Eight of us had a great dinner at Mana last night. This was my second visit and, once again, I was blown away by the fact that there was no meat present and I didn't miss it at all. When I think of vegetarian restaurants, what comes to mind is the tasteless, macrobiotic slop that my girlfriend used to serve up in the 60's, or ersatz items like not-dogs, fakon and tofurky. What sets Mana apart is that Chef Baron is taking vegetables at face value and not trying to make them into something thy are not. At Mana, the veg stands alone and is presented in all its fully-seasoned, tasty glory.

This was an excellent meal, despite some ham-handed service, which I'm more than happy to look beyond. Food descriptions are taken from the Mana menu.

Pickled
Three kinds of homemade pickles


Brussels Sprouts
With mustard-miso


Bulgogi
Seared tofu with a rich, soy shiitake mushroom glaze


Panzanella
Toasted bread salad with shallots, tomato, cucumber, basil and red wine garlic vinaigrette


Mushroom Sauté
Over creamy polenta


Chili
Corn, black beans, chickpeas, green onions and white cheddar


Sesame Noodles
Chilled yellow wheat noodles tossed in spicy sesame peanut sauce with shredded pea pods and carrots


Mana Sliders
Brown rice and mushroom burger, with spicy mayo




Ma Po Tofu
Spicy eggplant, tofu, Chinese black beans and red chili paste over brown rice


Ravioli
Spinach-filled with tomato sauce, ancho-hazelnut pesto and asiago cheese


Mana Food Bar
1742 W Division St
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 342-1742

stevez wrote:Eight of us had a great dinner at Mana last night.

Really sorry to have missed this -- it looks fantastic -- but I did end up with a new hot water heater at the end of the night.

=R=

7 dined at Mana yesterday evening.

Both the Whiskey slushy and sangria slushy were quite tasty/enjoyable.


We tried a number of the items talked about upstream in this thread:

Avocado & Arugula salad
Sliders
mushroom saute over polenta
goat cheese & tomato sauce over toast points
gyoza

All was good, didn't wow.

Wife and I went to Mana last night and forgot that it was the beginning of Restaurant Week. The Mana restaurant week menu was actually great and seemingly a very good value. You start with a really tasty tom kha soup with mushrooms, then choose one of two options for three subsequent courses before ending with sorbet. So in all you get five courses for $33. It was also perfect for the two of us, as we just got everything on the restaurant week menu and shared it all. All was quite good with the kale salad, the cashew pancake, and both of the entrees standing out. The only thing I wish is that the server would have explained what some of the things were; for example, the sorbet came out with three flavors but we had no idea what they were (and still aren't sure what one of them was even after eating it). There is a link to the menu on this page: http://www.choosechicago.com/listing/ma ... bar/55638/

I know that sometimes restaurant week menus can feel like afterthoughts or like not a significant value, but I thought that this was a really nice menu that gave a significant amount of food and a good variety of flavors.

Vegetarian Paradise Mana Food Bar to Close As Owners Plan New Wicker Park Restaurant

https://chicago.eater.com/2018/8/31/178 ... anaba-open

Dave148 wrote:

Vegetarian Paradise Mana Food Bar to Close As Owners Plan New Wicker Park Restaurant

https://chicago.eater.com/2018/8/31/178 ... anaba-open

First Green Zebra and now this!

pairs4life wrote:

Dave148 wrote:

Vegetarian Paradise Mana Food Bar to Close As Owners Plan New Wicker Park Restaurant

https://chicago.eater.com/2018/8/31/178 ... anaba-open

First Green Zebra and now this!

Mana has morphed into a “Japanese alley bar.” The restaurant’s website has announced Yokocho should open on Thursday at 1742 W. Division Street.

https://chicago.eater.com/2018/11/26/18 ... rk-izakaya

Crazy times. Yokocho was quickly becoming my neighborhood favorite and I fear the worst...

Both Araba and Yokocho are closed. Sign on the door of Araba says they will reopen in a different location. And the Yokocho site is down.

No idea what happened but super bummed to lose em.