Vegan Chicago: A Neighborhood Guide

The Green Ape on Milwaukee Avenue is the newcomer: a counter-service kitchen with an all-vegan comfort-food menu of lion's mane crabcakes, fried mushroom "wings" and a heart of palm "fish" sandwich. Down Chicago Avenue, Pie, Pie My Darling bakes 100% vegan cakes, cupcakes and oatmeal cream pies — walk-in hours are Fridays and Saturdays only, so plan around them.

Handlebar has been on North Avenue since 2003. It isn't all-vegan (the menu is vegetarian, with a few fish dishes), but the scratch-made vegan plates — fried avocado tacos, Nashville hot fried "chicken" — are the reason to go.

Beacon Doughnuts has sold all-vegan doughnuts from a walk-up window in an alley off Armitage since 2020, and it closes when it sells out. Nearby, elephant & vine does fast-casual plates like the Eleburger and Cauli Wings, and farther northwest, Vegan Plate on Fullerton cooks a fully vegan Thai menu, from yellow curry to sushi rolls made with konjac "tuna".

The Chicago Diner has been meat-free on Halsted since 1983: the Reuben, seitan wings and milkshakes, including a seasonal pumpkin pie shake. It's vegetarian rather than all-vegan, so check the menu as you order.

Along Montrose, Loving Heart runs an organic vegan café in Uptown, Urban Vegan cooks all-vegan Thai at Ashland, and out in Albany Park, Kale My Name pairs a full bar and weekend brunch with a Chicago Burger that, its own site says, the Chicago Reader nominated for the city's best.

Up Clark Street, Penelope's Vegan Taqueria Andersonville is the location with a brunch menu, from the taqueria that calls itself Chicago's first 100% plant-based one: soy al pastor, jackfruit barbacoa, mezcal cocktails. On Broadway in Edgewater, Alice and Friends' Vegan Kitchen serves sesame miso ramen and Kung Pao Ding. Demera Ethiopian Restaurant in Uptown isn't all-vegan, but it marks its vegan dishes (misir wot, shiro, gomen), and its Bayaynetu platter samples all of them.

Amitabul calls its cooking Korean spiritual vegan cuisine; the spicy kimchi bi bim bop is on the menu as "the monk's dish". On Devon, Arya Bhavan has served vegan-friendly, gluten-free Indian and fusion food since 1998, masala dosa and uttapam among it.

Soul Veg City on East 75th Street has cooked plant-based soul food for more than 40 years, first as Original Soul Vegetarian: vegan chicken sandwiches, mac and cheese, made from scratch daily. Further east in South Shore, its sister spot Vegan Now 2 Go does fast-casual jerk nachos and a vegan smash burger; it keeps weekday-only hours.

In Pilsen, Penelope's Vegan Taqueria holds down 18th Street. Out on Archer Avenue, Healthy Substance serves 100% vegan Mexican — carne molida burritos, al pastor tacos, chilaquiles with vegan egg — from a founder who came from Guadalajara.