When the temperature in Chicago is 80 degrees with 100 percent humidity, a giant sandwich of stacked meat and melted cheese is slightly less appealing to us that it was four months ago. In our quest to find a sandwich that won’t put us into a cured meat coma, we ventured to the mecca of Chicago’s health food extremists. We went raw. Specifically, Karyn’s Fresh Corner Café for the Square of Joy sandwich.

By Karyn’s standards, "joy" means almond pate, avocado spread, tomato, onion, cucumber, sprouts, mustard and "mayo" (ground cashews and sea salt) between two pieces of sprouted rye bread. From a woman who has built the Midwest's longest standing and most successful raw-food restaurant, we'd agree Karyn has some pretty high standards. This sandwich is simple, delicious and made us feel like running four miles to Montrose beach to engage in outdoor activities like watching beach volleyball and talking about how we should play beach volleyball. Ok, not really. It made us want to try the dessert. Still, we were shocked by how tasty the sandwich was and how good we felt afterwards. Good enough to wait for autumn to gorge on our favorite meat-centered sandwich.

Karyn's Raw Cafe is located at 1901 N. Halsted St.

Note: The sandwich pictured is more of a “Rectangle of Joy”, as it is actually half of the sandwich. We are confident that when two equal rectangles are put together it will make a square. (Of Joy).