OUR JOURNEY
Left Coast launched with a simple idea, ‘Healthy food can be both delicious and convenient when done right.’ Begin with a superior product; avoid short-cuts at all costs; add in some unreal recipes from a world class chef who happens to be passionate about vegetables to create the original menu; curate a thoughtful space you actually want to hang out in; fill it with people you enjoy; then operate it at the highest level you can. Everyday.
Left Coast comes from the heart. Positive energy is in the DNA of everything we do. It’s where we source our food, it’s how we prepare it, one feels it in the details of our design, packaging, music, people, materials, equipment…all intended to be the best neighborhood lifestyle café we can be.
Our name and vibe may transport you to a happier place on those grey Chicago winter mornings when we all need it most, but the fact is this story begins with an entrepreneur from Chicago (Go Bears, Go Cubs…). Growing up surfing the left coast of Lake Michigan, the little grommet headed west and spent the next half of his life living up and down the coast of California, Scottsdale and in Boulder. He met a girl from Idaho who would forever change his life. They married in Sun Valley and would eventually move to Chicago to start a family.
Along the way, she developed some significant dietary issues from many of foods she oddly had no trouble eating earlier in her life. This led the two of them to seek out some healthier fare together, and learn more about how and why food impacted them. They both began to feel better. When they left the coast for Chicago, they were underwhelmed with the boring and bland “healthy” options most places offered up as healthy food, and decided to do something about it.
The result is what we hope is a beloved spot, that succeeds in making “you are what you eat” enjoyable to all of our senses. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, chef driven smoothies, cold-pressed juices, a full coffee program and even a bar…with cocktails, craft beer + rosé. Life is good, let’s enjoy it together.
“On behalf of my young family, I am forever grateful that many of you have found and enjoy Left Coast as much as we had hoped. We’re living a dream come true. Thank you and please say hello next time you cruise in.”