Blind Faith Cafe
$$ - average
Eclectic (Varied)
Vegetarian variety
Blind Faith is a moderately priced all vegetarian restaurant. Menu items include Asian, Mexican, and American inspired dishes. There is also a bakery attached which creates vegetarian and vegan desserts.
Added by Rachel Widome on Mar 30 03 (updated Apr 18)
Reviews
I've been pretty happy the couple of times I've eaten here. I think there was one dish I didn't care for and it was some sort of lemon seitan dish. I love the rest of the seitan dishes, and the seitan fingers for an appetizer are absolutely delicious. The service is also attentive and friendly.
Love this place! I found out how delicious kale could be, even when just steamed (i think). You can't go wrong with ordering anything w/ seitan in it. YUM!!! I love not having to ask 'is there chicken broth in this or that?!!' I can't say enough good things about this place.
If you are looking for vegan deserts, the Blind Faith Bakery supplied a vegan wedding cake and vegan guest cupcakes for our wedding. They were delicious! No one could believe it when we revealed their vegan-ness. I have always been a fan of the Blind Faith and am looking forward to being back in the area!
As a long time vegan I have to say that I think Blind Faith is one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten in. Their menu is very diverse and if you don't know if something is vegan, don't eat it - there is plenty to choose from. Their barbecued seitan and Mongolian Seitan Stir Fry is wonderful and while they aren't cheap, the portions are generous. Without a doubt, they have the best vegan desserts around. The frosting alone on the vegan chocolate cake and cupcakes makes them worth ordering. One tip I can give people is that if you go, sit in the self serve area. They get very busy in the dining area, especially on the weekends and the wait staff can be impolite at times. On more than one occasion my dining companions and I have been asked to vacate our table due to others waiting and I find that to be exceptionally rude. I go to Blind Faith often and am thrilled that I can bring my non vegetarian friends but the service should practice being a little bit more considerate to the customers.
I find the food here generally uninspired and mediocre. Most of the entrees are made with dairy and/or egg. The people who work here are not incredibly informed about what constitutes vegan. I had one girl tell me something with cream in it was vegan. Luckily, she read the ingredients aloud from their book, and I was able to tell her she was wrong. The desserts are the best part of Blind Faith. The chocolate and chocolate peanut butter cakes are amazing, as are the vegan cupcakes. The fruit/oat bars are also really good. The best entree is the Lemon Seitan. I've tried about 5 others and was never impressed. I also like that there is a self-service part. I always sit there because the food is pricey without considering tip.
As the first all-vegetarian restaurant at which I ever ate, Blind Faith still holds a special place in my heart. I first tasted seitan in their seitan ceasar salad and thought they were brilliant. After becoming vegan and travelling a little more, my opinion of the restaurant has lessened a little. What passes for gourmet vegetarian food has changed dramatically in the last few years, and it's about time Chicago gets infused with some of the culinary brilliance that has appeared in New York, San Fran, and the Northwest these past few years.
The menu hasn't changed much in the ten years I've been eating there, save a recent subtraction of my favorite dish (a wonderful Thai curry with tofu and jasmine rice on the side). I heard rumors the new head chef was trying to make things a little more elegant there, but I'm still waiting for these fabulous new additions to the menu.
The menu is varied, with a healthy dose of tofu and seitan (with which they are indeed gifted) thrown in. Lots of different ethnic flavors are available, especially for ovo-lacto vegetarians. The lemon seitan and the seitan marsala are very good, although the side dishes are a bit bland; steamed broccoli, pureed squash, and plain rice seem to prevail at the cafe. The fajitas are great and filling. The Indian curry was tasty, but nothing special. The cheese ravioli is very good (but what about us ravioli-deprived vegans? Why not stop serving the butternut squash on the side and make us some ravioli with it?).
One reason to go, though, is the multi-tiered, super-rich vegan peanut butter chocolate cake. If that won't satisfy your chocolate cravings, nothing will.
The Blind Faith Cafe is a good local restaurant where I can reliably find something good to eat, but I'm hoping that in the future the cafe succeeds in elevating itself to something more. It's about time for Chicago to get some gourmet vegan food!
Blind Faith is reliably good. I think the prices are a little on the high side but they do give you large portions. I almost always end up taking part of my meal home. I love their Tamales, Guacamole, Vegan Cornbread, and their Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. I have taken vegetarians and non-vegetarians there and everyone has been happy with the restaurant choice.
The only gripe I have is that for a vegetarian restaurant, they are not all that focused on what is vegan and what isn't. It would just be easier if they would indicate on their menu when something is vegan or not. For example, I was there last week and I wanted the daily special and the server had to check with a notebook and then with a cook to find out if the item was vegan. I've heard one too many times, "Oh wait, that isn't vegan" or worse, "I think it's vegan".
when i went here i had a peanut butter smoothie- really good- and a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting- really really good. but, if i recall correctly, the prices were really high. also, the regular menu (there was a formal restuarant part and an informal cafe) i don't believe had very many vegan options on it- i think i had some sort of mediocre dumpling dish. if you're in evanston you should go, but i wouldn't be making any special trips up here.
Ah, that feeling of being able to read the whole menu. C'mon you know what I mean, usually us vegetarians just scan for the 2 things we can eat, but here at Blind Faith, you gotta read the whole darn menu. Me, I'm partial to the lemon seitan and the bi bim bop (but I always substitute jasmine rice for the brown rice.) Get some bancha tea with honey too. The portions are large, the atmosphere is homey. Oftten there is a wait at dinner but its never that long. This restaurant is slightly above average price-wise. One way to save is by eating in the self-serve section where you bus your own food. You don't need to leave a tip in this section and there's usually no wait. I hear the desserts are great, some good vegan options. Oh yeah, there's a juice bar too.
This place has certainly grown on me. The first few times I went, I thought the food was good, but pretty average. The last time I went though, I had a spectacular meal and my meat-eating friend who dined with me also enjoyed the food. Plenty of vegan options to chose from and friendly service.