EATERY HAS FOLLOWING OF VEGANS, VEGETARIANS AND FLEXITARIANS

Chef Fab is the owner of Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat in Hyde Park. The restaurant serves vegan and vegetarian food. Photo courtesy of Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat
Chef Fab is the owner of Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat in Hyde Park. The restaurant serves vegan and vegetarian food. Photo courtesy of Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat

 Eatery has following of vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians
The Burger at Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat is one of the most popular items on the menu. Photo courtesy of Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat

 

BY TIA CAROL JONES
     Vegans and vegetarians have more and more options for dining out these days. One of those options is Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat, located at 1368 ½ E. 53rd St., in Hyde Park.
     Laricia Chandler Baker, best known as Chef Fab, is the owner of Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat. Baker said when she became a vegetarian, it was hard to find favorable food that tasted good.
“Everything was mushrooms and quinoa and it was just super boring. I said, we gotta make this fun. I got in the kitchen and I started cooking and starting, coming up with ideas and everybody loved it, saying wow, we can’t believe it’s not meat,” she said.
      It became a passion of Chef Fab’s to cook the vegetarian and vegan dishes for her family and friends. It was at that point, the then-fashion boutique owner decided to open a restaurant and serve the vegan and vegetarian dishes she enjoyed serving to her family and friends.
     Chef Fab said she not only caters to vegetarians and vegans, but also to the flexitarians, those people who still consume meat, but who want to incorporate more plant-based meals into their diets.
     “We don’t just want to serve the vegans,” Chef Fab said, who added that she also wants the straight and pure carnivores to come and indulge. She wants customers to be awed by both the flavor and taste, she continued. “We do have so many regular customers who are not vegan and they love the food,” she said.
Chef Fab said in wanting to include flexitarians, customers have the option of getting vegan or regular cheese in dishes.
     “When a person is a first timer, start with the regular cheese and ease down to the vegan cheese. And, it seems to work because we have customers that are not vegan that come in every single day,” she said.
     Chef Fab said now it is easier to incorporate vegetarian meals into one’s diet because they have aisles of vegan and vegetarian food at the grocery store for people to try.
     “You can start in the freezer aisle, just alone, ”she said and get items that are similar to the ones people are currently eating. “Put your own flavor to them, your own seasoning, your own spice and you’ll be amazed at how good it’ll taste,” she said.
     Chef Fab described the menu at Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat as “fun Chicago food.” There is the Pizza Poof, Chi Town Chik’n and Mild, Philly Cheesesteak and Philly Cheesesteak egg roll. They just launched the Vegan Big Mik. Chef Fab said the line has been down the street for the Big Mik. There is also a vegan gumbo and vegan shrimp. Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat also launched a vegan Italian Beef.
     “Our customers are obsessed because a lot of times, you can’t find these things in certain places,” she said.
     Chef Fab said she came up with the menu based on things that she loves. She said it has food that her and her husband like.
     “It is mostly things I just knew I liked, and I know my peers like, I know that people love. It was just a success. I was like wow, people really miss the same food that I missed,” she said.
     Chef Fab said the most popular dish on the menu is the burger. She said people love the burger, the Pizza Poof and the Big Mik. She said her favorite dish is the patty melt. She said when she was a carnivore, she loved the patty melt, the grilled bread, the grilled onions. So, she created the vegan patty melt.
     Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat has been open for more than a year. Chef Fab said the restaurant is so popular because people who are vegan miss eating food they ate when they ate meat.
     “When you find a place that you love, you love the owner, you love the employees. We give them reward points. We just really try to cater to the customers, and make them happy so they can come back,” she said.
     Chef Fab also said that Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat is opening up a location in Orland Park, with Phlavz Bar and Grille. She said there will be two different kitchens.
     “We know it’s a pandemic, but people love food, still,” she said.
For more information about Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat, visit https://cantbelieveitsnotmeat.business.site/.

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