Earwax Cafe
Restaurant, Coffee/Tea/Juice, Other
Hours
Profile
Neighborhood
- Wicker Park
Smoke-free?
- Yes
Reservations?
- Not Accepted
Wheelchair Accessible?
- No
Cash only
$$ - average
American, Eclectic (Varied)
A good place to grab a casual meal or late-night snack.
The Earwax is a combination coffee shop and video store that also has a fairly extensive restaurant menu. There are a number of tasty vegan items, all of which are clearly marked on the menu. Earwax also carries various vegan desserts from the Chicago Diner.
Near the Damen stop on the Blue Line.
- Brunch
- Outdoor Seating
Added by Jessica on Sep 20 03 (updated Apr 6)
Reviews
Earwax has a couple of good seitan sandwiches and tofu burritos. They are happy to leave out ingredients or make substitutions in order to make one of the vegetarian options vegan (although be forewarned that if you get the Tuscan seitan sandwich made vegan, they end up leaving out a lot of the delicious-sounding condiments and sometimes they don't have soy cheese so they just make it without).
The best part about Earwax is the cake. Thick, moist slices of delicious vegan cake. The service can be slow at times (particularly on weekends) but I usually just amuse myself by looking around the room at the bizarre circus decor while I wait. Also, Earwax has a video rental area in the basement that has a pretty nice selection of foreign films.
I admit to being easily swayed to falling in love with a restaurant that offers vegan desserts. Earwax Cafe had the best vegan cake I have ever eaten. Not only did Earwax offer a vegan cake, they had at least three options -- I didn't listen to them all before I perked up at one description and said, 'I'll take that!" It is sadly too common to get a dry, crumbly vegan cake at some places, so I take cake seriously.
My dinner was also delicious. I had the jerk seitan sandwich, which was served on a very nice, flaky French roll with crispy, spicy shoestring fries. If I hadn't been saving room for dessert, I could have gladly eaten more of those fries.
The circus sideshow style atmosphere is definitely geared towards an artsy, typically younger crowd, although obviously anyone can enjoy the food. But your grandmother may not approve of some of the artwork on the walls. Just a caveat. Otherwise, I hope I can come back to Chicago and Earwax Cafe soon. The staff was friendly, ordering vegan food was very easy, and did I mention THE CAKE?
I've been hear a couple of times and have been pleased every time. If the weather is nice, sit out on the back patio.
I love their tempeh "burger". It's really good, and very simple. Avoid some of the ethnic offerings, I had a pita and falafel something, and barely touched it- same for the Mexican. I will eat all of their greasy spoon vegan offerings though, and I rarely eat all of anything.
I was tempted to give this place two stars instead of one, but I decided that, given its hipster location, and given the multitude of great vegan-friendly joints serving American food in Chicago, Earwax really fails vegans and makes food that is mediocre, at best. There is no reason to come here.
A friend and I shared a tofu scramble ($9) as well as a seitan chorizo burrito ($8). The tofu scramble was bland. It was basically onions, green bell peppers and un-cooked tofu doused in turmeric to make it look yellow. The dish had almost no flavor. The seitan chorizo burrito was also bland; it was predominantly refried beans, strangely fluffy soyrizo that had no flavor, and un-melted Teese mozzarella, which didn't enhance the taste at all.
The service was friendly and prompt. The decor is hip and crazy and the clientele is 100% Wicker Park, meaning no diversity and everyone's under 25.
But the food here was barely passable. I didn't have the willpower to eat even half my meal and my friend also was greatly disappointed with the food. Finally, to add insult to injury, Earwax is cash-only. Go to The Chicago Diner, Vella Cafe, Pick Me Up Cafe, Handlebar, Lakeside Cafe or Karyn's Cooked instead.