Chicago has long been a carnivorous restaurant city, from our historic hot dog stands to barbecue rib tip joints to steakhouses old and new. But Bloom Plant Based Kitchen (@bloompbk) in Wicker Park has firmly taken root despite that, fighting for our future by showing us how we won’t miss the meat when the food proves stunning. Chef and owner Rodolfo Cuadros opened the restaurant in 2021. Michelin has since awarded Bloom a Bib Gourmand, while the James Beard Foundation named Cuadros a best chef semifinalist in the Great Lakes region in 2022. The accolades are well-deserved for dishes so striking that on one recent night, someone shouted, “Look at this — it’s art!” I don’t know what our excitable fellow diner had, but he was undoubtedly right. Each dish is a marvel and far from simple. Yucca gnocchi hints at the restaurant’s origin story. Plump dumplings are toasted crisp on the outside, served on a silky bed of celery root purée, laced with aromatic mushroom sofrito and garnished with shaved cashew pecorino. “It’s actually based off of the first dish I ever made for my wife’s vegan family,” Cuadros said. The couple met in Miami, where the chef worked at a hotel restaurant in the early 2000s. That’s when he started working on plant-based dishes with his own culinary traditions. Tap the link in our bio to read the full review by the Tribune’s Louisa Chu @louisachu1. ? E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune / @ejwamb
April 21, 2023
Chicago has long been a carnivorous restaurant city, from our historic hot dog stands to barbecue rib tip joints to steakhouses old and new.
But Bloom Plant Based Kitchen (@bloompbk) in Wicker Park has firmly taken root despite that, fighting for our future by showing us how we won’t miss the meat when the food proves stunning.
Chef and owner Rodolfo Cuadros opened the restaurant in 2021. Michelin has since awarded Bloom a Bib Gourmand, while the James Beard Foundation named Cuadros a best chef semifinalist in the Great Lakes region in 2022. The accolades are well-deserved for dishes so striking that on one recent night, someone shouted, “Look at this — it’s art!”
I don’t know what our excitable fellow diner had, but he was undoubtedly right. Each dish is a marvel and far from simple. Yucca gnocchi hints at the restaurant’s origin story. Plump dumplings are toasted crisp on the outside, served on a silky bed of celery root purée, laced with aromatic mushroom sofrito and garnished with shaved cashew pecorino.
“It’s actually based off of the first dish I ever made for my wife’s vegan family,” Cuadros said. The couple met in Miami, where the chef worked at a hotel restaurant in the early 2000s. That’s when he started working on plant-based dishes with his own culinary traditions.
Tap the link in our bio to read the full review by the Tribune’s Louisa Chu @louisachu1.
? E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune / @ejwamb
But Bloom Plant Based Kitchen (@bloompbk) in Wicker Park has firmly taken root despite that, fighting for our future by showing us how we won’t miss the meat when the food proves stunning.
Chef and owner Rodolfo Cuadros opened the restaurant in 2021. Michelin has since awarded Bloom a Bib Gourmand, while the James Beard Foundation named Cuadros a best chef semifinalist in the Great Lakes region in 2022. The accolades are well-deserved for dishes so striking that on one recent night, someone shouted, “Look at this — it’s art!”
I don’t know what our excitable fellow diner had, but he was undoubtedly right. Each dish is a marvel and far from simple. Yucca gnocchi hints at the restaurant’s origin story. Plump dumplings are toasted crisp on the outside, served on a silky bed of celery root purée, laced with aromatic mushroom sofrito and garnished with shaved cashew pecorino.
“It’s actually based off of the first dish I ever made for my wife’s vegan family,” Cuadros said. The couple met in Miami, where the chef worked at a hotel restaurant in the early 2000s. That’s when he started working on plant-based dishes with his own culinary traditions.
Tap the link in our bio to read the full review by the Tribune’s Louisa Chu @louisachu1.
? E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune / @ejwamb
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