The Chicago Diner

Sal and I spent last week in Chicago. Living near Atlanta gives us plenty of vegan-friendly health food stores and there are a few cafes we could patronize, though we rarely do. But we were in a new place and couldn't help ourselves. Our main goal was to find a Chicago-style deep dish pizza made with a vegan cheese substitute. We could only find New York-style pizza, we went to Ian's Pizza, 3463 N. Clark near Wrigley Field, yummy vegan pizza and BYOB! But we did try a new cheese (and I'm hooked!) Daiya!

It melts, stretches and tastes great. Quesadillas, grilled cheese, pizza — you name it!

But the most amazingly rapturous discovery of our journey to the Windy City was The Chicago Diner. If you live in or visit Chicago, go there: 3411 N. Halsted in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.

I'll start by telling you that life in suburban Georgia has been a bit dull and at times I dream of a vagabond lifestyle, travelling internationally with my husband, dog and a handful of possessions. But when my cousin Ben mentioned the Chicago Diner and it's "hip" neighborhood, I didn't realize what a breath of fresh air it would be. Shades of the Haight in San Francisco with Berkeley's relaxed denizens and Oakland's hip eateries and coffee shops — this neighborhood made me feel instantly at home. I was grinning from ear-to-ear.

The Chicago Diner has always been meat-free and though some items contain dairy, everything can be made vegan (and they ask for your preference —Quick side note, the staff is courteous and joyful; seriously, these waiters were fun people and I love them). We ordered a couple beers, buffalo seitan with vegan ranch dressing, a sweet potato quesadilla and a massive open-face hoagie called "The Halfpipe".

The Halfpipe was immeasurably

delicious. Country fried seitan, onion rings, lettuce, tomatoes, Daiya mozz and a vegan thousand island dressing all piled onto a big roll. We also brought home a milkshake and cookies.

The second time we went, we were wandering back to the car (which we, without realizing, had parked less than a hundred feet from The Chicago Diner) and I just had to repeat dessert from our first visit: a chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter milkshake made with Soy Temptations ice cream. SO GOOD! Very sweet though, we had to share. The third visit was the morning of our departure (a 12-hour drive between Atlanta and Chicago) we had brunch, vegan biscuits and gravy for me and a tofu scramble Mexicana for Sal. Yum! We got a Halfpipe to go and ate it for dinner on our roadtrip.

So to try and make a long story short, this restaurant was amazing and I bought their cookbook. It's written by one of the founder's of the diner, Jo A. Kaucher and you can buy your own copy on the website. It's full of wonderful ideas and scrumptious recipes. Last night I made Vegetable Paella and my first ever homemade polenta! And they've inspired me to add tumeric and seeds to my tofu scrambles and I made an amazing thing this morning: seitan sausages! That's an idea I'm going to play with plenty, it's delicious.

So go to the restaurant, tip the staff well and buy the cookbook.