I was a vegetarian for 9 years in a small town in Indiana, so eating out was a long series of grilled cheese sandwiches. When I moved to Chicago, did I avail myself of the many fine vegetarian restaurants available in the city? Nah, I just started eating meat.
So it was that dinner plans* last night with an old friend (from that same aforementioned small town) was the first time I'd ever been to Soul Vegetarian East (205 E 75th). I zipped (amazingly enough) down the Dan Ryan and got rock star parking right in front of this cozy storefront-and-a-half. The staff were all friendly and patient with my "I'm just hanging out waiting for my friend**."
The all-vegan menu has a great variety -- lots of fried appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and entrees like stir-frys and noodles. And everything's reasonably priced -- most entrees and sandwiches are around $6. The Barbeque Twist looked good, and seemed popular with people coming in for carry out, but I went for the dinner special, which last night was orange lentil soup, pepper "steak" with gravy over rice, lima beans, and greens. It was perfect comfort food for a cold and rainy night, and I was stuffed quite full. Erica had highly recommended the soy ice-cream, so I was contemplating trying to fit dessert in as well, but they were all out of ice-cream, so I didn't have to make the decision.
All around, an excellent meal in a friendly place.
And then...
There's probably a nicer way to phrase it, but I turned into a fart machine all night. I guess my meat-eating stomach needs some reminding what veggies are. Sorry to be impolite, but I think y'all deserve the whole story.
* Plans, but not actually meeting up. I got stood up. Jerk.
** Jerk.
(Originally posted on the Chicago Metblog, Mar 15, 2007: Soul Vegetarian)
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