Chicago Vegetarian: Mana Food Bar

Baby kale salad with pears

On my first trip to Chicago, when I was 15, I became a vegetarian. I looked at the meat at Northwestern University's cafeteria and said I was a vegetarian. And though I was in one of the meat capitals of the US, I stuck to it that summer, when I returned to New York, and ever since.

Bi Bim Bop

So it makes sense that i would find a great vegetarian on my last visit to the city. Mana Food Bar, in Wicker Park, has the kind of delicious, global based cuisine that appeals to meat lovers and vegetarians alike.

What I mean is that food sounds familiar and tastes great; you go here because you want a lovely meal, not because you are preaching deprivation.

Menu division

Polenta

Mana Food Bar doesn't divide its food into appetizers and mains There are cold dishes, which you can have in a small or large size, and hot dishes, some of which are also in two sizes. There are also side dishes, and you can add tofu to any dish.

The menu also offers a number of vegan and gluten free options.

What we ate

Golden beet salad

The baby kale salad had pears and a ginger miso dressing. It also had unexpected crunch from granola bits. The golden beet salad had blue cheese, hazelnuts and arugula.

Although it was hot and we were eating outside,e we had the Bi Bim Bop, with veggies and a sunny side up egg over brown rice, and the polenta side dish with asiago cheese. We saw people happily tucking into the sesame noodles, mushroom sliders, seared broccoli and seaweed salad. I could have sampled any of the dishes and been happy.

Hip Chicago Food: Roister

The endive salad at Roister; beets stained the endive red

The last couple of times I've gone to Chicago, I've tried to get reservations at Alinea. One time, the entire staff was in Spain while the restaurant underwent a reboot. The other times, we just haven't been able to score a reservation.

Avocado toast

Not only that, many of the Grant Achatz offshoots are closed on Mondays, which was the only day we had free on our last trip to the Windy City. Luckily for us, a friend told me about Roister, in the burgeoning Fulton Market area. We had climb around construction barriers and gigantic trucks to reach our destination, a large, casual place with an open kitchen and huge hearth that us used for many of the dishes.

We went for lunch, since we had a 3:30 flight home (that left at 8pm, but that's another story).  Portions are small, and expensive (the tasting menu at Alinea is $275) but since it was just barely noon, we saved money by not sampling any of the excellent sounding cocktails.

We shared avocado toast with an English muffin grilled in that open fire and everything butter on top. It was delicious.

Grits with scallops

Then we had a salad of endive with pistachios, beets and blue cheese. This is a classic combo, with an interesting addition: tangerine. Expertly done.

Finally, we shared grits, with scallops, egg yolk sauce and parmesan. Bit salty, but quite tasty.

That was it for the vegetarian (or pescetarian) portion of the limited menu; there's also a fried bologna sandwich and a friend chicken sandwich. Or, if you're feeling flush, a $53 Japanese hamburger.

Somehow, just with coffee and the automatic 20% service charge, we spent over $70 on lunch. 

But I'd definitely return for drinks and appetizers.