VeganMania 2014!

            I’m sorry for the delay in an update.  We finally went on our vacation to both Ecuador and Peru in September and it was a blast!  I enjoyed myself a lot more than I was expecting despite a few bumps in the road along the way.  I shall be updating about the food and sights in another entry but I’m still in the process of editing my nearly 4,000 photos that I took while there.  A bit overboard?  Perhaps, but when everything I saw was amazing it’s hard not to take a photograph.

Just a few of the vendors

            Today, I figured I’d update about this year’s 6^th annual VeganMania that was held on the 11^th.  It was our 4^th time going to the event and the 3^rd time since they moved the event to the Broadway Armory.  I always look forward to the event for a number of reasons.

I quite enjoy the speakers that they have each year.  There’s always a broad spectrum of speakers – someone for everyone to listen to.  My wife knows more about the ‘famous’ vegans in the community and even though she tells me about them, without a face or direct exposure to the people she’s talking about, I have the same blank face your dog has when you say anything more complex than “sit” or “treat” to him/her.  It never fails that each year there’s some speaker she knows about and I respond with, “Who was that?” This is followed by a confused look on her part but that’s because she doesn’t understand why I couldn’t automatically recall some name she mentioned six months ago. (I have the memory of a goldfish…)  However, after sitting through the talks, I always come away with new people in the community to appreciate.

In the past I’ve enjoyed talks given by – but not limited to – Jenny Brown (from Woodstock Farm Sanctuary), Dr. Oppenlander (author of the fantastic book, Comfortably Unaware), Erin Red (host of Red Radio), Kristin Lajeunesse (of the Will Travel For Vegan Food blog), and Ellen Jaffe Jones (speaker, author, & athlete; wrote Eat Vegan on $4 a Day).

David Robinson Simon

This year was no exception.  The 1^st speaker we caught was David Robinson Simon, lawyer and author of Meatonomics.  My wife has the book but I haven’t been able to read it just yet – an issue I plan to correct very soon.  Surprisingly, I did remember my wife telling me about the book and the author before we showed up.  See?  A broken watch can be right, after all!  Mr. Simon touched upon a few points that he expands on in the book.  For example, he talked about how the meat and dairy industries work with the government in a myriad of ways including their effective lobbies in Washington.  He also discussed the true cost to taxpayers for that hamburger you buy at that golden arches burger joint.  The talk was fascinating and despite vaguely knowing the issues addressed in the talk, it is alarming to hear cold, hard facts coming from someone who obviously put a lot of work into the research and cares about the topic.  I’ll talk about the book in-depth once I read it.  Stay tuned!  Needless to say I highly suggest checking out his book!  It will blow your mind.

Left to right: Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer

            The next speakers were the hosts of Our Hen House, Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer.  Again, I knew of them thanks to my wife listening to their podcast.  Other than recognizing the name of their podcast I didn’t really know what to expect.  They gave a talk on what struggles a newbie might have in the world of veganism.  It wasn’t necessarily a topic that concerned me since it’s been awhile since I’ve been a newbie vegan, but it was quite funny and you could totally feel the enthusiasm the two had talking to the audience and for sharing their experiences with veganism.  After the talk I told my wife that there was yet another podcast I would have to start following.  Check it out!

Another reason I love VeganMania is the food, d’uh.  Every year I stuff myself with as much food as I can when I’m there.  There are around a dozen or so different restaurants and other vendors who have dishes for you to try in the food court.  And everything looks and smells so good!  I try to vary my selection when we get there but sometimes there are a few favorites we just have to visit.  I’ll sometimes try something from the Chicago Diner or Native Foods Café since I love their food but then I try to get something from one or two other vendors (at least).  This year, I tried some soft serve ice cream from Temptation, a gyro-like plate with BBQ seitan bits from another vendor, a salad from Native Foods Café, a raspberry chocolate cupcake from Chicago Diner, and a few bites from food my wife had, too.  Besides the main food court there were a few businesses set-up through the main room that were giving away samples of their products.  My stomach was quite happy by the end of the day.

My seitan gyro

My wife's kale burger - so good!

My salad from Native Foods Cafe.

Tofurkey samples, which were so good!

Yet another reason I go is to refuel my vegan batteries.  I’ve said it before but it’s cool to be around others like you when you’re in a relatively small minority of the larger population.  Everyone seems to be in a good mood when they’re there and the vibes are infectious, which, given the current state of the world, I should probably avoid catching to be on the safe side.  It’s very cool to see vegans, vegetarians, and the veg-curious all come together in one place.

My swag!  Too much?

Lastly, probably my favorite reason for going is all the vegan merchandise.  My wife and I are suckers for funny and/or in-your-face bumper stickers.  I never thought I would be one of “those” people when I was younger but I can’t deny that I am.  I love watching people in my rearview mirror as they read the stickers and either shake their head or laugh or take pictures of their favorite ones.  I picked up just two this year but I think they make good additions.  The “eat humans” sticker is from Action for Animals and the “humane meat” one is from Herbivore.  I also like my vegan message shirts that I sometimes get.  I’d go broke if I bought everything I wanted to get while there.  I picked up a t-shirt from Compassion featuring an elephant breaking out of chains with the caption, “Animals Are Not Property”.  It’s pretty b.a.

All in all, a very fun time!  I can’t wait for the next one.

Sorry for the lack of decent pictures.  I was using my phone’s camera this year and the quality kind of shows.  I’ll step up my game with the next entry!  Until then, keep calm and vegan on!

You can not only find Compassion HERE but on Twitter at: @compassionco

You can not only find Herbivore HERE but on Twitter at: @herbivorecc

You can not only find Action for Animals HERE but on Twitter at: @action4animals

You can find David Robinson Simon a number of ways online like HERE.  Follow him on Twitter at: @meatonomics

You can also find Mariann and Jasmin from Our Hen House a number of ways online like HERE.  Follow Our Hen House on Twitter at: @ourhenhouse

For the skinny on VeganMania, go HERE.

I’ve mentioned a few others here before but:

You can find Erin Red on Twitter at: @erinred

You can find Ellen Jaffe Jones on Twitter at: @EllenJaffeJones

Restaurant Review: The Chicago Diner: Part Deux

            I know I have reviewed The Chicago Diner before (check out the entry and feast your eyes upon the pictures of delicious foods!) but I’ve never been to their second location in Logan Square.  We’ve always loved the original location but today time was a bit more pressing to us than preference so we went to their newer location.  Even though it was the same company, I had this weird feeling like we were cheating on the Halsted Street location.  I know that I’m odd, thanks.

            While the Halsted location had a 1950s café vibe to it, the Milwaukee Avenue location in Logan Square felt a bit more upscale.  There were longer booths in the middle of the restaurant and a bar directly to the right as you entered.  Along the far wall was a big “Meat Free Since ’83” sign hanging from a wall.  We were seated at a smaller two-seat table along the wall and began scouring over the menu.  Let me tell you that that was no easy task.  Every time we go in there I find it nearly impossible to narrow my choice down to one dish.

My mocha shake (on left) and my wife's Lucky Leprechaun Mint shake (on right)

            I ordered my regular mocha shake, since nobody should ever leave The Chicago Diner without trying one of their shakes, and somehow resisted ordering the larger size.  This turned out to be a wise decision since I stuffed myself on the food.

            For appetizers – yes, plural – we ordered the Thai Chili Wingz and the poutine.  We seem to get the poutine whenever we go there but how can you pass up fries covered in vegan sour cream, ‘bacon’, Teese vegan cheese, jalapenos, green onions, and gravy?  You can’t, is the right answer if you know what’s good for you.  However, I think the most amazing appetizer I’ve had there are the Thai Chili Wingz.  HOT. DAMN.  They were amazing!  These seitan ‘wings’ could probably fool many omnivores if they didn’t know it was vegan.  They came with a chili lime marinade and served with Sriracha Ranch dipping sauce.  I was seriously considering the notion of getting an order to go.

            For my main dish I ordered the Caribbean risotto.  I was having a very tough choice deciding because the avocado tostados, scrambled tofu deluxe, and pierogi quesadillas (!!) all sounded so good.  This was a bit of a gamble for me, however, because I’m still hit-or-miss on eating beans.  My wife was pretty surprised I even ordered this.  I figured that it would be tolerable since it was in a risotto and I love risotto.  I could eat risotto every day.  Grilled veggies and plantains surrounded the risotto.  Despite my love-hate relationship with beans, this dish was really good!  The rice, beans, and plantains reminded me of our vacation to Costa Rica and it got me in the mood for our upcoming trip to Ecuador and Peru.

            So, definitely check out their second location in Logan Square if you’re in Chicago.  It’s a cool place with the same fantastic food.  I already want to go back.  I think my insatiable appetite is partly why I’m the broke vegan.

            Until next time, keep calm and vegan on!

The Chicago Diner in Logan Square is located at 2333 N. Milwaukee Avenue.  Check out my previous TCD review for the link.

The 3rd Annual Veggie Pride Parade

            It’s been quite the last few days!  For starters, we just got back from my cousin’s wedding in Indianapolis yesterday.  What a fun time and unlike the experiences of a few vegans and vegetarians out there, we ate like royalty.  We were expecting a meal to be created especially for us but we kind of screwed up once we were able to eat.  The food was set-up on a few tables and since we weren’t told any differently, we just joined everyone else and looked through the various dishes to see what was vegan.  Surprisingly, quite a bit was.  We had pasta (not cooked with butter), salad, fruit, rolls, and grilled veggies.  I walked back to our table with two plates in my hands, as did my wife, and we proceeded to eat our meals.

            That’s when my uncle walked over and asked if we had been served our meals.  With a bit of a confused look, we told him we thought that the food we had gone up to grab had been the meals we were supposed to have received.  Turns out we had been wrong. Whoops!  A minute or two later and we were brought out individual plates that were set down in front of us.  What was presented was a plate of potato wedges with herbs, grilled veggies, and a pastry that was filled with mushrooms and some sort of sauce (which was amazing!).  That by itself would’ve been great.  Three plates!  Since I wasn’t going to waste good food, and since I am a bottomless pit when it comes to food, I nearly finished everything.  Which helped since I needed the food to soak up all the liquor I had.  We had a great time!  It was such a beautiful wedding.

            HOWEVER, the real reason I am writing this entry is to discuss the third annual Veggie Pride Parade that was held in Grant Park in Chicago last Saturday.  It was our first time going and I would’ve missed it again had I not seen Dr. Oppenlander send a tweet out about the event. (I’ll be discussing Dr. Oppenlander in the near future)  We had been meaning to go to the last two but just could never go with the way our work schedules were.  With much excitement, we headed out on a wonderful Saturday morning and arrived at the lakefront with plenty of time to spare.  How sad is it that I’ve lived in the Chicago area for most of my life and I’ve never really been to Grant Park before?

            The event was held across the street from the famous Buckingham Fountain with a tent and stage with music playing in the background.  On one side of the stage there were a few tents up for sponsors and on the other side a few tables up for various groups and activities.  We walked up to the registration table and signed in so we could walk along the parade route and we received our nametags.  After walking around the area and taking pictures for a few minutes we were asked to form a line behind MissChicago, Marisa Buchheit, and a few others who were leading the parade.  That’s right.  There’s a vegan Miss Chicago.  How rad is that?

Can't beat that background!

            I must say that I enjoy the vegan/vegetarian community.  I like it in all of its shapes and sizes.  I love the hipster vegans in all their stereotypical glory.  I love the wacky and wild vegans that wear anything that’ll draw attention to themselves.  I love them all.  It’s always fun to see who shows up and wears what.  Outsiders might see some people at these events and go, “What was he/she thinking when they wore that?” but I quite like it.

            We started the parade by going north on Columbus Drive, around the Art Institute of Chicago, down Michigan Avenue, up Roosevelt Road, and then back down Columbus Drive to where we began.  It was a longer walk than it appeared to be on the map, that’s for sure.  However, it was fun!  There was a lot of chanting, waving of signs, various noise-making, and a whole bunch of good vibes flowing.  Since I’m a bit of an introvert, I felt a bit odd drawing attention to myself as we chanted random vegan slogans (“Go vegan, go veg!”) but the more we walked, the more relaxed I became.  Plus, it helps that my wife was there to wave the metaphorical vegan flag.  There were plenty of cars driving by with people honking their horns, waving, or taking pictures as they passed.

            Who knows how many people were actually curious to find out more about a vegan/vegetarian life just by seeing us but it was fun being around people who had the same interests as me.  It’s kind of the same feeling I get whenever I go to vegan or vegetarian restaurants.  There are so few of us out there that it is nice when you get the opportunity to surround yourself with others that are like you, enjoying the same things as you.

Hope Bohenac

            After the parade, we listened to a few speakers including Karyn Calabrese, Marisa Buchheit, Hope Bohenac, Mikael Nielsen, and Vadim Moskalin. Dr. Terry Mason, the Chief Operating Officer of the Cook County Department of Health, was supposed to speak but I didn’t see him on stage.  So I can’t say for certain if he was there or not.  He may have appeared when I went to grab a falafel. Bummer.  I was really excited to see Karyn Calabrese speak since we’ve been to every one of her restaurants here in Chicago.  Every one of her restaurants has something unique about it and each has delicious food.

Karyn Calabrese!  Gives sixty-year-olds a good name, eh?

            I enjoyed listening to Mikael Nielsen, the national volunteer coordinator for Mercy For Animals, because the organization he’s apart of does such amazing work (more on them in the future).

Mikael Nielsen

            I also liked hearing Marisa Buchheit since it is cool to have a local celebrity who is vegan and can talk about her lifestyle to groups other vegans might not reach.

Miss Chicago, Marisa Buchheit

            All were entertaining and interesting speakers.  It was great listening to other compassionate vegans speak out about topics they love.

The winner of the costume contest:  a block of tofu!

            There was also a vegan fashion show and a costume contest after the speakers were done.  They even had a raffle that I had entered when we first arrived at the parade.  I didn’t expect to win anything because I have the worst luck.  It’s just nice to support the cause, either way.  However, I was quite surprised to have won a few cool prizes!  I got a $25 gift card to The Chicago Diner (anyone who has read my restaurant review entry knows how much I love that place), a $10 gift card to FlatTop Grill (not a vegan restaurant but it has several vegan options), and – the best one of all – a $50 gift certificate for a produce delivery service (basically, a week’s worth of groceries).  How cool is that?  We are definitely going to be eating well in the near future!

I especially like the fact that FlatTop Grill was there to promote their vegan options.  I think that’s SUPER important!  They’re not vegan but they know that vegans like to eat. D’uh!  Just be being there and raising awareness in the vegan community, they just increased their business.  If more businesses promoted vegan options to the world, imagine how much more money they would get, too?  And you know what?  I have never been there and I don’t know if I would’ve ever gone, but because I have a gift card, I’m definitely going.  And what if I like the food?  They just got themselves another repeat patron just by showing up to some event the majority of other businesses ignored.  And that’s not even taking into consideration the fact that I’d clearly tell others and would promote the restaurant to other vegans or vegetarians who might not have known about them.  They were the ONLY ones there who weren’t 100% vegan or vegetarian.  Bravo, FlatTop Grill!

After the raffle, we pretty much packed it in for the day.  It was a fun event and I would urge everyone to make it out next year!  Show your support for all things veg!  Even if you don’t walk in the parade or are vegan or vegetarian, GO.  You’ll have a nice, fun afternoon near Chicago’s lovely waterfront.  Did I also mention it’s free?  You can check out the Chicago Veggie Pride Parade’s site HERE.  You should also join the meet-up group while you’re at it and meet other vegans and vegetarians in the Chicagoland area.

I want to send a thank you to all the volunteers that worked to put this thing together.  Your hard work paid off!  And to everyone else – keep calm and vegan on!

You can follow Karyn Calabrese on Twitter at: @KarynCalabrese

You can find Marisa Buchheit on a number of places but you can follow her on Twitter at: @marisabuchheit

You can follow Mikael Nielsen on Twitter at: @MikaelRNielsen

You can find Mercy for Animals on a number of places but you can follow them on Twitter at: @MercyForAnimals

You can follow FlatTop Grill on Twitter at: @flattopgrill

You can follow Dr. Richard Oppenlander on Twitter at: @DrOppenlander

“You’ll Never Get Sick. You Will Never Grow Old. And You Will Never Die.” – Cocoon (1985)

            I’m sorry for the extended delay in posts.  Both my wife and I have had new work schedules and getting on a regular home/work schedule has taken some time.  Onto the posting!

            Ever since I went vegan, I have fallen into a belief that I should be superhuman healthy.  After all, I partly went vegan to get into, and stay in, optimal health.  I thought that all that really required was to eat right and – BAM! – I’d be fine.  It might not come as a surprise that I’ve always been worried that if I catch even a small cold, it would reflect poorly upon veganism as a healthy lifestyle.  I spent so much time discussing the healthy side effects that I have had and that my wife has had going vegan with people, that I thought people would call me a hypocrite even if I sneezed.  Whenever I would go into work with a head cold, I imagined somebody saying something like, “Uh oh!  The vegan is sick!  So much for the invincibility of you vegans!  Eat pigs, everyone!”  Then I would either slink into a corner or cough all over them.  Either way, it was a poor situation to find oneself.

            I thought all of this even though I can string sentences together and form complex thought.  I want to be the shining example of peak human health to give veganism a good name so it can’t be helped.  I think this without realizing changing and improving your health has multiple facets.  I do exercise but I’m still as skinny as a stick.  If somebody gives me anything heavier than a brick to carry, I’m sore the next morning.  (That’s hyperbole, by the way.  I’m still worried my humor doesn’t translate.)  I just half-expect a change in eating habits is enough to get me to peak performance, as if I could fall asleep like Tobey Maguire and wake up with Spider-Man powers.

            Tobey Maguire, by the way, is a vegan.  I didn’t even mean to use him as an example because of that fact either.  I just love all things Spider-Man.

            Not only that but I still have seasonal allergies and acne – as I’ve stated previously.  Veganism hasn’t been able to eradicate those two things completely but that doesn’t discredit veganism.  So why should I worry about getting a cold when veganism can’t be a cure-all for everything else about me?

            I recently listened to a podcast by the great Colleen Patrick-Goudreau where she was discussing healthy vegans in response to an e-mail somebody had sent her.  The e-mail was from somebody who felt like she shouldn’t tell people she’s vegan just because she is over-weight.  Colleen quite logically stated that there is no one example of a healthy vegan.  One shouldn’t be discouraged to proclaim him or herself a vegan if he or she happens to be overweight.  Your body image does not reflect on veganism.  Just as getting sick doesn’t reflect on the virtues of veganism.

            I do not know why it took hearing that coming from somebody else for it to finally click but it did.  And again I’m indebted to CPG’s podcast.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. You'd know this if you had clicked on her link already. D'uh.

            However, that doesn’t mean that the lesson always sticks.

            Recently, I fainted for no (at the time) apparent reason.  This was the day that my wife and I had gone to The Chicago Diner for breakfast.  After we did our running around we collapsed for a nice evening nap (I told you our life/work schedules had changed).  Upon waking, I quickly got out of bed, took about two steps to my desk, and that’s it.  The next thing I know, I’m coming to on my bedroom floor with my wife and mom surrounding me.  My wife had been calling my name and since I had no idea what the hell was going on, I kept telling her I was fine.

            They told me that contrary to what I believed, I was not fine because I had fainted and hadn’t responded for several seconds.  I thought that was ludicrous because I’ve never fainted before and I had always imagined – thanks to Hollywood – that when one faints, they swoon a bit, mumble something silly, their eyes roll up, and then gracefully fall to the ground.  The only thing I could recall was turning the TV on and then “waking up” with everyone surrounding me.  What I had been was sweaty, weak, and nauseous.  The meal that my mom was making for everyone other than my wife and I was overpowering to my nose (everyone else said they could hardly smell it).  But to faint?  I had thought at the time that that was crazy.

            As the night wore on, I was equally intrigued by this fainting business and also worried.  My veganism had cured me of every illness and woe, right?  So what was wrong?  It had to be something bad because in the age of Web, M.D., a hangnail means cancer.

            With much reluctance, I scheduled my first doctor’s appointment in several years at the insistence of everyone in my family.  I had never had a physical before so I figured now would be as good of a time to get one as any.  However, since it had been ages since I had visited my doctor, I had to get a preliminary appointment first before I could get a physical.  Joy!  Two doctor’s visits for the price of one!

            I went in on the following Monday, retold what had happened to the nurse and the doctor, and then discussed possible outcomes.  Now, doctor visits for most vegans is a whole new blog entry, but for now let me just say I was a bit worried the topic of veganism and its viability as a healthy lifestyle would rear its head.  I was prepared for a discussion but when I mentioned it, my doctor didn’t even flinch.  He simply nodded and gave a, “Mmhmm.”  I was quite surprised but I should’ve known it wouldn’t be a big deal because my doctor had always been cool and seemed more evolved than the average doctor.  Or perhaps I’m full of shit.

My doctor, Dr. Doogie Howser.

            He did state that I probably just fainted from getting out of bed too quickly, and since I hadn’t had much water to drink that day, I was also dehydrated.  It was a perfect storm.  That eased my mind a lot.  He did want to draw some blood to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong.  I also had never had my blood drawn, as far as I knew, so this was just turning out to be all kinds of fun!  Since I also hadn’t had much water that day, drawing blood was a big process.  So what’s the real takeaway from every step of this situation?  DRINK WATER!

            I waited until my results came in and I am happy to report that I am the most amazing human being ever to walk the earth.  Okay, not quite.  I am, however, healthy.  So I have that going for me, which is nice.  No anemia, no thyroid issues, no liver or kidney problems, and no nutritional issue.  My glucose level was within normal range, which that alone is a miracle since I’ve grown up mainlining sugar into my bloodstream.  Take THAT Type-2 diabetes!

            I think the lesson is that there is no vegan completely immune to every illness and it is a lesson that I’ll have to try harder to remember.  I can still be a healthy vegan and have bad things happen.  Shit indeed does happen.  I can’t let veganism alone be my shield against bad things.  Oh, right, and drinking water also helps (repetition helps reinforce the takeaways).

            How about you all?  Any interesting doctor stories or health-related issues you’ve had to deal with as a vegan/vegetarian?  I want to see how other doctors have treated vegans.

            Until next time, keep calm and vegan on!

You can find Colleen Patrick-Goudreau on a number of social media sites including Facebook and Twitter.  DEFINITELY check out her podcast!  You can find her on Twitter at @JoyfulVegan.

The cartoon of the doctor was found using Google's image search.

Restaurant Review: The Chicago Diner

            If you haven’t been to The Chicago Diner or heard of it, then you are missing out.  There are many times when I regret not having gone vegan sooner.  That is particularly true whenever I think about how The Chicago Diner has been in my backyard nearly my entire life and I never once went there until a few years ago.  They’ve been praised left to right, been featured on television segments, and even have their own cookbook out.  Located on North Halsted, The Chicago Diner is basically THE place vegans and vegetarians seem to go to whenever they’re in town.  Once you go there, you’ll probably see why.  Every time my wife & I go there, we can’t help but stuff ourselves full of food.

            We try to make it a point to stop in whenever we’re in the area.  We usually stop in either before or after seeing a movie at Landmark Theatres, which is just a few minutes away.  That was the case last Thursday.

            My wife has begun working overnights and since I had Thursday off, she suggested we see The Grand Budapest Hotel (an amazing movie that has skyrocketed to my top 10 movies of all time) and get brunch at The Chicago Diner.  I’m often slow and reluctant to wake up before 9 on my days off, so since I’d have to be up anyway to pick her up from work, I decided this would be an acceptable idea.  Truthfully, it wasn’t that hard to convince me.  Even now, my stomach is grumbling just thinking about the food at The Diner.

            Jump to Thursday and we showed up to at The Diner twenty-minutes before they opened.  Yes, we’re just that intense when it comes to our food.  No, we don’t consider ourselves ‘foodies’ (an abhorrent word if ever there was one – it just elicits such snobbery.) but we just love to eat.  Plus, with Chicago’s incredibly crappy traffic no matter what time of day, I figured it’d be a good idea to leave earlier than needed.

            We parked across the street from the three-story building that The Diner is located in and headed inside.  The interior is designed like any diner-styled restaurant with the usual decorations hanging from the walls, booths lining one wall, bar stools at the counter across from the booths, and small, square tables lined up in the middle.  It’s really a fun and cool place to go for a meal.  It’s also fun to people watch, whether that’s the other patrons or the employees.  You’ll find your share everything from hipsters (at a vegan place? NO WAY!) with their beards and black-rimmed glasses to your punk rockers sporting all sorts of piercings, tattoos, and hair colors.

            After getting our much-needed coffee with soy milk, we dug into our appetizers:  cinnamon buns.  Good lord.  That is one thing I never get enough of as a vegan.  I used to eat so many cinnamon buns from Cinnabon that I am highly surprised I never got diabetes a long time ago.  I’ve had a few cinnamon buns as a vegan but a few just seem to be mediocre.  The best ones came from a recipe my wife made but The Chicago Diner’s were nearly as good.  At the very least, they were the best ones I’ve had that weren’t homemade since going vegan.

            We were so hungry and had such a hard time making up our minds that the two of us ordered three meals.  My wife had her own meal – the ‘STK’ & eggs (seitan ‘steak’ and tofu eggs), I ordered the Big Bang Breakfast, and we shared an order of ‘biscuit & sausg gravy’ (made with seitan).  I do not know how I finished everything I ordered.  I could’ve exploded had I had another bite!

            The biscuits & gravy were good but not my favorite veganized version of the meal.  The gravy was good but overall nothing mind-blowing like I’ve come to expect.  Don’t let that give you the impression that I didn’t wolf down my half of the plate, because I did.  I also used the excess gravy on my ‘sausag’ patty and seitan ‘bacun’ that came with my Big Bang Breakfast.

            The Big Bang Breakfast was really delicious!  It came with tofu ‘scrambled eggs’, toast, fruit, potato hash, and – as far as their menu states – either the ‘sausag’ patty or the seitan ‘bacun’.  However, either they messed up or changed things because I received both.  I was not going to complain at all!  Both were really good and tasted good in the gravy.  The potato hash was probably my favorite on the plate.  I could eat platefuls of that stuff.  The tofu eggs were good but I prefer my wife’s because she makes scrambled tofu eggs and throws in a ton of ingredients – really jazzes things up and adds a lot of different flavors to the mix.  As always, I did douse my tofu eggs in ketchup, which helped give it more flavor.  (Damn, I just realized all of that made me sound like the food snobs I loathe.  I’m not, I swear!  I’ll eat anything and enjoy it!  I just have different levels of likes.)

            My wife somehow managed to finish her meal off with a shake.  How she was able to finish a shake after all of that food is beyond me.  I really wanted one of their shakes but I just couldn’t bring myself to have one.  It really bummed me out because they have THE BEST vegan shakes in the world!  We always seem to get a shake whenever we go there – it doesn’t matter how cold or hot it is, either.  If you go there, you MUST order a shake.  I love the mocha and despite wanting to try others, I tend to order that whenever I’m there.  It’s just too good to pass up.

            All in all, brunch was a fantastic idea!  Plus, parking was super easy that early in the day and it wasn’t as crowded as it always is in the afternoons and evenings.

            The Chicago Diner also recently opened up a second location (not in the suburbs, however.  Do you hear me, Chicago Diner?? Hmmm??) in Logan Square, but we have yet to go there.  That may have to be rectified!

            Well, that about wraps things up.  Has anyone else been to The Chicago Diner?  What are your favorite meals or drinks?

            Until next time, keep calm and vegan on!

The Chicago Diner is located at 3411 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL, 60657 & now at 2333 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60647

You can follow The Chicago Diner on Twitter at @chicagodiner