Chicago Restaurant Review: Quench!

I didn't like going to fast food restaurants. It's not that I don't like food, and it's not that I don't like getting my food quickly while I'm on the go. The reason I didn't like fast food restaurants is because there weren't enough choices for a vegetarian. When I go in most fast food restaurants, all I could order was French fries, dessert, and salads. Even in sit-down restaurants, there are usually only one or two things I can order, and after awhile, eating grilled cheese sandwiches and mozzarella sticks gets old. When I read about Quench! in the Chicago Defender, I all but ran out the door.

Quench! has a blend of different vegetarian dishes, including fajitas, pizza puffs, patty melts, burgers, gyros, Jamaican wraps, and casserole. Usually when I find a vegetarian restaurant, like Soul Vegetarian East or Alice & Friends (my favorite vegan restaurant), my family and friends shy away from coming because they don't want to try soy foods. But the great thing about Quench! is that, in addition to various cake, Quench! serves turkey, chicken, and shrimp dishes as well. Quench! avoids pork and beef, but if you like the rest of the meats, you're good to go.

Quench!'s location is in Bronzeville close to the Southside Community Art Center, and there are plenty of parking spaces on both sides of the street (no tolls). There are flags and a big sign on the outside, so it's obvious where the location is even though it's on a residential block. Quench! is easy to get to by public transportation and close to the I-94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) and Lake Shore Drive. Although there are no seats to dine in, minus a few black step ladder stools spread out here and there, again, it's a fast food restaurant. The smell of the food is so overwhelmingly delicious that you'll probably eat the food in your car before you can get home anyway.

I tried a side salad and a veggie patty melt because I hadn't had one in years and never with soy meat. The salad has fresh carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, croutons, and whatever salad dressing you like. The veggie patty melt was prepared at just the right temperature for soy meat with melted cheese on grilled bread, and whatever seasoning was added was excellent too. It took me five minutes to select this meal considering the menus have an endless amount of dishes that I'd like to try, including the alfreda I watched a cook make for another customer stopping through on her break from work. The customer had on an apron, and after listening to friendly conversation between her and the cashier, I found out she'd left the food restaurant she worked in to come here. The service is polite, and the employees are friendly. Customer service can make or break a restaurant, so I was also impressed by Quench!'s professionalism.

Quentin Love, the founder of Quench!, has two other types of restaurants in addition to four mini-restaurants at Quench!. The categories of food at Quench! include Fajitas, the Brown Sugar Bakery, Soul Express, and Italian Soul. 5 Loaves Breakfast Café (location serves pork), the second restaurant, is located at 405 East 75^th Street. Vegetarian Life, a vegetarian restaurant nearby, is located at 622 East 71^st Street, and the two Quench! locations are at 510 East 75^th Street and 4653 South Michigan in Chicago. Opening times vary by location, and all contact information can be verified on the ILoveFoodGroup website.

With recent statistics showing that 66 percent of the US is overweight or obese, with 60 percent of African American men and 78 percent of African American women being at the top, Quench! is the restaurant that African Americans need in our communities. There are far too many fried food restaurants, liquor stores, and candy stores in our neighborhoods, but not enough food for African Americans to have a choice of eating healthy. Everybody doesn't have money to go to sit-down restaurants and order expensive meals every time we don't want to cook, and Quench!'s prices reflect that. Not only is the food delicious, but it's reasonable too. Five dollars for a full salad is nothing in comparison to what I pay in grocery stores and other fast food restaurants, and the food is fresh, which makes it even harder to come by.

The meals are prepared onsite but quickly. The only problem I had with Quench! is by me not being able to find fast food restaurants that I like when visiting the southside of Chicago, I spend less money. However, Quench! may affect my bank balance because I surely will be traveling to the southside of Chicago more often to frequent the other locations.