Hold the Beef: It's a Wrap at Grill Inn
By John DiGilio in Food on Dec 21, 2011 7:30PM
Hold the Beef is a monthly series exploring Chicago's vegetarian burger scene. If you know any veggie burger joints that we should check out, post them in the comments!
Meatless burgers seem to be in vogue these days. Even the Windy City with its penchant for piling plates with mounds of meat is being transformed by the push for more and tastier vegetarian offerings. For those of us who forego flesh, this is a mixed bag. It is awesome to have more options than ever when it comes to dining out. However, since most restaurants seem to follow the same pattern of plopping a meatless patty on a bun with some fixings, finding real variety is getting more difficult. Thankfully, the folks at Grill Inn have gotten creative.
Located on busy Morse Avenue in Rogers Park, Grill Inn has become a neighborhood fixture for those craving quick and tasty comfort food. Burgers, dogs, chicken, salads, and soup, they offer it all in a cozy little diner setting. Though the menu is really meat-heavy (roast beef-topped burger anyone?), they have begun to add more vegetarian options to satisfy local herbivores. We tried Grill Inn’s veggie burger and found it to be quite enjoyable. It is not made in-house, but is sourced locally. It grills up nice. What has really captured our fancy, however, is one of the sandwiches they make with the burger. It’s a wrap sandwich and it is delicious.
The Grill Inn Veggie Wrap features a grilled and sliced veggie patty, crisp lettuce, tomatoes, raw onion and a housemade ranch dressing. All of this is snugly robed in a spinach tortilla. We have had several of these recently and have started to crave them. The combination of crunchy, fresh veggies with the hot, vegetarian burger patty is fun and tasty. The ranch sauce is peppery and makes for a wonderful accompaniment. We have found these wraps to be particularly nice after a few libations at one of the local watering holes. You can get a Veggie Wrap with a side of Grill Inn garlic fries for under $10. What’s not to love about that? We warn you, however: they are addictive! Some addictions are, of course, worth it.
Grill Inn's other vegetarian options include the basic veggie burger, their house and Greek salads, and a hefty veggie grinder that features a selection of grilled vegetables on a fresh, garlic roll. Judging by our chat with the owner, more meatless choices are on the way. Of course, we'll be back to find out . . . often.
Grill Inn is located at 1422 West Morse Avenue.
Photo by KiwiThing.
Other articles in this series:
- Hold the Beef: A Dog House Worth Being In
- Hold the Beef: Step Up to The Counter
- Hold the Beef: A Real Representative Wiener at America's Dog
- Hold the Beef: More than A-OK at DMK
- Hold the Beef: Grab a Bite at Burger Bar
- Hold the Beef: Harry Caray's Tavern Hits a Homerun
- Hold the Beef: Epic Burger's Portabella Isn't Quite