Best Restaurants with Healthy Menus in Chicago

Open in June, 2018, FARE offers flavorful dishes created from clean, seasonally focused ingredients. Items sound like the stuff Superman and Wonder Woman order: Ancient Grain Porridge; Labneh toast; bone broth with dried mushrooms, juniper, and Szechuan peppercorn; housemade veggie patties; raw oatmeal; blue smoothies; sustainable salmon. Try one of the Build Your Own Bowls that start with a base of hearty greens or ancient grains, add local veggies, Amish chicken, house-made veggie patty, perky chicken chorizo or thoughtfully sourced salmon, and one of the shop's signature sauces like herby pesto or spicy red pepper. It's a heck of a lot of healthy food going into the bowl from sweet & sour cukes to miso braised sweet spuds. The quick-service restaurant located in Wells Street Market above the riverwalk nourishes hungry customers throughout the day from breakfast to dinner. A shiny new winner in the healthy menu department.

Fast casual vegetarian/vegan places are sprouting and raking in the other kind of green while sit-down eateries assume a beet salad and avocado toast is dynamic thinking. You needn't adhere to a strict plant-based diet to enjoy the verdant victuals at Veggie Grill, the largest plant-based, fast casual brand in the U.S. The first Chicago location in Lakeview (a West Loop outpost opens fall, 2018) features an open-air kitchen and bold flavors made from 100% veggies, fruits, grains, seeds and nuts. Regulars go for the Mediterranean Supergreens Salad: baby kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, house-made falafel, hummus, harissa dip, tomato-cucumber salad, lemon vinaigrette. It's not entirely rabbit fare with burgers and sandwiches, tacos and burritos, bowls like a Filipino Chickin' Adobo Bowl. Sweeten it up with a gluten free brownie or carrot cake.

RAW offers 100% plant based, vegan food items and every dish is promised to be extremely healthy. Nothing is cooked and every item is considered "raw." The raw food movement promotes the idea that since nutrients are not exposed to heat, you're ingesting the highest possible amount of good stuff for your body. It's not easy to create cashew cheese and pumpkin seed pate at home so RAW is filling a void. Visit the location at the Chicago French Market in the Ogilvie Transportation Center or 51 W. Huron to try smoothies, juices and elixirs; salads; breads and spreads; sandwiches like a mock tuna or falafel patties; and entrees like spinach lasagna featuring green strips of zucchini, white cashew cheese and red marinara. Choose among a plethora of desserts from carrot cake and apple pie to brownies and truffles. All are easy to try with grab-and-go packaging.

Protein Bar & Kitchen was a leader in the high protein/low carb trend by offering filling, protein-rich and flavorful food in a fast-casual setting long before others. Today, there are 13 in Chicago, four in and around Denver and two in Washington D.C. Bowls and "bar-itos" feature an organic quinoa blend in a bowl or grilled low-carb tortilla (swap quinoa for riced cauliflower and 75% fewer carbs), then chose your protein - chicken, steak or tofu done Korean, Mexican or ranch style. The new Bowl30 mixes all-natural chicken, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, kale, almonds, spinach and EVOO. The Spinach Pesto Bowl is a flavor powerhouse. Stop by for breakfast to enjoy eggs scrambled with grass-fed ghee and ingredients like turkey bacon, cheddar, steak, black beans, salsa, kale, avocado and chipotle yogurt. Most of the items on the menu are gluten free or can be made gluten free.

True Food Kitchen offers a varied menu that satisfies but does not stray from excellent nutrition and deep flavor. There's something tasty for all diets with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options developed by chefs and each of the signature dishes can be customized to meet any dietary need or preference. Tempting GF plates include Inside Out Quinoa Burger with hummus, tzatziki, tomato, butter lettuce, cucumber, red onion, avocado and feta; Spaghetti Squash Casserole; Grilled Fish or Grass-fed Steak Tacos; Moroccan Chicken; Lasagna Bolognese; and Cashew Pad Thai. Desserts? They're all gluten free:Strawberry & Rhubarb Crisp; Flourless Chocolate Cake; Chia Seed Pudding; and Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream. Beverages range from organic coffee and loose leaf teas to herby, fruity cocktails, beer and wine.

Chef Bill Choi has been recreating homemade specialties from Grandma Choi's Seoul, Korea cookbook for 20 years. The plant-based, organic vegan restaurant on the far northwest side, Amitabul, attracts a fanatic following from all over the city and suburbs. Expect extremely flavorful numbers like Spicy Kimchi Bi Bim Bop and milder items like dry grilled pancakes, stews and noodles. If a flu, cold or too much drink is dragging you down, try Dr. K's Cure All Noodle Soup with veggies, seaweed and tofu and served with wheat or rice noodles. How about a visit to The Dark Side of the Moon - oyster and shitake mushrooms stirred with mystic Asian veggie noodles and Chef Bill's aged black bean miso sauce. The vegan pizza is gluten free and flavored with kimchi and healthy grilled veggies. Drinks work like spinach on Popeye with names like Awakening Energy and Green Heaven.

Many think Sultan's Market owns the title of best falafel in the city. The warm pita is painted with silky home made hummus and stuffed with crisp falafel, tomatoes and Jerusalem Salad. Other budget-friendly Middle Eastern food items, much of it vegetarian and some vegan, include baked spinach pie, grandma's lentil soup, tabouli, rice and lentils and incredible breads. Meat eaters won't be disappointed either choosing among lamb or chicken shawerma, kefta kababs, mama's chicken soup and baked meat pie. Starters cost $3-$6; sandwiches $4-$7; and dinners top out at $10 for a hearty meat combo big enough to share.

Oh, Evanstonians are a lucky bunch situated by the lake and a Big Ten university insuring a spigot of culture. Let's add the perfectly comfortable, astonishingly delicious and entirely affordable Found Kitchen and Social House that features a vegetable forward menu showcasing Midwestern bounty. You can go entirely vegetarian or mix a veggie app with a juicy burger, crispy skinned chicken thighs and caviar - you know, flexitarian, as it were, all simultaneously healthful and pleasurable. Take the Stinging Nettle flatbread - smeared with a pesto of the herbaceous perennial and pistachios, then dotted with chevre cheese and asparagus. The pedestrian carrot is knighted by roasting, then moistened with cashew butter, green harrisa and cilantro. There's a full bar with excellent brown booze options, kombucha on tap, a green and beet juice of the day and lemonade blackened with charcoal to soothe the old intestinal tract.