Restaurant Thu Apr 17 2008

Soy Organic and Feed

Soy Organic market in Pilsen and the fast food spot called Feed in Humboldt Park were both fun stops on last night's scouting for this year's Veggie Bike and Dine, an event I co-organize – as a disclosure. One can get non-veg items at both places, but they're also quite vegan friendly. Soy Organic, a small, friendly grocery on the corner of 19th Street and Paulina in Pilsen, has tubs full of bulk grains, nuts and dried beans, small bags of dried fruit, Swad brand of Indian products, and, my favorite among a couple grocery aisles, meatless soy chorizo in the refrigerated section – a vegan version of that spicy pork sausage. It should fry up brilliantly on a hot pan in it's own oil. Throw some tortilla pieces or corn chips in the pan, maybe some crumbled tofu, and you could be reflecting visions of chilaquiles. Oh, and Soy Organic is starting up their smoothie machine quite soon, using real fruit.

Hours later, Feed, on Chicago at California, took care of us with good counter service. Our two orders of our fried okra were vegan – they made a special effort to check – batter-coated in small, round nuggets. Ditto for the hand cut sweet potato and regular fries, tender spinach, succotash, coleslaw, beet salad, and juicy fried green tomatoes with a super light batter. Yes, they're all side orders, but combined, they're a meal for four people who just pedaled many miles. Sure, we did have some snacks from Soy Organic earlier. Call them tapas if you need convincing that you can make a meal out of such pieces. Two of my companions put tunes on the old chrome jukebox playing vinyl. We had decided to go in after one of us, a scout if you will, went inside to check on its vegan options. This person emerged with a plate of a few sweet potato fries, as a sample. I was hooked.

— Chris Brunn / Comments (0)