Being and Seeming at Native Foods Cafe

Being and Seeming at Native Foods Cafe

“’Oh, do you serve only fake meat?’”

“We get that question all the time,” said Aaron Buss, General Manager at the River Forest location of Native Foods Cafe(https://www.nativefoods.com/), which has multiple locations in Chicagoland and, you’ll be unsurprised to learn, the West Coast.

That common question is understandable. Native Foods in River Forest has menu items like Native Chicken Wings that contain no bird meat and Scorpion Burger that contains no cow…or scorpion.



As I mentioned to Buss, I have a philosophical/aesthetic objection to vegetables and grains masquerading as meat. I like to eat vegetables and grains, but I appreciate them for what they are; it seems they need not aspire to be that which they are not. Still, I understand that using meat-like names helps clarify taste and texture to those unfamiliar with seitan and tempeh, and when you call something “bacon,” even if it’s made of tofu, diners will at least have some idea of what kind of tastes they can expect.

We were invited by Native Foods to have Sunday lunch at the River Forest location of this vegan restaurant – that’s right, vegan, what Bourdain called the “Hezbollah-like splinter-faction” of vegetarianism” (but that was a long time ago, and now Hezbollah seems so much less threatening than, say, Isis or Boko Haram…and we’ve all become a little more accepting of our vegan brothers and sisters). It was with only a slight bit of trepidation that I accepted.

There is, indeed, simulated meat on the menu, but to take the Native Chicken Wings as an example, it’s safe to say that many will be surprised by how good they are. These “wings” don’t look like wings of any known creature: they’re basically lengths of textured tofu, fried and served with hot and ranch sauces. If you didn’t know it was tofu, you might conclude that the chicken was a little, um, mushy. But taken as what they are – battered and deep-fried tofu logs – they’re really tasty. I don’t mean “tasty for tofu,” I mean tasty for any food.



The butternut polenta bites were beautiful little pucks of corn meal mounted with a micro-pile of squash, caramelized onions, arugula and toasted pumpkin seeds. This dish looks gorgeous, and it’s the kind of Native Foods menu item that I could see going well with one of the wines they serve here.

The presence of beer and wine behind the front counter is a coded marketing message that this place is more than a quick-service restaurant. It’s not fine dining, but it’s different than, say, Mickey’s or Five Guys down the street. Whereas liquor sales account for over 50% and maybe up to 75% of the sales for places that serve alcohol and food, at Native Foods, Buss told us, the beer and wine sales account for maybe 5% of sales. Like I said, booze here is more a message than a solid revenue generator, and that’s cool: if I came to Native Foods for dinner, I’d likely order a local craft beer to accompany my butternut polenta bites.

The Native Fries, both white and sweet potato versions, are, Buss assured us, “made with real potatoes,” which is not as obvious as it might seem. So many of the foods here are versions of other things: bacon, cheeseburgers, sausage, meatballs are all plant-based, containing not a bit of animal protein. At some point, you start to wonder if what you’re eating is actually made of the thing you’d just assume it was made of. What things appear to be and what they really are prove not to be always synonymous.

The fries were excellent, and even the sweet potato ones were crispy, which is not always possible with this kind of tuber.



I instagrammed a picture of the “bacon,” with the caption “Vegan bacon. I had seconds.”

One friend tweeted back “Did you lose a bet?” and another asked “On purpose?”
That response is pretty much what I expected.

There is something unnerving about food that claims to be something it isn’t. It seems, in a way, almost disrespectful of the food when it’s presented as a simulation of another food. But I get it. How else are they going to convey the flavor of this chewy strip of tofu with smoke flavoring except to call it bacon?

Overall, we enjoyed our lunch at Native Foods. With several more weeks of Lent to go, those who make the appropriate food sacrifices of going meatless will be glad to know that they can keep the faith at Native Foods while eating some pretty good stuff. It’s not be really be as much of a sacrifice as it might seem.

I scoffed at the concept initially, but then I tried it and became a regular. I have no qualms about faking anything, but I know people can get bent out of shape about not having a real meat option (a friend of a friend was once bewildered by Victory's Banner's menu - "no meat at all? Why would I want fake meat?"). Native Foods gets it right, with one caveat - the desserts are uniformly awful. Vegan desserts are where I draw the line.

Well, this vegetarian who does like some meat analogues has yet to like this place. I want to love it, but I would rather eat at Chipolte, even before they got tofu on the menu, than this place based on the taste of what I have had.

Will remember your suggestions Hammond the next time I decide to go to one.

pairs4life wrote:Well, this vegetarian who does like some meat analogues has yet to like this place. I want to love it, but I would rather eat at Chipolte, even before they got tofu on the menu, than this place based on the taste of what I have had.

Will remember your suggestions Hammond the next time I decide to go to one.

I'd be especially interested in your take on Native Chicken Wings.

Was talking to a mommy blogger last night who recently asked her kids, 8 and 11, if they wanted to go to Native Foods to have quinoa burgers and so on, and they threw a fit. Some of the stuff on the menu may sound so unfamiliar to some (not you, Ava, I know) that they just can't get over the hurdle of eating "chicken" made of tofu and "wings" that don't look at all like wings. It might almost be better in some senses to not give the foods meat analogue names.

There's one thing I'm especially curious about.

Chicago Diner a few years ago went over to the modeling-on-meat kind of menu. I.e., as opposed to "proudly letting vegetarianism be vegetarianism," most things on the menu are some kind of analog of meat, in order to make meat-eaters comfortable with it. Being a meat-eater myself, I like this approach! And I've been happier to go to Chicago Diner than I was before, and have gone to Chicago Diner more frequently than I did before. So I have no problem with the concept of modeling-on-meat.

But how is it possible for Native Foods (and other places) to use the word "chicken" when the offering isn't chicken? How come it doesn't have to be spelled "chikkin" or something like that to signal that it is not actually the bird? I'm sure the laws permit it or they wouldn't be doing it. I just thought the laws on that always used to be something else, which is why non-crab has to be called "krab" and non-dairy creamer has to be called "creme." Etc.

riddlemay wrote:There's one thing I'm especially curious about.

Chicago Diner a few years ago went over to the modeling-on-meat kind of menu. I.e., as opposed to "proudly letting vegetarianism be vegetarianism," most things on the menu are some kind of analog of meat, in order to make meat-eaters comfortable with it. Being a meat-eater myself, I like this approach! And I've been happier to go to Chicago Diner than I was before, and have gone to Chicago Diner more frequently than I did before. So I have no problem with the concept of modeling-on-meat.

But how is it possible for Native Foods (and other places) to use the word "chicken" when the offering isn't chicken? How come it doesn't have to be spelled "chikkin" or something like that to signal that it is not actually the bird? I'm sure the laws permit it or they wouldn't be doing it. I just thought the laws on that always used to be something else, which is why non-crab has to be called "krab" and non-dairy creamer has to be called "creme." Etc.

Everything is modified with "Native" as in "Native Chicken". Chicago Diner started out with meat alternatives 30 or so years ago, I stopped going long ago so I don't know when and how they've changed since then.

riddlemay wrote:But how is it possible for Native Foods (and other places) to use the word "chicken" when the offering isn't chicken? How come it doesn't have to be spelled "chikkin" or something like that to signal that it is not actually the bird? I'm sure the laws permit it or they wouldn't be doing it. I just thought the laws on that always used to be something else, which is why non-crab has to be called "krab" and non-dairy creamer has to be called "creme." Etc.

Excellent question, and one I asked of the GM, who kind of shrugged and suggested it was a gray area and that they hadn't received any complaints from Tyson or other big names in the chicken business.

Perhaps the strategy is to keep using names like chicken, bacon, sausage and meatball until someone gets a court order that compels them to stop.

Native Foods does fully explain the actual contents of each dish on the menu, so in that sense they are not attempting to deceive the consumer, but one does wonder how it can be legal to advertise a thing as that which it is not.

One opened around the corner from a former office building of mine and I came to really appreciate the bottomless, not-too-sweet fountain drinks (lavender lemonade and mint-watermelon fresca, to which you can add your own additional herbs and citrus at the service bar), the Saigon rolls with peanut sauce (which are a great catering order, btw), and the basic garden salad. The salads and soups come with a little wax paper bag of delightfully greasy toppings that are always crisp and savory.

Anything more substantial than the nachos seemed less flavorful and texture-pleasing, and the soups always lacked balance. I still stop in for appetizers and drinks and don't personally mind the whipped peanut butter dessert (they have lots of incentives, and you'll get a coupon for one of these via e-mail not infrequently).

Santander wrote:I came to really appreciate the bottomless, not-too-sweet fountain drinks (lavender lemonade and mint-watermelon fresca, to which you can add your own additional herbs and citrus at the service bar)

Yes, definitely, the drinks were a welcome change from the usual sweet soda offerings. Both Carolyn and I liked the lavender/watermelon combo.