Birthday Dinner 4: Karyn's Cooked

I couldn't decide which Chicago veg restaurant I wanted to go to more, Karyn's Cooked or The Chicago Diner. Clearly the answer was...both. Four of us went to Karyn's on Sunday night for a lovely, delicious evening of stuffing our faces with delicious vegan food.


We started off with two appetizers, the first being The Combo Basket of deep fried broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini served with a barbecue sauce and a creamy garlic herb sauce. I mean, how could this not be sinfully amazing, it's a basket of fried food, right? But the fried broccoli dipped in the garlic sauce was to. die. for. I couldn't get enough, and I think if I were to go back again for one thing it would be this. We also had the Guacamole served with veggies and chips, as well as a creamy chipotle sauce and a second garlic cream sauce. This was also really really good, but I feel like I eat so much guac at home that sometimes it's not as special in restaurants...you know? Anyway, still worth ordering! The garlic sauce on this dish was Maura's favorite.


My main entree was the highly recommended Vegan Pizza. This was a thin whole wheat crust topped with marinara, homemade soy cheese (which was more of a sauce), tons of veggies, and small pieces of seitan. While I used to be such a fan of Chicago deep-dish and this pizza was the complete opposite of that, I still loved it. Definitely enough to share and to take home, and it was voted the favorite entree of the table. I just can't stand olives so those came off.


Maura got the Jerk Tofu Sandwich and my mom got the Portobello Sandwich, but honestly the photographs looked EXACTLY the same so I'm only posting one. The Jerk Tofu had a sweet and spicy Caribbean flavor which isn't the kind of thing I normally eat, but I still thought it tasted really interestingly yum. The Portobello sandwich was great as well, but umm...maybe not as good as this one...


Speaking of things that aren't as good as the ones I make at home, I also ordered a side of the vegan mac and cheese. They forgot to bring it out right away and then I forgot to take a picture, but it was very pretty! Not to mention creamy and delicious. But still. Not as good as mine ;)


Of course my omnivorous father went for the Seitan Ribs, which had a fantastic smokey flavor and an amazingly awesome consistency. However, I think this is just wayyy too much protein - if one of these "ribs" were sliced up into a sandwich or a salad it would be perfect, but this was just a reminder that even for meat eaters the protein should be a side rather than the main course. It's just too much!


Of course we couldn't leave without dessert, but when nobody could agree on what they wanted, once again the solution was HAVE IT ALL! In order of my favorites: Lemon Meringue, Chocolate Silk, and Pecan Pies. Mmm. Speechless.

The service was fantastic and our waitress was unbelievably sweet. The restaurant had a beautiful, laid-back but classy and elegant atmosphere. The prices were...actually I don't know, it was my birthday, I didn't pay for it. Woohoo! But I'll be going back so I'll let you know next time.