Plant-Based Eating Chicago Style

Chicago holds a very special place in my heart. I lived in Chi for two years during grad school and it is one of my ultimate favorite cities. I love a city that has all the benefits of a major metropolitan area but still allows you to drive anywhere you want and find yourself in beautiful green parks or along the lake within minutes!

Chicago has an impressive food scene. While I was there last week I got to check out Lula Café in Logan Square. I remember when I first moved to Chicago my cousin lived there too and told me Lula was her favorite brunch spot. Somehow I never managed to make it out there when I lived in the city but during this past visit I finally got to try it out and I am so glad that I did!

Much to my delight the bottom of the menu clearly states, “Many items can be made vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free.” You know I was happy to see that! I ordered the Tineka sandwich seen below.

The Tineka comes with tomato, cucumber, red onion, sprouts and Indonesian-spiced peanut butter on whole grain sourdough bread. Indonesian-spiced peanut butter sounded so strange to me that I knew it had to be really something special for them to put it on the menu. It was sooo good and flavorful! A little bit savory and a little bit sweet. The Indonesian-spiced peanut butter tasted perfect on top of the veggies. The waiter told me this sandwich is popular with everyone that dines at Lula Café, not just plant-based eaters.

I also got to check out Mindy’s Hot Chocolate for the first time during this trip to Chicago. I’ve always loved hot chocolate so this place was right up my alley. I was pleased as punch to learn that they offer their dark hot chocolate with soy milk instead of dairy milk. It comes with a big homemade marshmallow (I’m not sure if that was vegetarian) and a super chocolaty taste. 

For my meal I ordered the fried rice with a side of fruit. The rice normally comes with steak but I opted for no steak, extra veggies. The rice was very flavorful and surprisingly rich. I was glad to be able to find not only food but also hot chocolate that I could enjoy here too. 🙂 Thanks Mindy’s!

And perhaps what I’m most excited to tell you all about…Lyfe Kitchen! Lyfe is new to Chicago since I’ve lived there. Lyfe is all about healthy eating that tastes great. Here’s what they say on their website, “Great food can do amazing things. It can make you feel better. It can support local farms. Promote sustainability. Reward environmentally sound businesses. Give back to the community. And, best of all, it will make you savor every single bite.” And…drum roll please…they have three separate menus…yes THREE…one everything menu, one vegetarian/vegan menu and one gluten-free menu. Heaven.

I, of course, was so overwhelmed with excitement when I saw the veg menu that I was too frantic to really focus on what all the different options were. When it was time to order I was so flustered with joy that I just randomly chose the first things I saw on the menu! Thankfully they were all DELICIOUS!

We had grilled artichokes with vegan caper aioli to start. With the combination of the slight charred flavor of the artichokes and the delicious aioli, the flavor of this dish was so much more robust than normal steamed artichokes. I kept looking at my sister and my mom while eating these and saying “I’m so happy! This is so good! ”

My sister and I also ordered kale and banana smoothies made with raw kale, fresh ginger, banana, cucumber, apple juice and lemon juice. So good!

And for my entrée I had the tofu tacos, which come with deliciously marinated tofu, chayote slaw, avocado, cilantro, green onion and chipotle aioli on warm corn tortillas. If you’ve read my other posts you know I don’t love tofu that much, but this tofu was so so good that I’ve been dreaming of having it again!

Lyfe Kitchen has locations in Chicago (River North), Colorado, Texas, Nevada and California.

I luckily will be back in Chicago in one month for my lovely friend Beth’s baby shower and I will definitely be hitting up Lyfe Kitchen again! Some other items on the menu I can’t wait to try are: vegan buffalo “chick’n” strips, vegan kale caesar, sweet potato fries and their many different spa waters. Yum! I can’t wait.

And of course, if you follow me on instagram, you know no trip is complete without picking up some vegan red velvet cupcakes from Sprinkles.

I will leave you with a wonderful quote from Hippocrates that I was reminded of at Lyfe Kitchen where it is painted on the walls…

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”