On the other end of the spectrum from the previous post, I had a really, really enjoyable meal at PV.

We only waited 5-10 minutes for seating (even without a reservation)on a late saturday night, which is always nice. The interior of PV is really nice and in my opinion the perfect combination of laid back but still nice and comfortable. I particularly loved the head lamps ☺.


Lamps

The menu is divided in small/medium/large plates and from the amount of food we received it would be wise to order one of each per person or more depending on how hungry you are. The food was delicious and if I could use one word to describe it all, it would be "balanced". We started with fried zucchini, the small snake river sturgeon and gnocchi with broccoli.


Squash Blossoms

Fried zucchini or squash blossoms are always an excellent treat during the summer. Besides being beautiful they taste light and slightly crispy. They were good, but nothing I will crave or remember for a long time. I did however appreciate the thin crispy coating without the excess grease from frying, of the blossoms. Cooking them often at home I know that is not the easiest thing to do.


Gnocchi and Broccoli

The gnocchi with broccoli were delicious with perfect balancing of textures. The softness of the gnocchi was very well balanced by the slight crunch and char of the broccoli.


Sturgeon and Potato Latke

The chemistry between the sturgeon, the potato latke and pickled celery was equally great. The delicate flavor of the fish had found the perfect partner in the crunchiness of the celery and potato latke. The star of the dish was the latke, not the fish, with its perfect combination of crunchiness and softness.


Pasta and blue cheese

The true star of the whole evening was what came next. I did not order the pasta with blue cheese and corn but I wish I had. When I first read the description it did not sound very interesting but it turned out to be one of the most unique and delicious pasta dishes I have ever had. The creaminess and soft bitterness of blue cheese together with the sweetness of the corn were a winning combination.


Pork

Salmon

The salmon and pork were both really good but it was hard to compete with the pasta. The salmon was cooked perfectly with a thin crisp layer on top but not fully cooked inside (which is a good thing).


Chocolate and mint

The chocolate-mint desert was both luscious and refreshing at the same time, a great way to end the meal.


Panna cotta

The crème fraiche panna cotta (even though technically is not a panna cotta) with the granola and the berries was outstanding, very light and refreshing. However, outstanding as it was, it would have been a good way to end brunch or lunch rather than dinner.

Overall I really enjoyed the dinner at PV. Fresh, delicious, laid back and relatively quite. A perfect place to hang out with friends! I will definitely be going back!!

theskinnyduck wrote:On the other end of the spectrum from the previous post, I had a really, really enjoyable meal at PV.


Gnocchi and Broccoli

The gnocchi with broccoli were delicious with perfect balancing of textures. The softness of the gnocchi was very well balanced by the slight crunch and char of the broccoli.

It looks as if we only had one dish that overlapped with yours--the gnocchi & broccoli--and your picture reinforces my suspicion that we hit PV on an off night. Aside from the frying pan, yours looks almost nothing like ours. Our gnocchi seemed hand-rolled (yours look cut) and much more oblong. (They were also mushy & bland.) Our gnocchi were already mixed into the sauce, not placed on top. Your saucing looks much lighter. The only "crunch" that existed in ours was the bacon...it was very gloppy with soggy broccoli.

That said, it's sad to see that they're sending inconsistent dishes out of the kitchen. In this economy, dining out is a luxury expense. As a consumer, you hate to feel as if you're paying for 4-star quality but--by some lousy luck of the draw--you only got 2-star quality.

FWIW, I'm willing to complain to a manager when the situation warrants. And I would have complained at PV, but I don't think my dining companion (who was footing the bill) would have been comfortable had I done so. But the meal left me feeling very apologetic (toward her) because she'd driven in from Wisconsin for dinner and we'd specifically gone to PV at my suggestion.

chgoeditor wrote:That said, it's sad to see that they're sending inconsistent dishes out of the kitchen. In this economy, dining out is a luxury expense. As a consumer, you hate to feel as if you're paying for 4-star quality but--by some lousy luck of the draw--you only got 2-star quality....But the meal left me feeling very apologetic (toward her) because she'd driven in from Wisconsin for dinner and we'd specifically gone to PV at my suggestion.

I agree with you, everybody has bad days, but a dish that is not perfect should not leave the kitchen at a restaurant like PV. Its funny because we also went there, without being sure how the food would be, with out of town friends who always count on us to have a good dining experience in Chicago. Fortunately for us, things went well.

You've reminded me that I meant to post about a dinner my wife and I had at PV in early July. It was one of the best meals I've had in recent memory. 6 weeks later I don't remember exactly what we had; the menu has changed a bit since then. (There was one dish that was off, we let the waiter know, and they whisked it away.)

Made our first visit to Perennial Virant last night. We had a reservation and were promptly seated outside on the patio.

The overall experience was excellent. Great food. Great service. Great vibe. Chef Virant was out and about.

========================================

Some details on the food:

We started with the bread and squash blossom milanese. The multigrain bread was excellent. The squash blossoms looked nothing like the previous photos, but were instead served lightly breaded with a side of smoked chipotle aioli. They were very good.

Next came the crispy rice carnaroli with brunkow cheese curds. This was one of our favorites. The perfectly charred crust (all sides) and almost liquid, cheesy interior made for a tasty combo of flavor and texture. The topping of pea shoots and sweet onion vinaigrette were the absolute perfect acidic complement. I will definitely order this again.

All three of these came out next:

The yukon gold potato gnocchi looked nothing like the previous photos (it was much saucier), but it was still very good. Nothing too memorable here but the bits of house made bacon, crispy broccoli and charred edges around the skillet were nicely done.

The diver scallops were perfectly seared and tasted nice. The cherry bomb vinaigrette was excellent. For all the hoopla, the accompanying bourbon pressed and grilled watermelon was interesting, however, neither my guest nor I liked it very much. It tasted like watermelon.

The dietzler farm short rib with three sisters creamy grits was the other favorite. A little small on the portion size (we were longing for more!), but the flavors were spot-on. Those grits are the real deal. I would definitely order this again.

For dessert we tried the brownie with brandied Michigan cherries and the panna cotta with Michigan blueberries, both of which were very good. Spending summers in Michigan since I was a child, I can say the fruits were sourced properly.

Service was responsive, courteous and not overbearing. Small bonus: during initial ordering, our server mentioned that we might have ordered too many plates for just the two of us. (This is a common problem as we do not look like we eat as much as we really do.) Nevertheless, he suggested we drop one and we'd be good. I suggested the squash blossoms to which he smirked and replied "No!". He suggested we drop the sturgeon, because it was rich along with our scallops and short rib. My guest laughed because that was the only dish I really wanted to try because of the potato pancake. (I'm a fiend for good ones, what can I say?) I mentioned this to our server and he brought us two latkes on a sample plate (without the sturgeon) and made my night. The latkes were very good with a nice chewy interior and charred exterior.

Although I don't know if I'll put this into my regular rotation of go-to spots (if only because it's a little pricey for us), I will definitely be back here for special occasions. We spent two-and-a-half hours on the patio and had a wonderful night.

For folks who have been to both recently, would you recommend Boka or Perennial Virant at the moment? The latter of course is newer and fresher, but the recent comments are all a bit, shall we say, mix-bag? I'm looking at a nice date night out with the wife, and locked into a GC we received for the Boka group.

fenger wrote:I'm looking at a nice date night out with the wife, and locked into a GC we received for the Boka group.

I haven't been to PV since Paul took it over, but I went to Boka some months ago and thought it was excellent. No single thing stood out, but the food was really good and the service was perfect.

There's also GT Fish (where I haven't been, am going next week) and Girl and the Goat (I thought it was good but not worth the hype).

fenger wrote:For folks who have been to both recently, would you recommend Boka or Perennial Virant at the moment? The latter of course is newer and fresher, but the recent comments are all a bit, shall we say, mix-bag? I'm looking at a nice date night out with the wife, and locked into a GC we received for the Boka group.

I have never been to Boka, but we would not hesitate to recommend Perernnial Virant in a heartbeat. We went to PV to celebrate a belated wedding anniversary at the end of September. We really enjoyed our meal - it was seasonal, creative and well thought-out. I also really liked the setting and found it romantic and quiet. Service was professional and flawless. I'm looking forward to seeing Chef Virant's new cookbook in the spring.

fenger wrote:For folks who have been to both recently, would you recommend Boka or Perennial Virant at the moment? The latter of course is newer and fresher, but the recent comments are all a bit, shall we say, mix-bag? I'm looking at a nice date night out with the wife, and locked into a GC we received for the Boka group.

"Recent" comments are from three months ago unless you are getting them from a different source.

I've never been to Boka but we have had a great time and wonderful meal every time we've gone to PV so I can't recommend it enough.

My last visit to Boka, 6 weeks ago, was less than stellar. Nothing was bad, but nothing was great either.

Regarding Boka, the comment that "nothing stood out" rings so true. Its just fine, but unmemorable. Undistinguished. Ordinary.

PV, on the other hand, is a definite step above. You will remember many of your dishes here.

DutchMuse wrote:Regarding Boka, the comment that "nothing stood out" rings so true. Its just fine, but unmemorable. Undistinguished. Ordinary.

My experience at Boka was quite the opposite. I thought the food was fine, distinguished, and extraordinary. And the service was impeccable. In fact, I really liked the way they dealt with one issue. Our group of four had ordered appetizers and mains, and one of us had ordered an extra dish (soup or salad, probably). They brought it out when we were partway through the apps, and offered to bring it back if he did not want it yet; he said it would be fine to leave it at that point. I thought it was probably expected that he would want it then, and it was a subtle and elegant way of avoiding having an entire party watch one individual during a course.

I came away with the impression of a restaurant that really has its act together, delivering delicious food smoothly and flawlessly, to provide a superb dining experience. I would go back in a heartbeat.

Are you speaking of Boka or PV? If PV, then yes. If Boka, I don't disagree with your remarks about the service--they do a fine job.

Its the food (which notably you did not mention) to which I primarily refer at Boka--ordinary. Maybe even a touch above but my reaction was that it was unmemorable. They do provide good service, though.

DutchMuse wrote:Are you speaking of Boka or PV?

Boka. I thought the savory food was excellent; only the desserts were ordinary. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that point.

Here's what I posted after my meal at Boka:

nsxtasy wrote:Our group of four went to Boka last night and it was excellent. There wasn't any one thing that blew us away, but rather, it's a restaurant where the food is consistently good and the service is helpful and flawless. Boka really has its act together and we had a wonderful meal, with interesting food and no hiccups.

Nancy S wrote:I posted about foie gras and ended up going to Boka. I posted my foie gras comments here:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=30128

Two of us had the foie gras last night. It was excellent, with one piece on each plate served over a small piece of banana, and the other on a small piece of brioche. One note: They told us that these were the last two servings of FG they had (and we were seated at 6:30). So if you're dying for their FG, you might want to make a comment when making your reservation requesting that they hold however many portions for your party.

Bread service consisted of hot focaccia which they brought over on a tray, and it was outstanding.

For my main, I had the braised veal cheek with sweetbreads, and it was wonderful, just amazingly tender and moist. There was a bit of fat that I needed to trim off, but that's no big deal. The sweetbreads were just a few small morsels, so get this dish if you're wanting the cheek, not the sweetbreads.

Nancy S wrote:Dessert fell a little flat though. I really wish these restaurants would get a good pastry chef. Oh well.

I basically agree. It's not that any of the desserts were bad, only that they weren't all that impressive.

Only two of us were really interested in dessert, so we split the three-course dessert tasting. It consisted of three of the desserts shown on the menu, served in separate courses, plus a bonus fourth that they threw in. The best and most interesting was a scoop of prickly pear sorbet, because the sweetness of the sorbet played nicely off the two garnishes, one a smear of lime curd that was the tartest thing I have ever eaten in my life, the other some tequila jelly that was surprisingly boozy. The contrast of flavors and textures worked very well. The other desserts - "SPICED CAKE, HONEY CRISP APPLE, VADOUVAN BUTTER, WALNUT, YOGURT GELATO", "FLOURLESS VENEZUELAN CHOCOLATE CAKE, SMOKED CHOCOLATE GELATO, NIBS", and the bonus lemon curd with a little meringue on top, were interesting but not all that impressive. The flourless chocolate cake was the most disappointing (and IMHO the description slightly misleading) because it really wasn't a cake at all. Usually I think of a flourless chocolate cake as one that is lightened in texture through the use of egg whites in baking, but this was a creamy chocolate dessert, not light at all, with a texture somewhere in between a pudding and a pave. I got the feeling that they were spending too much time trying to create desserts that seemed different and striking with a bunch of different components, and not enough time trying to create desserts that taste really really good. $.02

Overall, though, dinner was excellent, and we all had a great time.

You can find more comments in the Boka topic.

Had pre-concert (Florence + The Machine), pre-birthday dinner at PV last night.
Very good, but I'm not as impressed as I am with Vie (of course I spent probably less than 2/3 what I would at Vie, but that shouldn't be the measure).
One issue we had is that Sue doesn't like fish, and the menu -- especially the large plates -- is rather fish-heavy, and the two red meat items seemed among the less exciting, safer, dishes on the menu.

We started with the parsnip pierogis with peach sauce (a bit of alliteration there that I hadn't noticed on the menu, since there are too many other adjectives) and the spinach salad with a fried egg. These were both outstanding, although the pierogis could have been dessert, they were quite sweet.

A middle course of the corned beef with spaetzle and turnip was outstanding, probably my favorite of the night. The corning was minimal, it was mainly a braised brisket, crisped nicely in places with lots of flavors in the bowl.

Last we had the pappardelle with carrots and parmesan, and the acorn squash. Both were delicious, but I think we erred in too many veg dishes, the flavors and textures were just not far enough apart.

So I think the fault is partly ours for choice of ordering, but the menu could use a few more items, in my opinion, to help round out an order. The three-course prix fixe Ronnie showed at the opening is more of what I expected: a logical progression of courses. Instead we got a bit of a mishmash.

I've had dinner at PV twice, and both times I came away feeling like there just wasn't anything special enough to make me want to return. Yes, the ingredients are of high quality, and most of the dishes sound intriguing with the potential to be delicious, but I have always been let down by the end result. In particular, my last dinner there about a month and a half back featured some truly offensive, overcooked dry rabbit tenderloin that made chicken nuggets seem more appealing, and beef brisket that was tough, stringy, and for lack of a better word, crunchy (I notice their current menu describes a very similar dish to the one I had as containing "crispy braised beef," but when I dined there, there was no "crispy" menu description and even if it was supposed to be, it just didn't work).

That said I have enjoyed some of their small plates, such as the crispy rice with cheese curds (although I fail to understand why they top it with dressed greens that cause the fried rectangle of rice to become soggy), and the well cooked if not terribly exciting gnudi. One area that I have absolutely no complaints are their desserts, which have always been stellar.

Crispy Carnroli Rice


Gnudi


Fried Rabbit Tenderloin


Sturgeon with Braised Brisket


Chocolate Custard Pie?



? Dessert


Having read that PV has an excellent brunch, I decided this past weekend to give it a shot and see if my overall feelings towards the restaurant could be swayed towards the more positive end of the spectrum. Happy to say that I enjoyed my brunch experience more than those past dinners, with the highlights being the sticky bun, "steak n eggs," and "shrimp n grits." Only real low light was the smothered turkey gravy and biscuits, which lacked any depth of flavor and badly needed some seasoning.


Sticky Bun, vanilla toffee, toasted pecans


Sunchoke fritters with caramel sauce


Q7 Ranch Seared Sirloin Steak, béarnaise, home fries, cheese curds, 1 egg sunnyside up


Laughing Bird Shrimp, grit cake, ramp sauerkraut, spicy tomato, 1 egg sunnyside up


Vie Bread French Toast, nectarine jam, candied walnuts, burton’s maple syrup


3 egg omelet, candy onions, chevre, radishes, pesto, toast


Caveny Farm Smothered Turkey Gravy, biscuits, roasted mushrooms, 2 eggs sunnyside up

Listen, I'm not even sure if I should be posting; I think I have enough of a relationship with Paul that I'm so past objective. On top of that, our dinner last night featured some comped courses and mid-dinner schmoozing with the Chef (where I tried to sell him on some surplus Tomato Mountain turnips!). And with all that said, I must confess that I found pretty much nothing wrong with my maiden trip to Perennial Virant. Granted, we tried only about 2/3rds of the menu, but what we had, it was all good.

Honestly, and maybe I'm not paying enough attention, but I found the food quite Vie like in its design, and especially, in its execution. The prime advantage I've always thought of Vie's cooking is not so much his lauded base of ingredients (which of course helps), but his way around the kitchen. Paul Virant is the kind of chef that Tom Collichio would like. Good knife skills; knows his way around a braise, and man can that guy fry. I think it is the great craftsmanship that elevates most of the dishes, that on paper don't necessarily leap at you.

This came through most, in the whitefish beignets, a dish just to the east of being fish-air, but instead had enough oomph to make the portion seem excessive. Of course, the other signature feature of Virant's cooking is the interplay of fresh and preserved ingredients. I thought all through the night, the conceits worked. There were no gimmicks. There has been a lot of praise on the rice cake. What made the dish memorable, however, was the strong dousing of pickled summer wax beans. Preserved eggplant, a great reminder of warmer times passed, counterpointed the fried pike mouselline. As Joel noted above, the pierogis were on the sweet side, but that did not bother me. I thought the sweet pickled peaches added the right touch to the meal. Desserts carried little complexity, which, really, I prefer, and were all just delicious. Enough said. Oh, this place is quite a value too.

I love Vie, I loved Perennial before the takeover but I love it even more with Paul in charge. That sticky bun is like crack!

It had been way too long since I'd been to Perennial Virant. When I saw him at Vie, Paul Virant himself told me "you should come in for brunch." So, when out-of-town friends were visiting recently, it seemed like an obvious choice for Sunday brunch . . .


Bloody Mary, spicy
Super spicy and lovely. The house-pickled asparagus was a great garnish. I had a couple of these.



Coffee Cake, gratis
I'm not really a fan of sweets at breakfast but the bite I had of this was really tasty.



Housemade Honey Bourbon Sausage | two eggs, home fries, cheese curds, toast
I wish I'd taken a better shot, in which the fantastic sausage patties were actually visible but my son was really hungry and I didn't want to make him wait any longer to dig into this.



Sweet Potato Donut Holes | spicy chocolate sauce
I would have had one of these at the finish but by that time, they'd all been snarfed down.



3 Sisters Cheesy Grits
I love cheesy grits and these were terrific, with a nice coarseness and great cheese flavor.



3 Egg Omelet | la quercia prosciutto, prairie fruits farm chevre, candy onions, radishes, pesto, toast
The bite of this I had was great. The eggs were light and fluffy. I loved the fillings, especially the creamy-rich chevre.



Smoked Salmon | greens, caesar dressing, radish, croutons, parmesan
Like many salads I've had at Vie, this delicious composition was far more than the sum of its parts.



Biscuits & Gravy | gunthorp farm chicken sausage, 2 eggs sunnyside up
Great stuff. At PV, chicken sausage is no apology. It's a thoughtful choice that's really well executed.



Smoked Salmon | crispy grits, fresh ramps, spicy tomato, pickled garlic, 1 sunnyside egg
This is normally served with Laughing Bird shrimp but on this day the shrimp was 86'd, so smoked salmon was substituted. It was a very nice composition but I do wish we hadn't been too late for the shrimp because we'd already had the salmon in another dish and I did prefer it cold over hot.



Housemade Grilled Bacon | maple and sherry gastrique
A bit too sweet for me but I still appreciated the delicious bacon beneath the gastrique and thought the grilling lent a really nice flavor note.



Home Fries | brunkow cheese curds
Crispy and flavorful without being greasy at all. I thought the cheese curds were tasty, too. This was almost like a dry poutine, which paired nicely with the savory items on the table.

Not pictured is a 2 egg skillet (served with toast) that contained spinach, mushroom conserva, fresh ramps and smoked cheddar. It too, was really delicious.

I liked the distinctive aesthetic of the menu, the superior-quality seasonal ingredients (many of them local) and the high level of execution. Not being a huge fan of sweets, not everything on the menu spoke to me personally but the quality of this food was clear, regardless. I probably go out for Sunday brunch 3 or 4 times a year at most and Perennial Virant is definitely a place to which I'd happily return for brunch. Of course, I still need to get back there for dinner, too.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I liked the distinctive aesthetic of the menu, the superior-quality seasonal ingredients (many of them local) and the high level of execution.

Six of us arrived an hour early for Erin Hayes cocktails, went light, fruity early summer with Cranberry Cobbler and Rhubarbieri. Sun filled room, ever interesting street scene, a most enjoyable prelude to a wonderful meal.

Paul Virant and staff are at the top of their game, Green City Market and Preservation Kitchen influence abound, pickles, preserves, jams, honey, scatter of just out of the ground greens. Portlandia "your chicken his name is Collin" sensibility combined with imagination and Michelin Star quality execution.

Perennial Virant, count me a fan!

I have to say, I wasn't terribly impressed with Perennial Virant when they opened. I thought the food was just fine (it paled in comparison to Vie) and the menu format was annoying. We gave it another try a couple of weeks ago and boy had things improved. Maybe it was just a gorgeous night on the patio, but this meal had the feel of eating in a chef's garden, which is really the feeling one should get when eating Virant's food. Oh, and you can actually order appetizers and main courses now like a normal person.

I was so disappointed in the first meal, mainly because Perennial Virant is so close to my house and I wanted it to be really good. Based on our last meal, I'd have no issues with going back many more times.

Does anyone know if there Is still a prix fixe option for the dinner menu?

(Never mind -- just called and there is no longer any such option....)

Brunched again at PV and was so happy we did. Three at our table, we did the French Toast (now with lemon curd and blueberries), a Salmon dish I did not get to try since it vanished so fast and the honey bourbon sausage with eggs, home fries with cheese curds and a nice bit of toast. Each dish was gorgeous and delicious and each plate was licked clean!

By the way, they are now serving La Columbe coffee - and have opened a sweet little coffee spot around the corner - which is becoming my favored take a break from work at home spot. Ice Coffee comes with a fresh shot of expresso and makes me so happy during this heat!

Had brunch today for my father's 80th birthday (thanks to Ronnie S. for the suggestion). All in all, very enjoyable. We were at the window facing Clark, it was bright but not glaring. Nice people watching for those of us facing out. They asked the first 3 of us to wait at the bar to be seated until the 2nd cab arrived with the rest of us (7 in all). I didn't mind, but it seemed odd, as we had a reservation. They weren't going to do anything else with the table in the interim.
Started with a very good Bloody Mary. Assertively spicy. Nice pickled garnish, but I couldn't figure out what it was and forgot to ask before we left. Two crunchy white cubes.
Though service was friendly and utterly eager to please, this very attentiveness made the several glitches, both from kitchen and front of house, all the more surprising for a restaurant operating at this general level.
At the top of the meal water glasses were refilled almost compulsively, and used plates promptly cleared (after asking, not just whisked away). But then things got spottier as the meal progressed.
Mom had the French toast decorated with goat's milk ricotta lemon curd and raspberries and liked it. I didn't try. It looked beautiful, with the toast perfectly golden.
Mrs. B. had the honey bourbon sausage, which I did try, and we both agreed it was excellent. Meaty, peppery, hint of sweetness but not too much. Mrs. B. also liked the potato with cheese curds a great deal. She, too, pronounced it "dry poutine," as did someone up-thread. I enjoyed it, but wished that something was there to pull the cheese and the potato together, even if it wasn't full-out poutine gravy.
My vegetarian brother ordered the cheese grits and the 2-egg skillet, appealingly described on the menu as: black beans, chow-chow, spiced onion, capriko cheese, cilantro. He adored the grits and talked about having to be restrained from simply plunging his face into the dish. But with the skillet came the first and greatest disappointment of the day. After a few bites he said amiably that it was OK, but just not what he had in mind and didn't work for him and he would just order something else. He's pretty easy going, so even masking his disappointment behind a whole no-big-deal tone, this surprised me. I tried it and found that while all the ingredients listed were present and accounted for, there was simply no flavor. In particular, there seemed to be no salt. Like none at all. When I suggested that much of the trouble might lie there, he tried salting it and found that the dish did perk up noticeably. But it was definitely nowhere when it arrived.
I had the smoked trout with crisp grits, sunnyside egg, pickled ramps, and spicy tomato. I didn't hate it, but it really didn't work for me. The grits with a fried egg on them, I had no complaints about. But the trout (and I love smoked fish, and smoked trout in particular) was completely overwhelmed by the sourness of the pickled ramps and the spice and acid of the tomato sauce. It might as well have just been grits in a pool of tart tomato sauce. The trout was simply wiped out as a flavor component. I also asked for a side of toast and whatever their bread is, it makes lousy toast. I can't recall ever complaining about toast, but it was thick cut, hard, and flavorless.
We finished off with sticky buns and blueberry crumb cake. The sticky buns were exactly as good as everyone has already said. Just terrific. The crumb cake was also very good, if not sublime. Coffee also good. But now we come round to the service issues.
Our server couldn't have been more eager to make us happy. Yet after all the assiduous water filling and plate busing at the top of the meal, all of this more or less stopped after we had finished our mains and actually had a table full of large dirty plates to clear. Those plates sat there for quite a while.
With coffee we asked if they served half-and-half because the guest of honor has a particular 'thing' about it with coffee. As far as he is concerned, plain milk ruins coffee. And he doesn't trust the contents of an unmarked creamer in even the toniest restaurant. He always asks. First, the cream pitchers didn't come with the coffee and the sugar. So the coffee cooled for a while as we waited. When it arrived, despite having asked specifically for half-and-half by name, what we got was, at best, milk, possibly even low-fat. And I have to agree with my dad, it really mucks up a decent cup of coffee.
So, in the end, a B/B+, where I think an A/A- is perfectly within reach.
I would certainly go back as I like the room, the menu, the people, the bar, and the prices. But 2 misses out of 6 main dishes is kind of disappointing.

BUMP!

Drove by last night and was thinking I hadn't thought of this place as a dinner spot in a long time. Looked to have a crowd in there. Hadn't heard much of anything about PV in the last 6-10 months.

Anyone been lately?

jpeac2,

I've been a few times in the last year, one weekend brunch with out of town family one dinner with out of town friends and both times thought why do I wait for out of towners to go to PV. Paul Virant, along with Edward Sura, are running a glass smooth top-tier restaurant with absolute attention to detail both front and back of the house.

Couple of items that come to mind are house-made English muffins and sausage at brunch and pickled fish, trout if memory serves, from dinner.

Perennial Virant, Count me a Fan!

I go often for brunch, particularly in the summer months since it's such fun to shop Green City Market and then have a nice outdoor brunch at PV. The food is always good - I've with GWiv on the housemade sausage - and the house jams are divine.

With friends, we have more than once brunched then walked around to the hotel's coffee bar Elaine's to continue a conversation into the afternoon.

Can be a touch loud inside PV at brunch but always lovely service.

Now I'm hungry, maybe I can get a late table!

Very solid brunch here this morning. I started with what they called a donut that came with a cranberry glaze and a white chocolate crumble. It was good, but while it was donut shaped, it was more like a good and very chewy bread; certainly not close to a traditional yeast or cake donut. Probably wouldn't order it again.

What I would happily order again was this morning's special - a duck confit hash topped with housemade kimchi, two sunny side up duck eggs, and some shoestring potatoes. Not for the salt-sensitive, but this was a great entree.

I also tried a bite of one of my dining companions' burger. Thin patty (probably 1/4 pound), topped with bacon and smoked cheddar. Every component was top-notch. I'd prefer a higher beef to bacon ratio but that might have just been my one bite. I plan to go back to investigate.

Had a lovely dinner here before a show at Park West. My first course was a simple salad, which I enjoyed because it was good to have some great lettuce after a long winter's drought (don't know their sourcing). The salad also had 4 extremely decadent deep fried croutons that bordered on overly rich, but were fantastic. My main course was described as pheasant and dumplings, but it was really a take on biscuits and gravy with pheasant meat substituting for sausage. With pickled root vegetables and a reduction instead of white gravy, it was a great riff on biscuits and gravy.

Service was friendly and, at the early hour we were there, it was quiet and relaxed. All in all, a great option that I'll eagerly use again if we need to be in that neighborhood.

Perennial Virant is closing after New Year's. Paul Virant's participation is ending, and Boka Restaurant Group will reconcept it as a new restaurant a few months later.

Boka Group to Close Perennial Until Spring as Paul Virant Exits (Eater.com)