The Juice Joint: Blending into the Health Food Movement

Say you start at Harlem Avenue and walk your way west on Madison Street. Plenty to eat and drink. Some of it healthy, some of it not.

Venture a few blocks past Jackson Boulevard and your options get considerably fewer — basically booze, Thai food and pizza. Keep going.

Because tucked inside the toward the Good Earth Greenhouse, you'll find The Juice Joint, a cafe created in April 2012 by Dale and Mardie Anderson and Jenny Miller, a trio of River Forest residents dedicated to bringing organic juices and smoothies to the masses.

"There was a strong need for something like this in the area," said Mardie Anderson. "There are a couple of places in the city to get organic juices but nothing around here and it's nice to be able to offer these healthy choices."

So slamming 16 ounces of raw vegetable juice might not be your thing. Fair enough. But know this: The recipes at Juice Joint are fine-tuned to turbocharge nutrition into your body. And they taste good. Really.

Consider the "Addicted to Love," packed with kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, celery, pear, cucumber, lemon and parsley. It tastes...well, it tastes green. But the pear, cucumber and lemon undercut the greens, lending the drink a refreshing crispness.

"It was all trial and error until we hit the mark," Dale Anderson said of the recipe creation.

There are four other organic juices on the menu and seven smoothies. All range in price from $6 to $8, with options for kids sizes on a few drinks.

Pricey for a drinkable cup of fruit or vegetables? Perhaps.

But the Andersons are quick to point out the abundance of less healthy ways to spend $6 on Madison Street. And the juices and smoothies can absolutely substitute for a meal.

On that point, the Juice Joint's owners stress that they're not health professionals.

"I don't have a nutrition background but I have plenty of common sense," she said, adding that the benefits of "juicing" are clear.

Already, the Juice Joint has been a turn-to destination for a small group of women choosing organic raw foods as they recover from cancer treatments. (The juice bar's crew whips up a special blend for them. Want to donate a drink or two to the cancer patients? Just ask.)

The Andersons said they're hoping to capitalize on a movement that prioritizes healthy choices — aided in part, they said, by the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

For the unitiated, the movie follows portly Australia investor Joe Cross as he embarks on a juice fast, drinking only raw vegetable juices as he travels the United States exploring the country's eating habits. Along the way, he drops roughly 100 pounds, introduces Americans to the concept of juicing and quite possibly saves the life of a dangeroulsy obese trucker.

"Once you start [drinking healthy juice], your cravings for so many other things just goes away," Dale Anderson said.

In addition the drinks, the Juice Joint brews Intelligentsia coffee and serves pastries from River Forest bakers Scone-A-Lisa and Sugared Sweets by Nikki. Recently, they've started selling bags of kale chips by an Oak Park company, Symetry for the Body.

Launching the business hasn't been easy. All three owners have other demanding jobs.

But in the past three months, they've grown into the role of a health-focused community gathering spot. There's WiFi, tables and a long standup counter, and the owners plan to host more events in the space.

"We're hoping to grow fast, but do it right," Mardie Anderson said.

The Juice Joint, 7900 W. Madison St., is open Mon-Fri, 7am-5pm; Sat, 9am-5pm; Sun, 10am-4pm. Visit them on Facebook.