Purple Sprout, a caf and juice bar serving organic and vegan fare, opened in Wheeling in November 2015, but co-owner Irina Raimbekov said some people are still nervous about dining there.

"We get a lot people who come in and they say 'This is our first time eating vegan' and I say 'Really? I'm sure that you ate an apple without bacon on it before,'" Raimbekov said. "There's nothing scary about vegan food. It's things that people eat all the time."

The restaurant is hoping to introduce more people to plant-based eating and build a community of people who enjoy it by running a vegan supper club series.

"We want to create this fun environment, private community-style dining, and introduce people to conscious food, plant-based, organic, non-GMO all the good things that are good for people and the planet and the environment," Raimbekov said.

The series launched on Jan. 29 with American Favorites with a Healthy Twist, which featured hempburger sliders, sweet potato fries and pizza. For the next event, which runs at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26, the restaurant is marking the Slavic holiday Maslenitsa, or Butter Week.

"Winter is about more dense foods," said Raimbekov. "To stay warm the blood needs to be thicker. Butter Week signifies the end of winter, before people start spring cleanses."

Irena and her husband, Karim Raimbekov, are from Kazakhstan and speak Russian as their first language. They thought bringing a taste of home their native cuisine to the restaurant would be exotic, particularly in a vegan context. The menu will focus on crepes including a version made from sprouted and fermented lentils, brown rice and red rice, and dehydrated crepes incorporating mango and coconut. While the couple won't be cooking the dishes in front of attendees, they'll discuss each one, sharing what went into preparing it, why they made it, and its health benefits.

"Healthy food is delicious," Raimbekov said. "Hopefully they'll be inspired to start cooking at home and incorporating healthy recipes and they'll be inspired to come back here whether it's for the supper club or otherwise. We're really hoping to create buzz with this."

The owners hope to bring in about 30 people for each event. They'll all be seated at a long table to foster community and served six to seven small portions along with a drink, which will be beet kombucha for February.

"Nobody's walking away hungry, but the idea is not to overfeed people since it's supposed to be healthy," Raimbekov said. "A lot of people are excited. We're seeing a lot of community support."

Only 50 percent of Purple Sprout's customers are vegan or vegetarian, but some of those who aren't still come in several times a week.

"Some people are in transition, some people just enjoy how they feel after eating our food," Raimbekov said.

The menu offers a few meat substitutes like seitan and tofu, but the owners prefer to emphasize the diverse natural flavors of the plant world. Along with serving a highly customizable menu, Purple Sprout also has a juice bar, a bakery stocked with sugar-free desserts including several varieties of vegan cheesecake, and a coffee bar with hot drinks including chicory coffee and tea loaded with fresh ginger and lemon. Most of the menu is gluten free, some of it is raw and everything is served in biodegradable packaging.

"We try to be conscious in everything we do," Raimbekov said.

Purple Sprout also sell frozen dumplings and pies plus sauces, kombucha and vegan cheese products so that the growing number people who want to change their diets have an easier time eating vegan at home.

"People are talking more and more about why it's good, the different health benefits for people," Raimbekov said. "They're not even talking about animal advocacy but the environment."

Vegan Supper Club Series

When: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26

Where: Purple Sprout, 341 E. Dundee Road, Wheeling

Admission: $40

Information: 224-223-7133; http://www.purplesprout.com

Here is the original post:

Purple Sprout Cafe digs into Vegan Supper Club series - Chicago Tribune