Hey everyone! How did your Monday go? I hope a good start to the week! My class was cancelled so I just had Girls On the Run practice and then a Kappa Delta alumnae event – Bingo night at Hamburger Mary’s! More on that another time…
Last week I was invited by Bountiful Eatery to come by and review their restaurant. Since Lindsay originally told me about the restaurant I had to invite her to come along and we went on Sunday afternoon!
Bountiful Eatery is a relatively new restaurant in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago and its menu “is sensitive to the often over-looked population of allergy sufferers, dieters, healthy eaters and workout enthusiasts and caters to their needs for fresh, healthy, delicious gluten free food.” I was so excited when I saw their menu because it featured sandwiches on both gluten free bread and pitas! Trust me, this is a rare find. All of the bakery items are from Rose’s Bakery, which is also local to Chicago.
They have grilled food, pitas, salads, soups and stews, and a kids menu (which I was assured was available to all ages when I commented that the grilled cheese sounded good). They also had a delicious looking breakfast menu and smoothies, along with a build your own smoothie option!
Lindsay and I each started out with a soup, hers a squash soup and mine the spinach soup. It. Was. Amazing. Seriously, this soup was soooo good!
For lunch I ordered the Kale Veggie Pita. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo… So I borrowed this one from when Tina came to visit! (hers is a turkey avocado pita). You have an option of a side salad or chips.
Photo stolen from Tina’s Recap
The pita is seriously out of this world. If you had given it to me without saying it was gluten free I would have never known. It was so light and fluffy!
We were also given a dessert to sample! I honestly cannot remember what this was called, but it was also from Rose’s Bakery and was some sort of tofu-cream with a gluten free crus and raspberry filling. I know I’m not supposed to have soy, but I figured a couple bites wouldn’t kill me. I’m so glad I tasted it because it was AMAZING. I know, are you surprised? I was!
I am a huge fan of Bountiful Eatery and so glad that it’s not too far of a walk from where I live. I’ll definitely be going back!
After eating we got to speak with the owner, Ed O’Brien for a little while. It was great to hear all the effort that he’s been putting into his restaurant and how he really wanted our feedback on how to improve things. He’s very open to new suggestions and it’s clear they make all the food fresh in the kitchen themselves. He also started his own blog, so it was fun to talk blog shop! If you live in Chicago, I’d definitely go back with you!
Have you ever had/seen gluten free breads in a restaurant?
Chicago locals – where’s your favorite healthy lunch spot?
Yum!! I want to try that place!! It look yummy! Wanna go back?
Um, yes! We were thinking of doing a blogger meet up there!
I tried out an amazing new (to me!) vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free restaurant here in Ottawa the other night. It was a serve-yourself pay-by-weight style that I love, and each of the dishes had the ingredients listed and signage showing whether they were vegan/GF. It was AMAZING, I seriously cannot say enough fabulous things about it.
I absolutely love trying new restaurants and new foods and being surprised. So many people think that we’re limited by our intolerances, but I think it’s just the opposite — they’re missing out by not trying our substituted options!! 😉
that place sounds amazing! I love when they label everything, it makes my life so much easier!
I’m going to be in Chicago this week! Can’t wait to try this place!!
I hope you like it!!!
that’s so awesome that there are more and more restaurants at least trying to meet the needs of people with dietary restrictions. and i know that wasn’t your pita, but if yours looked half as delicious i have no doubt that sandwich was amazing. YUM!
It was soooo good!
I have never tried GF bread. Glad you were able to find such an accommodating restaurant!
Sounds like a great place! A kale veggie pita sounds heavenly!
Wow, everything looks incredible. If I lived in Chicago, I think I’d be a regular. A kale veggie pita sounds perfect for lunch right now…
I think I’m going to become a regular!
Thanks for sharing!! I live in the Chicago area and am always looking for new places to try. These kind of restaurants are few and far between, I’m glad to know there are some in my area. 🙂
I’m so glad I found it! You should definitely try it out.
um YUM. this sounds amazing. I want to go to there.
Don’t worry, I’ll force you. I’m thinking a blogger meet up? Or just us.
This post is making me hungry! Too bad I’ve already had breakfast….
Thinking about coming up to Chicago this fall / winter! Will definitely have to tweet you for more info about this place and/or a lunch date if I do!
You should definitely check it out!
oh my gosh I have yet to find a good gluten free restaurant near me. this place looks amazing!
That dessert looks amazing. Tofu-cream? I’m intrigued!
I really like The Protein Bar and Native Foods Cafe….both great options in the Loop
I LOVE Protein Bar! I like to get their quinoa and veggie chili bowl in the winter! There’s one a few blocks from my school.
I can’t wait to go back and order everything on the menu, it was all so good! Thanks again for bringing me along!
I’m glad you could come!
Even though I don’t have dietary restrictions–it all looks & sounds so good! Yumm!
Haha it’s kind of funny to hear the food allergy population referred to as over-looked, given that I spend a significant amount of my online time reading HLBs, where allergies and intolerances abound. I guess I sometimes forget that I’m not the only one in the “real world” without food allergies!
I go by Bountiful Eatery alllllllllllll the time and have always been intrigued. Both your and Lindsay’s reviews make me think I need to check it out!
Definitely check it out! And I’m so into the HLB world that I forget most people don’t have food allergies or even think about people with food allergies. I always assume I’m in the majority not the minority!
I’ve seen GF breads in very few restaurants (actually, only once – in New Haven last week!), and I feel like there aren’t many allergy-friendly spots to eat in the Phoenix area… or maybe I just need to look harder? Haha. I’m always so envious when I see bloggers going to amazing restaurants with vegan, GF, dairy-free, etc. options galore!!
Haha there may not be many but definitely put some effort into researching them if you want, you might be surprised!
I love OMG It’s Gluten Free in Frankfort! If you are ever in the south burbs check it out!
I’ve heard of that, I do actually go to Frankfurt occasionally and I’ve meant to try it out!
Well, isn’t this nice to find out about! Thanks! I live right around there and am always scouting out new restaurants that are for specialty eaters (usually vegan/GF). Perfect!
You should definitely try it out then!
Looks fantastic! I’m definitely adding this to my list of places to try when I’m back in Chicago 🙂
Good!! I hope you try it!
I’ve noticed a couple of restaurants here have started on the gluten free things. the Italian place near me now offers gluten free pizza and pasta, and there’s a gluten-free bakery that I’m intrigued to try (because really, I’d be all over any sort of bakery)
That place looks so good! I love simple healthy cafes like that. I’ve actually seen a lot of restaurants start catering to the GF crowd. It makes me jealous… when will restaurants start being more conscious about being nut-free?! 😛
I would love to try a place like that! Simple and healthy cafes like that are just the best… tons of options for people like us that enjoy all that crazy stuff 🙂
Yum! That restaurant looks great! Gluten Free/ people with dietary restrictions / health enthusiasts are quite overlooked here in Moscow.
[…] A blogger meet-up at Bountiful Eatery! I went here once before with Chelsey and Tina, and then another time with […]