Food & Drink

Windy City Veggies

By Nicole Pasulka

America’s most famously meat-obsessed city has a thriving vegetarian food scene, where eating green is going mainstream in fresh new ways.

MANA Food Bar

Green, as in veggies and sustainability, is a culinary craze that’s firmly entrenched among coastal urbanites. But it’s only starting to gain traction in the meat-loving American middle. That’s why Chicago is the perfect place to take the pulse of the vegetarian movement. The capital of the Midwest has both a progressive, experimental food culture and a uniquely carnivorous food history. After all, the stockyards only closed in the early 1970s. No wonder Chicagoans seem to opt for a more gentle entry into vegetarianism, where reimagined traditional dishes satisfy both the new consciousness and old hankerings. The result is what could be the most satisfying place to eat green in America.

Kim Gracen, executive chef at the Chicago Diner, recognizes the meat-and-potatoes mentality that dominates the Windy City, although she’s careful to point out that her diner has been “meat-free since ’83.” In fact, some of her patrons have been coming back for the whole quarter-century. Still, she’s noticed a new younger generation coming in looking for “feel-good stuff, like cheese fries, milkshakes and burgers.” The diner’s offerings, almost exclusively vegan and sometimes raw, bridge the gap between younger vegetarians’ politics and health concerns and their nostalgic desire to eat the foods they grew up with. Gracen was the skinny end of the wedge.

Opened in 1995, Karyn Calabrese’s restaurant Karyn’s Fresh Corner may have gained a loyal following as the first raw food restaurant in Chicago, but it was only after opening Karyn’s Cooked about five years ago that her brand became a mainstay of Chicago dining. With such staples as spaghetti and meatballs, perfectly fried vegetable basket appetizers and lasagna with tofu ricotta and spinach, the culture of Karyn’s Cooked is more mainstream than its raw counterpart. Karyn appreciates that most of her customers aren’t vegans and that in order to appeal to her less hard-core clientele, she has to present her alternative ingredients in familiar forms.

While the old guard is sneaking seitan onto the plates of unsuspecting diners, two stylish contemporary eateries highlighting the virtues of vegetables have recently opened their doors. Mana Food Bar is a less traditional example of what Mana chef Jill Barron calls “meatless dining.” A confirmed omnivore herself, Barron aims to “win meat eaters over with food that just happens to not have meat in it.” For Barron, meat substitutes don’t compare to the real thing, so Mana doesn’t even try. Non-veggies favor the brown rice and mushroom burgers, the veggie chili with manchego cheese and the spanakopita.

Named after a tart heirloom tomato, Green Zebra also forgoes meat substitutes in favor of flora for flora’s sake. Slow-roasted shiitake mushrooms, radishes served with chive crème fraîche, and artichokes braised and paired with buttermilk polenta are all big hits. For Green Zebra partner Sue Kim Drohomyrecky, the primacy of meat in Chicago’s culinary scene isn’t a deterrent but rather an invitation to create something new and different. With 30 to 40 percent of its clientele being non-vegetarian, Drohomyrecky attributes Green Zebra’s growing success to its “presentation and style and not being vegetarian in the classic sense.”

With the increasing diversity and choice in Chicago’s vegetarian dining scene, “classic” is mutating into a synthesis of old tastes and a new awareness. Even though old habits die hard, this most carnivorous American metropolis is going meatless. And for Karyn Calabrese, this trend represents an opportunity. When asked about her plans for what’s sure to be a tough 2009 in the restaurant business, she says triumphantly, “I’m looking to expand.”

(Nicole Pasulka is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in Salon, The Globe and Mail, CBC Arts Online and Bust Magazine.)

TOP IMAGE: MANA FOOD BAR / GRANT KESSLER
TRAIN: STEVE GEER / ISTOCKPHOTO
GREEN ZEBRA: SPRING RESTAURANT GROUP