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Thursday, August 4, 2011

Amitabul, Chicago

While back in Chicago for a few days, we decided to have lunch at Amitabul, a restaurant serving "Buddhist healing vegan cuisine. "  From the outside, it appeared to be a bit rundown as the letters on its green awning were peeling off, but inside it was just fine.



Once inside, we were greeted by a server who said we could sit wherever we'd like. We picked a booth near the window.  There was a Buddha statue, plants and literature near the entrance. The restaurant itself was casual and there were only a couple of people eating when we arrived.


The menu is 100% vegan and we were a bit overwhelmed by all of the choices. I couldn't tell much by the descriptions on the menu as they tended to state things like, "complete list of many healing herbs, veggies with tofu that will kick one step higher for your inner level of energy." When I asked what was actually in this dish, I was told herbs and veggies -- not quite sure which herbs and veggies though.

I settled on the Yin and Yan plus tofu while Zach ordered a different veggie dish.  I also ordered the ginger apple juice. The juice was okay -- kind of watered down.  My dish had the following warning on the menu: "Please don't order this dish if you can't take the heat."  Ha!  When it arrived it was not only super spicy, but temperature-wise hot too!  There were lots of different veggies accompanied by brown rice and a spicy sauce. The veggies were mostly shredded, which is not my favorite way to eat veggies. There was green peppers, squash, carrots, broccoli, peas, onions, and tofu. The vegetables were fine, but the sauce was not that great. It was super spicy, but it lacked other flavor, that is, other than hot. Zach felt the same about his dish - it was missing something.




The portions were large so I left with enough for lunch the next day. With so many different entrees, I have to think that some of them are probably pretty good. Our entrees were okay, but nothing I'd go out of the way for in the future. I also thought the dishes were a bit pricey for lunch at about $12 each.  They could have served half the size for lunch at half the price and that would have made it a bit more reasonable. 

Amitabul
6207 N. Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60646
(773) 774-0276

  Amitabul on Urbanspoon

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