Chicago · United States
Gillian McKeith's guide to healthy restaurants in Chicago.
Written by Gillian McKeith
Chicago is a meat and deep dish town by reputation, and yet it has been feeding people meat free food properly for over forty years. That takes a certain stubbornness, which is a quality I admire in a kitchen.
Chicago Diner in Lakeview has been meat free since 1983 and made vegan comfort food normal here long before anywhere else bothered. Kitchen 17 does all vegan deep dish, burgers and brunch, which is Chicago on its own terms. Amitabul on the north side cooks Korean vegan noodles and stews in a medicinal style I find genuinely restorative, and Handlebar in Wicker Park has kept a long vegetarian and vegan menu going for years.
I look at ingredients first, always: purity, wholesomeness, organic where the chef can manage it, and plenty of fresh vegetables, pulses, grains and seeds. Nobody buys their way onto this list.
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4 restaurants in Chicago
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Eating well in Chicago: your questions
- What is the best vegan restaurant in Chicago?
- Chicago Diner in Lakeview for the history and the comfort food, Amitabul if you want Korean vegan cooking with something genuinely restorative about it.
- Can you get vegan deep dish pizza in Chicago?
- You can. Kitchen 17 makes it, along with burgers and a brunch menu, all of it entirely plant based.
- Where can I eat vegetarian in Wicker Park?
- Handlebar. It has run a long vegetarian and vegan menu for years and it is a comfortable place to sit for an evening.
- Do I need to be vegan to use this Chicago guide?
- No. The guide is plant-forward, not plant-only. Order what you fancy, but the vegetables here can hold their own.
- Do Chicago restaurants pay for a listing?
- They do not. I choose every one myself on sourcing, freshness and what actually arrives on the plate.
Every Chicago restaurant in the Gillian McKeith Restaurant Guide
Every Chicago kitchen in the guide, with my notes on each.
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About the author
Written by Gillian McKeith
I'm Gillian McKeith: television presenter, creator of the global hit show You Are What You Eat, writer, nutritionist, and the editor behind this guide. Every Chicago entry here is chosen and written by me. I judge kitchens on the things that actually matter: real ingredients, honest sourcing, vegetables cooked with care, and food you feel better for eating.
Nothing on this page is a paid placement. Restaurants cannot buy a recommendation, and any listing marked as sponsored is labelled as such. If a kitchen slips, it comes out of the guide.
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