Every few years, NBC Chicago's Food Guy Steve Dolinsky notices a surge of French cooking in and around Chicago, but usually the restaurants are located in the city.

That's not so this time, as he travels to the western suburbs, in a space related to its better-known sibling, which closed recently.

For nearly 20 years, Vie established itself as one of the best suburban restaurants in sleepy Western Springs. After a lease dispute closed it, the owners bought a space around the corner, deciding instead to open a French brasserie, which has been a rare commodity out West.

Most businesses in the bedroom community are within spitting distance of the train station. That's the case with Petite Vie, several months old now, the brainchild of Paul Virant, who built Vie here 20 years ago and decided to stick around.

"A lot of my formal training is French food, and there's not French food around the area," said Paul Virant, the chef/owner of Petite Vie. "We've seen a big resurgence of French food in Chicago over the past couple of years."

Virant embraces the classics.

"Wild burgundy snails that we braise, and then your classic snail butter - lots of garlic, parsley, lemon - Pernod, the anise liqueur," he said.

A Lyonnaise salad has the curly frisee and soft-boiled egg, as well as tiny fried pork lardons and croutons. Country pâté? Check.

"Right now it's pork and chicken livers wrapped in bacon; we do dried fruit and pistachios in there," said Virant.

There's also mustard, pickles and an excellent spreadable chicken rillette intended to use with that grilled Publican Quality toast. Trout almondine is another throwback, mounded beneath vibrant green haricots verts.

"The key is cooking some garlic with the roasted almonds, in whole butter," he said.

In winter, it's Beef Bourgogne to the rescue.

"Slowly braised with aromatics. We do mushrooms, lardons, big carrots, and it's served over a puree of celery root," said Virant.

Don't skip the Ouefs Mimosa, an egg dish inspired by the French Creoles in New Orleans.

"So there's a restaurant down there called Galatoire's, and they do Ouefs Mimosa, which is like a nice fresh crab salad..." he said.

Handcrafted cocktails with an emphasis on vermouths and spritzes; familiar desserts like profiteroles and an old-school chocolate soufflé only emphasize how deep Virant wants to go to bring this sort of dining back into fashion.

"For me it was a lot of fun to go back to my roots, and really lean into French brasserie food," he said.