Honeygrow serving up stir fries, salads made with local produce in West Loop

Friday, September 8, 2017

The West Loop continues to be the place where concepts from elsewhere try to plant their flag.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The West Loop continues to be the place where concepts from elsewhere try to plant their flag. Most recently, a Rome-based pizzeria, as well as a Philadelphia-based healthy fast-casual concept.

It's called "Honeygrow," and the Hungry Hound says it focuses on three things: stir-fries, salads and fresh fruit with honey.

You've seen these fast-casual concepts with a healthy bent before: Sweetgreens focuses on salads, Chipotle does Mexican and the short-lived Shophouse did southeast Asian.

Honeygrow is the result of combining a taste of Asia with an emphasis on local produce and a bit of technology to help you customize your order.

The possibilities are endless at Honeygrow, and with its West Loop location just steps from the Morgan Street Green Line stop, they're hoping to plant several locations in the city.

"Honeygrow is honest food, and growing local," said Laura Edler, a Regional Manager from the company. "It's as local as we possibly can, obviously we can't get limes in Illinois, in Chicago, but as many products as possible is from local locations."

They show up in stir-fries and salads, and while there are pre-set combinations, the fancy touch screen kiosks let you customize your bowl, right down to the toppings and sauces.

"Everything's made here, as fresh as possible, no freezers at all," she said.

Sausage, kale and tomatoes star in the Capone stir-fry, a Chicago-only special. But you can also augment with rice, noodles, tofu or snap peas among a dozen or so other options.

Salads also offer plenty of options. The "Make it Grain" contains wheat berries and red quinoa, as well as organic arugula, grapes and roasted carrots, plus feta and cashews, dressed in an orange sherry vinaigrette. The Verano features black beans, grape tomatoes, roasted corn and Cotija cheese with a tangy cilantro lime dressing.

There are plenty of cold-pressed juices, as well as a honeybar, where you choose three fruits, along with options like granola or chocolate chips, then a honey to top it off with.

"There's three choices of honey, and there's also a vegan option so we have maple syrup as well," said Edler.

And in Steve's Extra Course, he talks about the all-natural sodas that are available at the store, all of which use sustainable, organic cane sugar.