Victory's Banner Reviews

VICTORY’S BANNER
A NEWSRADIO 780 WBBM RESTAURANT REVIEW BY SHERMAN KAPLAN
BROADCAST OCTOBER 17, 2003

The last time I reviewed a restaurant specializing in breakfast, I think Gerald Ford was president. Well, it’s time to move on and tell you about Victory’s Banner at 2100 West Roscoe in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood.

I’m kind of static about my breakfasts, usually a bowl of oatmeal, a slice of toast and coffee. But, when I want to splurge, Victory’s Banner is the place. It’s a tiny little restaurant, bright and open inside. And, there’s one more thing; the owner, Pradhan Balter is a follower of Indian Spiritual Master Sri Chinmoy. The menu tells you as much, as Balter writes that his restaurant is here to exist for only one reason… joy!

You can pick up more of the philosophy at the restaurant, though no one will approach you on the subject, perhaps unless you ask. However, one of the sari wrapped servers will ask whether you want coffee or chai, for a starter. The chai is special, a delicious tea, available hot or cold, in single portion or bottomless cup. Of course, the coffee is brewed fresh without any bitterness. There’s also thick hot chocolate with a bit of Vienna in Roscoe Village, served “mit schlag.”

Getting down to the breakfast essentials, the omelets, like most everything else, are made from scratch. You should know that Victory’s Banner is a vegetarian restaurant, though using real eggs may not exactly meet vegan criteria. No matter, because omelets can also be made with egg substitutes. The fillings listed on the menu run a gamut from Greek with spinach and feta to a meatless Bacon, Cheddar and Tomato version to my favorite, smoked sausage and gouda cheese. The meats are faux, made from texturized soy. In addition to the listed omelets, diners can always pick their own ingredients.

Then there are the waffles, pancakes and French Toast. Take a look at your hand and spread your thumb and first finger about an inch. Now, double it. French Toast is almost that thick, with waffles close behind. Fresh fruit preserves and maple syrup are the natural accompaniments.

Victory’s Banner serves its breakfasts until 3pm closing. Lunches are added after 11am. I love the meatless meat loaf. You would swear it’s the real enchilada, or meat loaf in this case, with a savory brown gravy. Salads, soups, and veggie wraps round out the menu, along with a trio of faux meatless burgers.

There are some specials listed each day. With pumpkin pie in high season, I suggest you order early and order often to get your share. You’ll spend maybe $20 a couple for a lot of good eating. Victory’s Banner is at 2100 West Roscoe in Chicago and has a K/RATING of 20/20.

Part of me doesn't want to review this restaurant... I want to keep it my secret. Victory's Banner, simply put, is one of the best breakfast houses in Chicago...period. Omelets are light and fluffy and made with Phil's Free Range (Hormone Free) eggs. The owner told me that he learned how to make his omelets from the immortal Lou Mitchell himself. (He didn't know that I was going to review the restaurant.)

Our party had 3 different dishes. Together we had a Pesto/Goat Cheese, another egg dish called "Satisfaction-Promise" and the French Toast which was touted as “Award Winning.” All of the dishes made good on their promises. Satisfaction Promise is a scrambled egg dish with spinach, sun dried tomatoes and feta. The egg dishes come with fresh homefries and a bread which tasted close to homemade but I learned that it comes from Red Hen Bakery, (another one of my favorite spots).
But the killer was the French Toast... a light bread in a batter made with cream (not milk) and orange marmalade, served with peach butter and real, yes I said REAL maple syrup. We also enjoyed fresh-squeezed OJ and the coffee was EXCELLENT.

Other items include an array of pancakes, waffles, uppama (an Indian Hot Cereal) and a special board of items. If a member of your party isn't in the mood for breakfast, lunch is also available from 11:00am until closing. Real homemade soups, salads, wraps... there is definitely something to eat.

Oh... did I mention Victory's Banner was vegetarian? Don't worry, you won't miss the meat. I didn't at all. The entire experience is bathed in a spiritual atmosphere. The restaurant is owned by a student of Meditation Master Sri Chinmoy and he had definitely made the place uplifting. It is immaculately clean, light and the servers are quite good. The menu says that the restaurant exists for one reason... to give joy. They have certainly succeeded with this reviewer. It will become one of my regular stops. Victory's Banner is open 8am-3pm everyday but is closed TUESDAY which is a bit unusual. It is non-smoking.

Rated: Excellent food, Superb, strong coffee, Everything else
Overall user rating: Highly Recommended
Chicago City Search

Everything we tried was absolutely wonderful, hot and fresh tasting. Our omelet was bursting with flavor, packed with goat cheese, FRESH spinach and peppers. The special raspberry and mascarpone french toast was delightful too. It came hot, was perfectly textured, not too sweet or tart.

A perfect breakfast isn't complete without a few strong yet smooth cups of coffee. VB delivers, as with everything else. Big cups of strong, flavorful joe, the ideal morning cure.

The decor is light and airy, soothing even. Flowing shapes, soft atmospheric lighting, and soft colors definitely make for a relaxing morning repast. Equally impressive? The service - unfailingly positive, prompt and polite. Oh, I almost forgot, the prices are outstanding. I would have paid more, and still thought it was a bargain.

Overall, we can't recommend VB enough. It stands alongside Tre Kronor as our favorite breakfast spot.

Continually rated one of the city’s best breakfast joints, Victory’s Banner is an unrivaled spot for a.m. eats. The categories are familiar enough, such as French toast, omelets, pancakes and cereal. The dishes, however, aren’t your typical IHOP fare.

Those craving a sweet start to the day will enter saccharine bliss with an order of Victory’s Banner award-winning French toast with peach butter and real maple syrup; chocolate chip waffles; or Pancake Delight, two cakes with a ring of yogurt and granola with raspberries in the center. Looking for tofu in the morning? Try Erin’s Eggless Wonder, marinated tofu with broccoli, onion, tomato, mushroom, zucchini, potato, goat cheese and brown rice.

While touting breakfast, be sure not to shortchange the lunch menu. All offerings are just a notch above. The spinach salad features hardboiled egg, cucumber, red onion and marinated Portobello mushroom; the bacon cheeseburger is a homemade veggie burger topped with soy bacon, cheese, field greens, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, red onion and tamari-mayo spread. Other standouts include the curried tofu and veggies wrap, the coconut-peanut veggie wrap with tofu and the touted Neatloaf dinner, a combination of grains, cheese, tofu, rice and spices.

This is one place where you don’t want to opt for plain ol' ice water: Try the green tea cooler, a blend of iced green tea and grapefruit juice. (Kate Schwartz)

From the demeanor of the wait staff, to the New Age music, to the soothing paint colors, there’s something inherently calming about Victory’s Banner. By the time you’ve enjoyed fresh squeezed orange juice, French toast with peach butter, or a Veggie Delight omelette with soy sausage, it is like you’ve gone on a mini relaxation retreat.

Even as crowds snake out the door on weekend mornings (and they always do), the staff, inspired by Indian Spiritual Master Sri Chinmoy, keeps things orderly. Even those who are strictly secular rave about the food, which includes free-range eggs (and vegan Eggless Wonders), three kinds of veggie burgers, wraps, salads, Neatloaf (a meat-free meatloaf), and other dishes, all with creative combinations of ingredients and spices.

Prices range from $4.75-$8.25. The restaurant is non-smoking and offers take-out service, but the ambiance is (almost) as good as the peach butter, so it is worth the wait to eat in.

Victory's Banner is an airy haven, awash in sun and light, where smiling waitresses in saris remind you of brilliantly colored birds. With robin's-egg blue walls evoking sky, and yellow banquettes evoking sun, windows — windows everywhere — suspend you in light. It seems appropriate that Victory's Banner is only open for breakfast and lunch — when light is best. You could say this simple Roscoe Village perch creates its own universe of great vibes, where the gentle atmosphere alone makes it a worthwhile jaunt.

In fact, owner Pradhan Balter is an “old hippie,” with an engineering background and more than the standard number of fathers. Balter describes his first father — Irving Balter — as an all-loving pharmacist, who was “beyond good” and had a special talent with eggs. “Lemme make you some scrambled eggs” was a dictum that epitomized Irving Balter, whose creations delighted his son. So scrambled eggs, a menu stalwart at Victory's Banner, “always invokes my father's soul,” Balter explains. For more than three decades, Balter's second father has been Indian guru Sri Chinmoy, an artist, philosopher, musician, and composer, whose path the entire staff follows, too.

“We try to cook the soup lovingly and perfectly with an understanding of the person for whom it is being made,” Balter says, adding at another point that "Unless you embody peace, you can't give it to others." The urge to transmit inner harmony to diners may well explain why this fare embraces equanimity above all else. This is peaceful food, nourishing food, plentiful food, wholesome food. Forget about voluptuousness or rambunctious flashes of spice. Ingredients blend into harmonies where pleasing sensations reign and nothing dominates. On the other hand, no flavor asserts undue personality, does a jig, or sings a solo. The best dishes resonate like the Indian devotional songs or bhajans heard streaming as background music.

Consequently, breakfast or lunch at Victory's Banner calms the harried, work-a-day self, rendering it composed, blissful, and delighted. It is intriguing to observe culinary technique subduing combative elements and creating a peaceful state. For example, the Caribbean Pepperpot Soup — with its zip of pepper — suppressed an upending punch. Instead, it offered a totally satisfying tomato brew, thickened by coconut milk, dappled with morsels of potato and peppers. Throughout our Victory's Banner experiences, subtle resonances have soothed our souls and filled our stomachs. Still, the foodie self may flounder if it cannot relinquish the urge for punctuated sensations and wiggy tastes.

Naturally, we stand up and cheer for foods like Phil's free-range eggs without drugs or antibiotics (hooray!), whole milk organic yogurt, and organic tofu (super bravos!). Organic vegetables appear, too, on occasion. The Fakin Bacon is made from tempeh with organic soybeans. The Soy Sausage is non-GMO and fat free. The menu also expanded our consciousness of grains by introducing us to a tasty Uppama — an Indian grain resembling cream of wheat — served with coconut chutney and yogurt.
Ultimately, Victory's Banner is just the ticket for those seeking wholesome respite from the syncopated rhythms of the ooh-la-la. "The most important ingredient in any recipe is the consciousness of the people who are cooking and preparing the food," Balter says. Soy aficionados should enjoy the tasty Neatloaf Sandwich. (Its secret ingredient mixture includes tofu, soy granules, cheese, rice, and spices.) The pleasantly fluffy Veggie Delight Omelette benefits from the technique shared with Balter by his third father, restaurateur Lou Mitchell. The delightfully subtle Mango and Pineapple Muffin transmitted the gentle reverberations of two potent fruits. The Apple Pecan Waffle (topped with cinnamon baked apples and pecans), the French Toast (with peach butter and maple syrup), and the Spring Chicken Salad (made with grilled soy faux chicken) were all good, wholesome fare. The Hummus Sandwich had a sprightly freshness, piled high on whole-grain bread with carrots, tomatoes, and romaine lettuce — a dish with a peasanty feel. The Carrot Soup was lushly delicious with a subtle splash of nutmeg.

On the other hand, the Balsamic Herb dressing — which we chose for our Greek Salad — seemed way too relaxed — it could have used a little more zip. Muesli doused in yogurt lacked the crunch we sought. The ginger tea was very mild. However, crusty, seven-grain hearth bread from Red Hen Bakery added gusto throughout. The lushly mild Mango Lassi was extra yummy thanks to organic yogurt. The excellent coffee flowed in endless, bottomless cups. After all, “The very nature of the heart is to give freely,” according to Sri Chinmoy.

And though the food and atmosphere do the trick, subtle prompts further the philosophical bent. “Harmony helps us to fulfill all our sweet dreams” appears on a poster in the restroom. And if all this isn't sweet enough, the restaurant's sugar packets announce more of the guru's wisdom, including: “When the heart is happy, it embraces the whole world.”

Victory's Banner, 2100 W. Roscoe, Chicago, 773-665-0227; open daily 8:00 am to 3:00 pm, except Tuesdays. Prices: Eggs and omelettes, $3.95-$7.45; other breakfast items, $3.95-$7.55; lunch entrées (including half salads), $3.95-$7.95; sides range from $.95 to $2.95; fresh baked goods from $1.75; beverages range from $1.25 to $2.95. The restaurant closes twice yearly: from April 10 through April 21 and again in late August (call for dates).

Stephen's Five P's:
Palatability: Food is geared to those seeking harmonious sensations and wholesomeness, not those seeking wild culinary flights. Soups are subtle and delicious. The ultimate in homey.
Presentation: Presentation is simple and direct. The environment participates in your meal as does the cheerfulness of the waitresses in their saris.
Portion Size: Portions are just right — not too much, not too little. Half salads are available.
Price: Prices are very fair and reasonable for food with wholesome ingredients prepared with such concentration.
Pleasure: On a scale of 0 (no pleasure) and 10 (ultimate pleasure), our foodie self rates this a 7.5. Meanwhile, our harmony-seeking self finds Victory's Banner a complete success.

WLS-TV
The Hungry Hound

At Victory's Banner - which has attracted diners well beyond it's Roscoe Village address - all of the employees are into meditation and personal spirituality, which they say transcends the breakfast and lunch fare.

“We use healthful ingredients, for example - omelets - we use Phil's eggs, they have no hormones, we cook in clarified butter and perhaps the most important thing in any cooking I think is the consciousness of the person cooking, so we try to cook as if we're cooking for our dearest friend or mom,” said Pradhan Balter, Victory's Banner.

And mom would be pleased if she was offered homemade raspberry pancakes topped with yogurt and granola...she'd be just as satisfied if you started with thickly-sliced bread, then dunked it into an eggy mixture, cooked it until brown, and finally, sprinkled it with fresh pineapple and pomegranate seeds. Lunch is also full of options for “lacto-ovo” vegetarians who can eat dairy products...including a hearty Greek salad with feta and kalamata olives.