Since I have a reservation for Perennial during Chicago's Chef Week in March, I called to see when Chef Virant would be taking over the kitchen. They didn't give me an exact date, but did say they expect him to start sometime in April. Bummer for my meal in March, but I am excited he is coming to the city.

I would assume that the name is eventually going to segue from "Perennial Virant" to just "Virant" over a period of time. At least I hope so.

We went tonight for dinner and enjoyed it a lot. We had the restaurant week menu on the last night they are offering it. Service was excellent, and the food was very good. Of note, my mom said her food came out hot. She has a very low tolerance for lukewarm food

They said they had been a very busy 10 days (restaurant week, plus it was Sunday and they do a good brunch business) but it didn't feel like we were getting tired service.

We'll definitely go for Ryan Poli's food at Tavernita when it opens, and are looking forward to what the new Chef will be doing at Perennial when that gets going.

The weather was pretty icky, and the valet guys were very cheerful and helpful with my mom (she's in a wheelchair).

Perennial was slammed Saturday night, they put us in the crappy annex across the hall from their main dining room and I still loved it. I really wanted not to. I was really going full crotchety that night.

Service was warm, inquisitive and responsive, despite the high volume (and high annoyance factor from our table -- I wonder who was to blame?).

So I guess with Virant taking over, we can only expect things to get better.