Avec
Finally, a small plate that actually fills you up! Avec's charred cauliflower tabbouleh with freekeh is teeming with filling fiber. Plus, with all-vegan ingredients including oranges, radishes, green Castelvetrano olives, and tahini, this dish is the epitome of clean eating.
GT Fish & Oyster
European seabass goes by many names: spigola, loup de mer, róbalo, and lubina, to name a few. But, at this modern seafood restaurant, it goes by branzino. And, Michelin-starred executive chef Giuseppe Tentori is serving it up with kabocha squash, Brussels sprouts, and apple ginger.
Chicago Q
Barbecue joints aren't exactly what comes to mind when you think healthy, but Chef Lee Ann Whipple's elevated version of BBQ puts a refined spin on American classics. The perfect example: Her stuffed acorn squash, which features butternut squash, apples, fennel tossed with farro, dried cranberries, red onion, sage, and poblano croutons on top of a fig sauce.
Acadia
Available in both the formal dining room or up front in the bar, Acadia's vegan butternut squash soup isn't just pretty to look at, it's also chock full of healthy ingredients, including pomegranate seeds, ground cherries, and three different types of radish. FYI, it tastes amazing paired with the coho salmon, another veritable health food.
The Violet Hour
If you make it past this bar's velvet curtains, celebrate with the healthiest cocktail in town: The Corrections. It mixes four health-packed bitters — Unicum, Cynar, Fernet Branca, and Underberg bitters — which aid in digestion and help regulate appetite. Fun fact: Unicum, a Hungarian digestif made of more than 40 herbs and spices, was first developed by a royal physician in the 18th century.
Girl and the Goat
Okay, so we know you don't wait it line at this West Loop spot to eat a salad, but if you know anything about Girl and the Goat, you know its menu options are anything but predictable — and that goes for the salads, too. Case in point: the kohlrabi salad. The cabbage variety is served covered in fennel, Evalon (a scrumptious type of goat's milk cheese), toasted almonds, Bartlett pears, and roasted shiitake. Yum.
Blackbird
On any menu, salmon is generally a "safe" option, but Blackbird's roasted wild sockeye salmon served in an apple cider-miso glaze goes above and beyond in the superfoods department; the accompanying sunchokes and rapini tossed in a chamomile vinaigrette are as nutrient-packed (a triple punch of iron, folate, and Vitamin C) as they are flavorful.
Tru
Sure, Tru is famed for its desserts, but if you order a salad to start, you can use it as an excuse to splurge later on. Luckily, though, the petite salad is amazing all on its own — especially if you're into truffles. Light, crisp, and seasonal, the salad's green oak leaves are served with an egg yolk and roasted eggplant emulsion, toasted brioche, burgundy truffle rounds, egg white sous vide, shaved burgundy truffles, and truffle vinaigrette.
Three Dots and a Dash
Tiki bars are known for their sugary sweet drinks. And, while Three Dots and a Dash has plenty of those, the Jet Pilot is more spirituous than sugary. With three types of rum, lime, grapefruit, cinnamon, falernum, absinthe, and angostura bitters, it depends on fresh ingredients and spices for its complex flavors.