Karyn's Cooked
Chicago, Illinois

More of an upscale looking atmosphere then most vegan restaurants which was awesome. I was surprised by the amount of variety too, everything was vegan so it was hard to pick just one meal:) They also don't use refined sugar and flour which I also loved.
I had the Jerk Tofu Wrap which was the best wrap I have ever had. It was spicy and hot plus the tofu was cooked perfectly even blacked dirty south style:) It was a tomato wrap with good romaine lettuce and good ripe tomatoes and a creamy sauce absolutely perfect! The other 3 people I was with all loved their food too and one was a meat-eater (they got the pizza and lasagna). I must say though the desert was pretty bland and not the best texture (I had the blueberry cheesecake) they looked way better then they tasted. My advice... get a bigger appetizer and skip dessert.

Update:

I've been to Karyn's Cooked many times since it opened and a few things have changed since I wrote my original review in 2005.

First, the desserts have gotten a lot worse. The cakes used to be incredible, so I didn't mind paying the hefty $7 price for a huge slice of the best vegan cake in town. Over the past few years, some of the recipes have changed and many of the cakes are now dry and dense. However, bread pudding has made its way onto the dessert menu and it's phenomenal. I'm not normally a bread pudding person but Karyn's bread pudding is drizzled in warm, sweet coconut milk and cinnamon... I've never met a person, vegan or non-vegan, who wasn't in love with the bread pudding after eating it.

The food on the main menu has stayed the same over the years. Most of it is pretty bland. The brunch menu, on the other hand, keeps evolving and it's much more impressive. I went for brunch once last year and had amazing cherry blintzes served with soy sour cream. A few weeks ago, I returned and was pleasantly surprised by the coconut milk-battered french toast (which tasted a bit like the bread pudding) and potato pancakes served with apple sauce and dill aoli sauce.

If I could give Karyn's separate ratings based on dinner versus brunch, I would say that the dinner is "fair" and the brunch is "great."

Original Review (2005):

Karyn's Cooked has a unique combination of qualities from some of the best vegan restaurants in Chicago. It has a sleek decor like Green Zebra, prices that fall somewhere between the Chicago Diner and Soul Veg, elixirs and other health items commonly found at Karyn's and some of the Soul Veg classics. The menu includes items like mac and cheese, sloppy jo, "ribs," vegan pizza, smoothies and key lime pie. All of the food that I had while I was there was very good. The service was fast and friendly. As far as I know, this is the first vegan-friendly restaurant to open up in the heart of downtown Chicago.