Last weekend was my birthday and to celebrate Darryl and I flew out to Chicago to return to my roots or shall I say where it all began. I was born in Chicago 60 years ago but moved to Southern California by way of Florida three months after my entry into the world. I’ve only touched back in Chicago stopping briefly while traveling by train across country as a young child to visit my Grandparents in Wisconsin. In other words this really was my very first visit to the Windy City. I’m always on the prowl for the hip trendy vegan and raw hot spots of any new town I land in and I found the windy city’s vegan culinary landscape bursting with creative tasty plant based fare. Here’s a rundown on my birthday celebration dining Vegan Eats Chicago Style!
Vegan Eats Chicago Style
C
hicago Raw is completely raw, vegan and gluten free. If I were to open a vegan raw establishment it would probably look something very similar to this. We found ourselves stopping by Chicago Raw once or even twice a day. Breakfast was their Acai bowl and a late afternoon snack of their incredible (can’t wait to make this back home) carrot muffin. They have a vast array of entree, snack and dessert grab and go items along with their smoothie made to order. They also offer a great selection of pressed juices. nut milks, vegan ice cream along with their signature “Rejuvalc”. Chicago Raw has grown to three locations of which we visited two. One on Huron street and the other in the French Market. They have also just started offering their gourmet raw vegan delights inside the Streeterville Whole Foods Market. Chicago Raw’s mission is to raise awareness worldwide of the healing goodness of nutrient-rich crafted foods. Make sure you stop by on your next visit to the windy city. You can also check out their online market via their website .
KARYN’S COOKED & KARYN’S RAW
Known for its hip vegan gourmet food, Karyn Calabrese is a pioneer in the vegan foods arena and is a leading holistic healer and teacher. She truly walks her talk and has shares her gifts and healing foods to the Chicago public with her two restaurants and spa. Karyn’s Cooked, Karyn’s Raw and Karyn’s Day Spa. We ate at Karyn’s Cooked our first night in the city. Darryl and I split the Ron’s salad which consisted of mixed greens with grilled tofu, avocado, carrots, red pepper, tomatoes, olives and hemp seeds served with a light house dressing. I loved my Fish (faux) tacos and Darryl had the tofu and carrot stuffed flautas. We finished off the dinner with an amazing Raw Strawberry Cheesecake!!! The dinner was incredibly flavorful and Karyn even stopped by to say hello. 
We also had the opportunity to stop by Karyn’s Raw for our last lunch on this birthday world win tour. Karyn’s Raw, close to Lincoln Park is a much more casual dining experience than Karyn’s Cooked. Karyn’s Raw is set up as either a take out or order at the counter and enjoy right there kind of establishment. The raw living menu offers so many tempting fresh organic items to choose from that I had a difficult time deciding what to have. I started out with a green juice of kale, spinach, apple and ginger to mainline some green nutrients fast after a busy morning touring the city. Darryl and I split the Raw Nachos prepared with raw tortilla chips, black and green olives, raw nacho cheese, pico de gallo and sour cream. I finally settled on the mole enchilada and Darryl feasted on the sweet crepes filled with sea vegetables and raw vegan cheese. Definitely a blending of taste and health in this cuisine.
Karyn’s raw also houses a wide selection of raw grocery supplies, books and household healing items for your shopping pleasure along with a sitting area where you can catch up on some wellness reading.
Thank you Karyn for all of the gifts you are sharing with the world at 68 your are a vibrant beautiful inspiration and testament to living the raw vegan lifestyle.
I highly recommend both Karyn’ Raw and Karyn’s Cooked when you find yourself looking for some tasty, vegan food in the heart of Chicago.
LYFE KITCHEN
Even though Lyfe Kitchen started right in my own backyard it is always one of my favorit
e eateries. They are always doing it right when it comes to conscious consumption bursting with flavor. I love everything about this place and we ended up having lunch here more than once on this trip.
Lyfe Kitchen has something for everyone even if you are still on the fence about plant based foods being the healthiest foods we as humans can consume and environmentally prudent for our planet. We visited two of their three Chicago locations and I’m sure if we were staying longer I would eventually make it to their third. Lyfe’s tofu tacos are hands down my favorite and always ends up being what I order when I visit. I know I should branch out and try something else but I just never seem to make that happen. I compliment this vegan delectable with the fresh CUCUMBER MINT juice that makes for a refreshing and thirst quenching sidekick.
Lyfe kitchen is truly all about sustainable healthy nutritious clean food. As their name says, LYFE, love your food everyday!!
MANA
Vegetarian trendy neighborhood eatery in Wicker Park, this hot spot offered culinary taste from all different regions of the globe. Offering both vegan and gluten free options made this dinner spot a big hit for me. Our server recommended that we choose a few dishes each so we were able to fully sample many animal friendly culinary delights that spanned a wide cultural array.
I started off with a fresh green juice of celery, cucumber, apple with a spritz of ginger. I loved how they served just one dish at a time “tapa style” allowing us to fully savor each of the subtle and fresh flavors. We started out with theses amazing pickled vegetables of radish, asparagus and green tomatoes. My all time favorite was the Mana Slider that’s crafted from brown rice and mushroom. Service was top notch in every department.
Mana restaurant stays true to its name by serving food that maintains its life force in nature. A must try if you find yourself in Chicago and want a truly delicious dining experience.
NATIVE FOODS
We stopped buy Native Foods Café on Sunday for lunch. I love this place and have been fortunate to have visited one in LA. Native Foods was founded in 1994 in Palm Springs and has now branched out into many locations across the continent. The menu is 100% plant based vegan quick casual with a menu that changes with the seasons along with offering daily specials. The food is great, Darryl enjoyed a vegan BLT and I dined on the Ensalada Azteca of jicama, carrots, tomatoes, raisins, toasted pumpkin seeds and cilantro served with a refreshing mango lime vinaigrette. The food is exceptionally delicious and I have to admit that Native Foods is rocking the quick serve industry big time. If you happen to find yourself close to a Native Foods I highly recommend stopping by and indulging in their tasty cuisine.
GREEN ZEBRA
Wow, excelle
nt Birthday dinner at the Green Zebra. Located in the Eckhart Park area Green Zebra sports a more upscale decor, lovely atmosphere, intriguing menu and full service bar. Darryl opted for the tasting menu that featured a freshly forged morrel mushroom theme and I selected all vegan items from the regular menu. We started with their Baked Salted Pretzel served with a mustard mousse that was incredible. Darryl liked it so much he had to order another half way through our dinner. The Brussels spout, sunchoke and marinated apple salad with spiced walnuts rated high on my gotta try to make this at home meter. The Spicy Marinated Tofu was an incredible balance of tastes and textures. I wasn’t a big fan of the Country Flatbread with sweet potato jam and cauliflower, it just seemed a bit dry for my liking. Now dessert was a whole other affair. I ordered this amazing vegan creation of peanut butter, jam and coconut sorbet that was to die for. Let me just say it was a good thing the plate was removed before I started licking it or it could of been a bit embarrassing. I would definitely go back just for that dessert. We had a great time and I even left with my with my very own personalized menu. I would definitely put this on the list of must eats in Chicago.
An amazing line up of culinary dining spanning four fun filled days of exploring the Windy City by way of foot, bike and boat. I really enjoyed getting to look into a bit of my own personal history and dine on some exceptional vegan food. Can’t wait to return!!
