Photo courtesy of Madame Zuzu’s
Written by: David Williams
For over thirty years Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins has been holding onto rock star status tighter than G.I. Joe’s ‘Kung Fu Grip’ with arguably four classic albums, countless hit songs, and headlining tours. He has reached the point in his career where he has obtained the freedom to try his hand at almost anything. After having sixteen combined albums including his solo work, the Pumpkins, and the band Zwan and selling millions of records, what is there for Billy to accomplish? How about vegan food?
Created in 2012 by Billy with his partner, fashion designer Chloe Mendel, Madame Zuzu’s fancies itself as a vegan restaurant and tea shop located in Highland Park, Illinois only a stone’s throw away from Michael Jordan’s now vacant home when he played for the Chicago Bulls.
Madame Zuzu’s made its first appearance at Vegandale this June which is essentially a one-day, plant-based festival, restaurants from all over the country bring their greatest hits of food and drinks for people to consume hoping to get great word of mouth while also obtaining new customers. Combined with the many people at the fest and the DJs blaring pop/house music basically, this is Vegan Lollapalooza.
The many passionate fans of The Smashing Pumpkins were in single file marching with the fervor of Mel Gibson in Braveheart trying to take a picture with the cardboard cut-out of the rock star at Madame Zuzu’s booth. There have never been as many people wearing the standard leather black 1460 Doc Marten boots which coincidentally are not vegan, gathered in one place at a Vegan festival before. Billy has brought the rockers out in full force today.
Photo Credit: David Williams.
Photo courtesy of Madame Zuzu’s
The most popular item at the festival for Madame Zuzu’s had to have been Grandma Jojo’s Meatball Sub which was nominated in the Chicago Tribune for sandwich of the year. The sauce is a secret family recipe that if you wanted to know of the ingredients they would have to kill you after. The sub packs a lot of flavor into each bite with a combination of the marinara, bread, and plant-based meatballs if everyone’s meemaw can cook as well as Grandma Jojo the world would be a more happy and maybe a little fuller place too.
Photo courtesy of Madame Zuzu’s
So you have a sweet tooth you say? Well, how about their kitchen sink cookie that will cure what ails you. The dessert is packed with gooey marshmallows, chocolate chunks, and even topped with salty pretzels each bite is like a party in your mouth, and everyone is invited. The cookie itself has a flavor consistent with the oatmeal variety so you can even talk yourself into saying it’s semi-healthy ok maybe not, but you can’t blame yourself for enjoying this specialty.
Many people were searching for any pumpkin food or beverage-related items on the menu because of the rock band and ironically there are none available. With the day of the festival being in late spring and pumpkins aren’t in season currently at the moment it’s fair to not blame the restaurant for not having anything to offer.
After seeing the enjoyment on people’s faces after leaving the booth it appears this restaurant has a lot of potential in the future. The next step would probably get a food personality to come to try to the vegan treats on camera like a Guy Fieri because nobody gives a boost in popularity to a business like the Mayor of Flavortown.
Billy Corgan seems to have another hit on his hands of the food variety with people leaving the booth smiling and satisfied after trying what Madame Zuzu’s has to offer at Vegandale.