NOW CLOSED – Pearl #46: Gluten-free at Bountiful Eatery (Chicago)

Bountiful Eatery. East Lakeview in Chicago. 100% gluten-free cafe. Now I can get down with that. And they have a ton of vegan options, too!

Seriously, you should check this place out. The first time I stumbled across Bountiful Eatery, I legit could not decide what to get. I mean, they have wraps, soups, salads, pitas, burgers (all with gluten-free bread products)! On weekends they serve brunch…and I’m talking, like, Cinnamon French Toast. And Strawberry French Toast Kabobs. Like, whaaat?? The atmosphere inside isn’t great as it’s more of a quick service cafe, but they do have a few tables outside where you can eat if the weather is nice.

Anyways, after spending an awkwardly long amount of time by myself staring at the menu, fraught with indecision, I felt like I had to order something or be accused of loitering.

So I landed on the grilled chicken pita, made with grilled chicken, spinach, tomatoes and a tzaziki yogurt spread. Excuse the poor sauce-spreading. That’s all my doing, not theirs. I got it to go…then realized I was going to be too hangry to wait to eat until I got home. So I unwrapped everything and spread on the yogurt sauce for the sake of the photo.

Their pita is from MyBread Bakery and this stuff is bomb.com. I was uber excited to be nomming on some gluten-free pita so it evened out, but the chicken wrap itself could definitely have used some more spread as it was overall a little dry. It all tasted super fresh, though – the ingredients were flavorful and colorful, as you can see.

A few weeks after my first Bountiful experience, my boyfriend Ken ordered me Bountiful Eatery delivery when I was at home sick from work, felled by a bad sinus infection and no food in my fridge. He went a little crazy with the delivery order, but hey, he knows the way to my heart.

He got me two cups of soup and the “salad trio.” Plus a side of MyBread pita bread. Overall, an aggressive amount of food for one person in one sitting but I ate off it for the next few days.

The first soup I tried was Chicken & Rice. So awesome when you’re in bed sick, but I would eat this anytime. It was really good — super flavorful chicken and the rice was a good texture — didn’t get all mushy like some of the canned soups.

The next soup was Sweet Potato Soup. I tend to like a little action or crunchiness in my soup but this was definitely a solid soup — and great for pita dipping.

As for the salad sampler, you can’t go wrong. And as a bonus, all of the salads are vegan.

The chickpea salad was my fave, by far. Such a surprising mix of ingredients — chickpeas, carrots, dried apricots, golden raisins, cumin, paprika, mint and EVOO. But sooo good. The apricots and raisins added a really nice touch to this. Get this if you go.

The quinoa salad was light and refreshing — this was white quinoa mixed with tomatoes, parsley, mint, cucumbers, scallions, lemon juice and EVOO. Doesn’t keep too well in the fridge, so this should be eaten pretty quickly if you get it for delivery. Makes a great side to a meal or a nice little protein-filled snack.

The black bean salad, made with black beans, tomatoes, scallions, chipotle, cilantro and EVOO, was also great. I ended up eating this a couple days later over romaine — added some roasted corn, cheese, and cilantro lime vinagrette for an at-home taco salad. But it’s equally as good eaten with just a spoon or with some tortilla chips. And it’s got a nice kick to it from the chipotle.

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything at Bountiful Eatery. I’ve heard from Instagram followers that the Bison burger is also amazing, so that will be next on my list. Let me know what you think is good in the comments…this is now one of my go-to spots!

Until next time,
Kate