I’ve been dying to get to Chicago but had no real reason to visit the windy city. Well, my husband recently had to go there for a business trip and he let me tag along. I was super geeked!!! Since being introduced to a plant based diet there were certain people that I had learned of who I just had to meet. I really wanted to meet these people in order to connect and learn how they have been able to thrive on a plant based diet for well over 30 years. These people who I  learned of were people who had mastered the cleansing and healing lifestyle and who also mastered consuming an all plant based diet.  So, far I’d met everybody that I needed to meet except for this one person who was located in Chicago. Before meeting her, I’ve bought her books and followed her on social media and even called and talked to some of her staff during times of cleansing and detoxifying my own body.

Well finally the day came and it was just days after her 67th birthday. I must say I hope that I look this FABULOUS at 67. I finally made it to Chicago to meet the beautiful Karyn Calabrese. She is a raw foodist and owner of one of the longest standing raw vegan restaurants in the country. She also is the owner of two cooked vegan restaurants and author of two books. She is quite phenomenal and continues to be an inspiration to me on my own personal wellness journey.

It was such an awesome trip because I actually got a chance to meet Karyn and she was such a beautiful spirit. While we were there she held one of her monthly detox informational sessions where she shared on the benefits of cleansing and detoxifying the body and the benefits of consuming an all plant based diet. She also shared her journey, her successes and how things were when she first got started. During the informational session she shared with us some amazing samples of raw vegan cuisine and all of them were quite phenomenal. If you are ever visiting Karyn’s raw restaurant I totally recommend the raw raviolis, nut milk, ice cream and any of the desserts. I pretty much ate at her restaurants the whole time I was there and it was like being in vegan heaven as some days we even got vegan food delivered to our hotel.

One of the biggest take away’s that I got while listening to Karyn is that living a healthy lifestyle is a journey and no one goes from A-Z overnight. The final take away was if you want to win people over to healthier eating then you yourself must become healthy first.

Now for my review of the food. Pretty much everything was phenomenal. I have nothing bad to say about the food. The food at her raw restaurant was great and I also tried some selections from her cooked vegan restaurant. My husband
got one of her menu items called Southern Comfort several times which was red beans, rice and collard greens and he absolutely loved it. We also tried several dishes from the cooked vegan restaurant including vegan lasagna, veggie burger, falafel, carrot cake, coconut cake. OMG!!!! It was so AMAZING. We will definitely be planning another trip to Chicago to pay another visit to Karyn’s COOKED and Karyn’s RAW. Here are some photos of some of the cooked dishes that we tried.

So Karyn has 3 restaurants in Chicago Karyns Cooked which is located at 738 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60654. This is where you will find an array of cooked vegan items along with some raw vegan selections and some amazing desserts

Then there is Karyn’s Fresh Corner which is located at 1901 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL. This is where you will find fresh pressed juice, raw vegan cuisine to grab and go or the option to dine in all raw vegan style for great gourmet raw vegan cuisine and a great ambiance. Karyn’s Fresh Corner is broken up into two sides plus you will find a healing center with lots of alternative healing therapies.

Karyn’s on Green is located on 130 S Green St, Chicago, IL 60607. I haven’t been there yet but I’m sure its fabulous!!!  It is the newest of all of her restaurants. If you live in Chicago or are ever visiting in the Chicago area and looking for healthier alternatives. I totally recommend any of Karyn’s restaurants.

To find her on the web you can find her at www.karynsongreen.com and www.karynsraw.com