The recently opened Great Taste Café has a claim to fame: It could be the only vegan, gluten free restaurant in the country. And to those who might say—so? Josh Alper, Director of Sales and Marketing of the establishment, has a powerful argument that the fledgling restaurant is filling a much-needed niche.

Downtown Chicago’s restaurant scene can be surprisingly bland, with far more steak houses and chain restaurants than anything approaching vegetarian and independently owned options, not to mention vegan. But more than filling a niche in Chicago’s vanilla downtown terrain, the cafe is looking to serve what it sees as a growing number of people with specialized food needs.
 
“We cater to people who fear going out to eat,” said manager Melissa Sanders. She believes there is a significant group of people for whom dining out is a minefield—always looking for foods they must avoid.

More and more, according to Josh, people have specialized food needs: Cancer survivors who avoid certain cancer-linked foods, diabetics who have specialized food needs, not to mention those with nut allergies, or the Atkins diet or the gluten-free diet.

Both Melissa and Betty Alper (the shop’s pastry chef and Josh’s daughter) received top-notch culinary training but found that vegan cooking was scorned in cooking school. Melissa remembers one of her first days of cooking school when her teacher made jokes about vegetarians. Both are applying the skills they garnered in school to reinvent high-end cooking in vegan iterations.

The menu, written in cheerful bright pink, orange and yellow has many enticing options. A teaser is the raw flax crackers and cashew cheese ($3). The cracker, which takes two days to make, beautifully displays whole pumpkin and flax seeds and is complimented well by creamy cashew cheese and radish sprouts.

The menu has a wide array of organic smoothies ($7.50), offering many creative ways to pack in goodness, from kale to hemp milk and coconut water. The dream smoothie, for example, is a combination of house-made almond milk, fresh-squeezed orange juice and agave nectar. Melissa conceived “the dream” because the so-called popsicle was one of her favorite treats, but she stopped eating it when she went dairy-free. Her version is a creamy and rich flavor that is satisfying but not too heavy.

A series of five wraps ($6.50 each) on the menu are good options for a light dinner. The “EW” wrap is made with some of the best tempeh I have ever had (I am not normally a fan, but this salty, smoky tempeh was impossible not to like). The tempeh combined with a garlicky ranch sauce, avocado, tomato and sprouts, made a nice combination of flavors and textures. The “AW” wrap features marinated mushrooms, fresh basil, onions and walnuts for a unique mix of earthiness and tang.

On the Wednesday night I visited, roasted root vegetable ($8) was featured as one of the daily specials. It included a stack of potato and beets drizzled in a creamy mint-pistachio sauce with a compliment of light celery salad. For those hungering for an Asian twist, the roasted yam with chipotle coconut milk sauce with raisin and walnut special ($11) does the trick. A warm and spicy sauce balanced the sweet yams, and the raisin and walnuts blended unexpectedly well with the coconut.

Betty is a Culinary Institute of America trained baker who turned gluten-free after a few years in the business. Her philosophy is to keep her treats as pure as possible and let the flavors shine through. Her naturally sugar-free chocolate mini cake with peanut butter frosting is moist, filling and flavorful. The mini shortbread cookie melted in my mouth, and isn’t too sweet but downright addictive. And the graham cracker—which was served with a pumpkin soy ice cream—is crunchy and flavorful.

Startup so far hasn’t been easy. The staff has received some complaints about the menu’s pricing; in response, Josh wants to educate visitors on the value of organic and fair trade. And then there is the location. Great Taste Café is located on the second floor of a fitness center. Looking through an adjacent hallway to the restaurant, diners may get a peek at weight lifters or women in spandex doing squats. But, Great Taste is trying to use its location to their advantage: The restaurant offers more grab-and-go menu items, and the smoothies were designed to capture more gym clients.

In spite of its unconventional setting, the restaurant has done a fine job of creating its own strong atmosphere; the sleek, modern interior is accented with red and silver, and customers can gaze out on fantastic views of the skyline.
Underlining the business, says Josh, is the triple bottom line: “first, we are concerned with how we treat and feed people. Then comes the planet. If we treat people well and are not exploiting the planet, then we can concern ourselves with our final bottom line— profit.”

What a different world we’d have if all companies thought the same.

Great Taste Café
355 E. Grand Ave., Chicago
312.527.1211; gfreev.com