Beatrix Market Depaul - Chicago

My friend and I meander through the cold and blustering wind on a brisk day in February 2023. The wind whips our face and gives a pink, almost luminescent, glow to our skin. My friend's stomach grumbles a sign that hunger is near, nay, has but already arrived. We hasten our pace and stop our giggling things are getting serious. We need food fast. We have crossed our rubicon.Our weary eyes gaze blankly at the restaurants in front of us all but too fancy and too elegant for a simple, quick lunch that we so desperately crave. Then we see it. A star amongst the dark night (this is a metaphor, it was midday). The shadows part to reveal a one Beatrix Market. The smell of freshly baked bread and fast casual splendor draws us in.The market is a small one attached to the bustling Beatrix restaurant. Like ravenous wolves, we scan the room for our prey. Our noses draw us to a large ladle entrenched within a silver bowl, labeled “Turkey Chili”. This was it! This is exactly what we need.We serve ourselves two bowls of the chili. I gaze up and notice small balls of cheese and bread, labeled “Brazilian Cheese Bread (GF)”. GF! WOW! As a gluten free girlie, I cherish any restaurant or food hall that provides ample options for my dietary needs. I grab two and dunk them in my bowl of chili.As we dig into our bowls, our childhoods dance in front of our eyes, like the critic in Ratatouille when he tries Remy’s delectable entree. I hear the faint hum of the Girl from Ipanema as I my teeth crunch into the cheese bread, both perfectly crunchy on top and chewy within. I dip the bread with exuberance into the chili; together, they are like Batman and Robin, Marlin and Dory, Selena Gomez The Scene an iconic dynamic duo. I highly recommend this combination.This is glorious. Our bodies so desperately needed this. We are alive.

A great place for a quick bite. Plenty of choice for a healthy meal on the go. The coffee was good and the pastries were great.Food: 5/5

Food is always reliably good, real and on the expensive side. Plenty of options with LIMITED seating area. Outdoor seating available in spring/summer.Water Bottle fill stations available (see photo). ??#HappyHour available from Tuesday till Friday from 3:00 pm 5:30 pm (see photo for details). #ThankYou for participating in #TooGoodToGo as it enabled me to visit your cool location. Excellent Turkey and Gouda on a Pretzel Bun with an unusually addictive, not greasy, glazed DONUT that is almost a cake with an easy peesy room temp storage as it didn't dry out even though I just left it out overnight with no cover etc. ??

Very disappointed. We came at 3:30 pm on a weekday, expecting to find lots of vegetarian options in the self serve salad bar area. Specifically, we expected DASH diet friendly foods as I've found at another Beatrix location.There were no soups available at all. The only hot food was pizza.We decided to just focus on robust salads. I started filling my plate before realizing that they were removing the vegetarian protein sources for the salads no black beans, no garbanzo beans, etc. Of course the meats stayed in place. My husband was ready to walk out, but we decided to make it work since I already had food in my hand that it wasn't fair to waste. We had to use some of the prepared salads (higher calories, higher fat, and higher weight for cost) in order to get the complex proteins we needed for this meal.I can't find anything in the Beatrix website to explain why the healthier vegan and vegetarian protein items were removed mid afternoon. We did enjoy the salad plates we fixed, but will be hesitant to return since stocking vegan/vegetarian options is clearly not a priority.Vegetarian options: Not reliably available. No soups the afternoon we visited. No plain black beans or garbanzo beans (though could have these in oil and vinegar heavy prepared salads).

The best pizza slice in town. Please @beatrix keep this on the menu, it was delicious!!Food: 5/5