Chicago Restaurant Review: Vegetarian Life Makes Life Easy

After visiting Quench! (a fast food African-American owned restaurant that has both vegetarian dishes and meat dishes on the menu) and loving the food, I wanted to support all of Quentin Love's restaurants. When the cashier at Quench! recommended that I visit Vegetarian Life, I immediately looked it up and four days later, I was there.

Cons: This location is on a fairly quiet and dim block right next to a viaduct, so without proper promotion, I can easily see someone looking over this location. I had to make a u-turn because I'd passed Vegetarian Life completely. There's only a small sit down area on stools, and some of the L-shaped table is full of different flyers. (Note: After looking at the flyers on the table, Vegetarian Life is a reasonable location to reach their target audience, but it would be better with signs that make the place more obvious to drivers instead of pedestrians.) The ordering window has stickers for credit cards, but it wasn't until I paid after the food was ready that the cashier told me the credit card machine (temporarily) doesn't work.

Pros: For a vegetarian who loves soul food, restaurants like Vegetarian Life, Quench!, Alice & Friends, and Soul Vegetarian East (the latter two are not owned by Mr. Love) are the answer to all of my food problems. I thought there wouldn't be a restaurant that would come close to my love for Alice & Friends, but Vegetarian Life almost beat them. (The tie breaker is Alice & Friends has medium-sized seating in case I don't want to take my food to go.) Whereas I can get excellent Asian-style vegan food from Alice & Friends, there aren't as many choices as I could get with vegan, vegetarian, and snack foods at Vegetarian Life. Whenever someone asks me, "What does a vegetarian eat?", I respond with, "I eat everything you eat, but I eat a soy version of it." That's basically what Vegetarian Life is. Vegetarian Life has soy burgers, gyros, Italian beef, philly sandwiches, burritos, riblets, Cajun wraps, boneless wings, smothered chicken, jerk chicken, stir fry, salads, soups, and soul food sides like greens and other vegetables, beans, rice, and macaroni and cheese. Vegetarian East serves sweets, sides, and drinks as well.

I ordered the smothered (soy) chicken, greens, and brown rice, and the cook let me try the macaroni and cheese because I'd never been there before. Casserole is okay to me, but if I never have another plate or bowl of casserole again in life, I wouldn't care. However, I'm glad that the cook suggested trying the mac and cheese because it was the best side I got, although the other sides were delicious. The smothered chicken was slightly salty, so I had to add some pepper to tame it (I feel the same way about salt as I do about casserole), but this was an excellent meal.

I'm appreciative of this restaurant being 100% vegetarian, 100% vegan, and 80% organic. America is full of restaurants with fatty foods, and it bothers me that buying greasy, unhealthy food is cheaper than buying wholesome and hearty dishes. Vegetarian Life's prices are surprisingly reasonable considering the portions and the taste. $5.99 for all of the sandwiches, $6.99 for lunch meals, and $10.99 for dinner meals. At other restaurants, I can spend at least $7 for just the appetizers alone before I even get to the main dish, usually with only a couple of vegetarian dishes on the menu. Just like in Quench! and 5 Loaves Breakfast Café, the service was friendly and professional. I'm almost numb to rude customer service in some restaurants (that I never visit again), and it's a pleasant surprise to find that all of Quentin Love's employees meet customers with a smile on their faces and polite greetings. I thought I'd be going to Quench! more often than Vegetarian Life, but I'm not sure anymore. It may be a tie. I won't forget about Alice & Friends and Soul Vegetarian East, but it's so wonderful to have a handful of choices.