rib, is rich and delicious, the stone-oven chicken salad is a nice quarter-chicken served over romaine, cukes and really fresh tomatoes.

Pleadings:

Vie
4471 Lawn Ave.
Western Springs
708-246-2082
Court costs:
Appetizers: $10 to $24
Entrees: $15 to $39
Verdict: Four gavels

Gage
24 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago
312-372-4242
Court costs:
Appetizers: $5.50 to $11
Entrees: $16 to $42
Verdict: Three gavels

Henri
18 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago
312-578-0763
Court costs:
Appetizers: $9 to $32
Entrees: $17 to $42
Verdict: One gavel