Looking for a Vegetarian Resturaunt for a birthday

My sister is turning 27. The only Vegetarian in a family of Pork Processors.

So far, the only winner is Green Zebra.

This is for Wednesday, 8/17. Only requirements, full bar, nice wine list.

Thanks.

If the restaurant doesn't have to be completely vegetarian, just veggie-friendly, I think you'll be very happy at Lula. They have a small, but interesting, wine list and a full bar.

A lot of other vegetarian-friendly options are disccussed here (as well as Lula):
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4286

Lula Cafe
2537 N. Kedzie Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60647
773.489.9554
http://www.lulacafe.com/

Best,
Michael

Hmm... I was going to say try an Indian or Middle-Eastern restaurant, as both of those cuisines feature many vegetarian dishes outside of the ubiquitous salads and steamed vegetable platters.

However, full bars and wine lists are a little harder to come by in those categories, especially if they're Muslim-owned.

Theres also Karyn's Fresh Corner which is a vegan, gourmet, raw cuisine place. If anyone doesnt know what VEGAN means; its a hardcore vegetarian that doesnt eat cooked foods above a certain temperature.

I have never been to this place but I heard good reviews from friends.

http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/sear ... 1144.venue

polster wrote:Theres also Karyn's Fresh Corner which is a vegan, gourmet, raw cuisine place. If anyone doesnt know what VEGAN means hardcore vegetarian that doesnt eat cooked foods above a certain temperature.

Vegans usually don't have any problem with cooked foods. You're conflating people into raw foods with vegans. Raw foodists are USUALLY vegan, but not all vegans are raw foodists. Probably a very small minority are.

Vegans don't eat animal products of any kind, including dairy, eggs, and usually honey, whereas raw foodists are just crazy.

products or by products. Like cheese/dairy or honey.

Raw food people don't eat anything cooked above a certian temp.

Yes, I'm looking at Karyn's and it looks intresting, except for the no bar. We're drinkers.

Luna's is awesome, but also down the street from us so we eat there often.

Stuccolow wrote:Luna's is awesome, but also down the street from us so we eat there often.

I'm not sure how high-end you're willing to go, but Charlie Trotter's serves a vegetarian tasting menu.

Another option is to consider Italian. I enjoy the food and the atmosphere at Bruna's. They have a great bar, nice wine list, and quite a few veggie options including an excellent eggplant parmigiana.

More about Bruna's here:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1567

Bruna's Ristorante
2424 S Oakley Ave
Chicago, IL 60608
773-254-5550

Best,
Michael

Reza's ..lots of of vegetarian on the menu..if you like Middle Eastern type food

Charle Trotters is also awesome, but we went there for my birthday. Hey 30 is a bigger birthday than 27.

Reza's is good. I emailed her Karyn's, but no italian. She's sick of pasta.

Every resturaunt we seem to go to has the token veggie pasta dish and she's sick of it and I don't blame her.

For the record, I love Green Zebra and I'm not a vegetarian. The small plates offer a fantastic opportunity to share and sample so many wonderful dishes.

Green Zebra is an excellent option. As you mentioned, most places only have token vegetarian dishes, of widely varying quality. It is refreshing and fun to go somewhere that really emphasizes the creative use of vegetables to make unique, tasty dishes.

however, if you can't get a reservation or don't want to go there, Tomboy in Andersonville is also very veggie-friendly. They have several vegetarian choices, plus they will substitute the meat in any dish with the vegetable of your choice- not as well-planned as, say, Green Zebra, but when I went there with a large group, the three of us who are vegetarians all had excellent meals.

i'm vegetarian, and i LOVE green zebra. the food is excellent. the only thing i haven't liked there was the creme brulee trio (which i believe is no longer on the menu). for the meat eaters, there are a couple items on the menu that have chicken/fish. everything is delicious and presented well.

Stuccolow wrote:... I emailed her Karyn's, but no italian. She's sick of pasta. ...

FYI, Karyn's Cooked is NOT an Italian restaurant--there may be a pasta dish or two, but it is not the typical stir fry or pasta primavera. (I haven't been to the raw place she owns, but don't think that's Italian either.) And they may have a bar--at least it seemed like that kind of ambience amongst the River North galleries.

Green Zebra was fun and tasty but is a little fancier than places I usually hang out in.

Karyn's Cooked
738 North Wells Street, Chicago
312.587.1050.

Forgot to mention one place which has a lot of veggie items and might also please the pork producers: Russian Tea Time near the Art Institute (which certainly has plenty of libations to wet your whistles.) You can see their menu at their website:

http://www.russianteatime.com

Russian Tea Time
77 East Adams Street,
Chicago, Illinois 60603 
(312)360-0000

Probably too far out of the city and too late to be worth much to ya but my favorite vegetarian spot is Blind Faith Cafe in Evanston. They have incredible housemade seitan that is showcased in many dishes. Honestly I think I have only had bites of anything other than the Bibim Bop since that is one of my favorite dishes in all of Chicago and I can't break myself away from ordering it on each visit.

Here's the info:
http://www.blindfaithcafe.com/

Jamie

This past Friday I went to Green Zebra with vegetarian bf, which I've been wanting to visit ever since it opened since it suits my desire to have a contemporary dining experience once in a while but not so fancy that vegetarian bf complaints of the "too trendy" and "not vegetarian friendly enough". I was surprised that it was still a pretty busy restaurant, with a handful of people waiting for tables at the bar. The entire feel is different from what I felt at Spring (I went there a year, maybe 2 years ago?). Granted, I went for a much earlier dinner at Spring, but Spring felt elegant, relaxed and serene, while Green Zebra had much more of a hip feel with tables being much smaller and closer together like it was the VIP area of a modern clubby lounge. As I was being seated, "Sexy Back" was playing. The tables were so small and closely spaced- and all the tables were 2 and 4 tops (thanks Diner Dash!) - that there was no way anyone could fit their coats unless they were in one of the 4 tops and were teeny, so coat check is essentially a must. A.

We had the Chef's Tasting, which in retrospect I would not have gotten. I was under the impression the Chef's Tasting would be whatever the Chef felt was new and fresh that week. Apparently, the chef believes that the Chef's Tasting would consist the chef's picking each course off of the normal menu of the season. If I knew that would be the approach, I would have just picked something out of each section on my own, thanks. The food wasn't bad, but perhaps I had expectations of a more planned palate experience by giving the chef the command of the meal, especially at $55 a person. The chef's tasting came with an option to be matched with wine ($35) or non-alcoholic drinks ($20), and we chose the latter, but I did not see how the selected beverages necessarily complimented the dish at all. The non-alcoholic beverage selection, as you will soon read, was still very intriguing though and a highlight. I appreciated the creativity of using almost solely veggies for multiple dish and combinations, but in term of flavor profiles Spring had been more impressive for me overall while Green Zebra only had a few hits and the rest were more like bunts. I just don't think the current chef carries it like it used to be. Sorry for the dim pictures, obviously a dim restaurant.

Anyway, the first course after the amuse was roasted Spring Valley beets, kohlrabi, horseradish foam and crisp potato and then a noodle with cucumbers, currant, and dill vinaigrette. Both were served with a hibiscus iced tea which was very good. Between the two, the beets was much better because the dill vinaigrette gave the other dish a refreshing but strongly sour taste. I was digging around trying to separate ingredients to try to moderate that sourness (only got one roll of bread, before first course, and was not offered more until fourth course which was too far in). The second courses, the soups, were a creamy apple soup with thyme and chives and drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar. The outstanding soup was the spiced squash soup, with meringues and toasted squash seeds- what is pictured below (didn't photo the other one). The meringues were genius melts in your mouth with the soup, clever way to add texture. Too bad this marvelous soup was lukewarm and it was the other one that was at the comforting heated temperature. The beverages were Pink Peppercorn Thyme Soda and Honey Spice Soda.

Green Zebra chef tasting- amuse

Green Zebra chef tasting- First Course

Green Zebra chef tasting- First Course

Green Zebra chef tasting- Second Course

Third course was the best- Crispy sweet potato dumplings with bok choy in a dandelion miso broth and Warm Blue Cheese Cake, pea tendrils, almond sorbet and reisling reduction. The savory flavors mixed deliciously. This blue cheese cake was not on the printed menu, but I know it was a recent dish off of their menu and was just a variation of what they did have on their current menu, which was "Blue Cheese beignet with whole roasted pear, bearnaise, and port wine". I might have even preferred what was on the menu to what I had, since the almond sorbet was a bit jarring with the blue cheese cake- it was more cold and ice and not so much almond. Both of these flavor combination dishes I've heard of before as products of Green Zebra, they are well known chef specialities, so I was particularly pleased to get these. The beverages were Brown Sugar Orange Zest and myself with the Pink Peppercorn Thyme Soda, which I just thought was too grassy. Then again, I also feel the same thing about beers with too much hop

Green Zebra chef tasting- Third Course
Green Zebra chef tasting- Third Course

The less impressive fourth course was parmesan caraway gnocchi with brussel sprouts, mustard, and hedgehog while mine was the special of the day, a seared sea scallop in a Thai curry and daikon. At least the fourth course came with a a beverage I had been curious about- walnut soda. I discovered that I liked it less than the banana walnut smoothies I can get at Meli's. The flavors of the gnocchi were just too much lighter than the third course so the flavor progression didn't work (impression of blandness). Although the scallop might have worked following the blue cheese in strength of flavor, the flavor of the curry itself I found lacking (which personally had too much lime in it), possibly because of having so many better curries. What would have been a good progression if this had been spicy didn't turn out well since I was back to too sour, just like the first course. Oh well.

Last, for dessert, we both had mulled cranberry juice, with Pear Strudel and pear sorbet served with chai infused tea and a berry cake with blood oranges and sorbet that I don't recall (it's main purpose was to counter the super-tartness of everything else). In the end, the five courses, though each course was the size of a palm, added up to comfortable fullness.

Green Zebra chef tasting- Fourth Course
Green Zebra chef tasting- Fourth Course
Green Zebra chef tasting- Fifth Course
Green Zebra chef tasting- Fifth Course

Overall though, I was satisfied if I had to bring a vegetarian for a fancy meal, this wouldn't be a bad choice. Implied in the what you saw above is that we both ordered the chef's tasting (though his was completely vegetarian and I told the waiter I had no constraints) and we both got different tastings. It wouldn't necessarily be for the best tasting vegetarian food available, but at least a dress-up opportunity like normal folks