Eating out

Seed oil free restaurants in Chicago, IL

Short answer

43 places in Chicago, IL are reported to cook without seed oils: 37 cook with animal fats or fruit oils — beef tallow, lard, duck fat, ghee, butter, olive, avocado or coconut oil, 6 fry in peanut oil. Each entry reflects what the venue has been reported to use rather than an inspection, so call ahead before you rely on it.

Cooking with animal fats and fruit oils

Beef tallow, lard, duck fat, ghee, butter, olive, avocado or coconut oil — the fats a kitchen chooses deliberately, and the clearest signal available from outside it.

  • Art's Drive In

    1333 W North Ave, Chicago, IL

    beef tallowgheebutterolive oil

  • Au Cheval

    800 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • BLVD Steakhouse

    817 W Lake St, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Dash of Salt and Pepper Diner

    2201 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL

    butter

  • El Che Steakhouse & Bar

    845 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Fry the Coop

    4300 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Fry the Coop

    1529 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Gene & Georgetti

    500 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Jaleo by José Andrés

    500 N Clark St #465, Chicago, IL

    butterolive oil

  • Lea French Cafe Lake Street

    70 E Lake St, Chicago, IL

    butterolive oil

  • Lea French Cafe Michigan Avenue

    20 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL

    butterolive oil

  • Lincoln Park Corner Kitchen

    2200 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL

    beef tallowgheebutter

  • Porter Kitchen & Deck

    150 N Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Pro Shop Pizza Co.

    7455 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Red Light Chicken

    2147 N Sheffield Ave, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Suda's Lebanese Cuisine

    1524 West Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, IL

    olive oil

  • The Publican

    837 West Fulton Market, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Top Notch Beefburgers

    2116 W 95th St, Chicago, IL

    beef tallow

  • Buffalo Wild Wings - N Clybourn Ave

    1832 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL

    beef tallowchain

  • Buffalo Wild Wings - N Narragansett Ave

    2650 N Narragansett Ave, Chicago, IL

    beef tallowchain

  • Buffalo Wild Wings - W Taylor St

    513 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL

    beef tallowchain

  • Outback Steakhouse

    8101 W Higgins Rd, Chicago, IL

    beef tallowchain

  • sweetgreen

    1000 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - 1471 N Milwaukee Ave

    1471 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - 2500 N Milwaukee Ave

    2500 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - E 53rd St

    1500 E 53rd St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - E Ontario St

    227 E Ontario St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - N Clark St

    5400 N Clark St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - N Dearborn St

    1 N Dearborn St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - N Lincoln Ave

    2361 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - N Michigan Ave

    150 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - N Southport Ave

    3601 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - N State St

    623 N State St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - S Wacker Dr

    233 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - W Division St

    2 W Division St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • sweetgreen - W North Ave

    900 W North Ave, Chicago, IL

    olive oilchain

  • True Food Kitchen

    1 W Erie St, Chicago, IL

    olive oilavocado oilchain

Frying in peanut oil

Peanut is a legume rather than a seed, so peanut-oil fryers appear on most seed-oil-free lists. The oil is still roughly a third linoleic acid, and opinion in the seed-oil-free community is genuinely split on it — which is why these venues are counted separately here rather than folded into the number above.

  • Five Guys - Clark & Fullerton

    2368 N Clark St #1, Chicago, IL

    peanut oilchain

  • Five Guys - Hyde Park

    1456 E 53rd St, Chicago, IL

    peanut oilchain

  • Five Guys - Medical District

    703 S Seeley Ave, Chicago, IL

    peanut oilchain

  • Five Guys - Michigan Ave

    180 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL

    peanut oilchain

  • Five Guys - South Clinton Avenue

    22 S Clinton St, Chicago, IL

    peanut oilchain

  • Five Guys - South Loop

    1146 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL

    peanut oilchain

What to ask before you order

A kitchen can change supplier without changing its menu, and a venue that roasts in tallow may still fry in something else. Four questions settle it in about ten seconds:

  • What do you fry in? — the fryer is where the volume is, and it is often a different fat from the grill.
  • Is the dressing or sauce made in house? — bought-in dressings and mayo are almost always canola or soybean.
  • Are the buns or tortillas baked here? — bakery goods are a common hidden source.
  • Do you cook the vegetables in butter or oil? — the answer is frequently a blend.

How to read this list. Each entry reflects what the venue has been reported to cook with. It is not a certification, nobody has inspected these kitchens on your behalf, and menus and suppliers change — treat it as a shortlist to call, not a guarantee. The four questions above are worth asking even when a place is listed here.

Elsewhere in Illinois

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