A Review of Karyn's Fresh Corner by Alex Malinsky

On my visit to Chicago last month I stopped by to check out Karyn's Fresh Corner. I went with my uncle and my brother. They are both cooked foodists and just wanted to see what all the raw buzz was about. I also begged them to go because I have never been. It was a pretty fun experience. I brought my camera along to take pictures of the food and atmosphere. As soon as we entered into the door the waiter approached us and sat us down. He told us a little about the cafe and served us pure water from a pitcher. The pitcher had slices of cucumbers in it. He then gave us samples of a sandwich that they made. It was quite good. Thin cracker-like bread with fresh tomato, basil, and sprouts in a dressing, sandwiched between another cracker piece. My uncle started off with "The Big Salad." It was a large bowl of plain chopped lettuce seasoned well with oil, vinegar and salt. It also had sliced shitake mushrooms on top. My uncle ate a few spoons of it and gave the rest to me. It was ok. I was expecting a large bowl filled with tomatoes, avos, several types of lettuce, etc... The salad was not worth $22. (Ouch)

I had the fries with barbecue sauce. But what I really got was ice cold seasoned jicama sticks with sweet tomato sauce. Not really good. The portion was small too. It was $4. Not bad for a few sticks and a dollop of tomato sauce. I also got the sun burger. It was small as well. The flavor was not bad, the "bread" was a little on the sweet side and crunchy in some parts. It was served with ketchup, a burger patty (probably made out of sunflower seeds, seasonings, sun dried tomatoes, etc.) a slice of a tomato and 2 romaine lettuce leaves. Garnished with parsley. It was $10.

My brother Mark, had the basil scented ravioli with a macadamia whipped crËme dressed and a sun-dried tomato puree. Mark loved it. I tasted 1 of the ravioli's and they were wonderful, perfectly seasoned and textured. The creamy mac nut creme was smooth and flavorful. I thought the price was a little much for only 6 ravioli's. It was $22. My uncle had a veggie sandwich. It was made out of the similar bread that my sun burger was. It was filled with a creamy dressing, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and sprouts. Very yummy. It was $9. For dessert we shared the carob mint cake. It was a very large piece. The flavor was great. It was a little on the sweet side, but overall pretty good. I am guessing it was made out of dates, pecans, walnuts, carob, coconut oil, and essential oil of mint. It was only $6.50. The total bill for 3 people was about $75. Tip not included.

My uncle and brother both thought it was a great experience and said that for raw food the flavors and textures were pretty good. They were still a little hungry afterwards. I was satisfied. We all agreed that the ravioli was the best part. The bill was a little too much. Some things I didn't like was that all of the food was served cold, the portions were small, and a lot of things were over-seasoned or too sweet. I would give this cafe a 3 out of 5 stars. Below are pictures of the cafe and food that I took. Enjoy!

The Salad Bar.	Raw Desserts and Snacks.
Strawberry Banana Cream Cake	Cream Cake
The Big Salad	Ravioli with a macadamia crËme and sun-dried tomato puree.
Veggie Sandwich	Sun Burger
Carob Mint Cake