CIBO Express

Much better grab-​n-​go options than any other kiosk I’ve seen at O’Hare (especially for vegetarians and vegans), but it’s still not-​especially-​fresh food at high airport prices: my vegan buffalo tofu was pretty good, but was more than $ 8 for approximately enough food for half a lunch.

Although o’hare airport is not small, it’s not easy to be eat healthy, especially for healthy snacks to tie over in transit, or in the boring fight!
Thais store offers lots of healthy food, from raw to vegan, chips, cookies to sandwiches, you name it. I bought the baked kale and was in love!

Getting food at an airport can be hit or missed. So I was very excited to see this spot at O’Hare that not only had a high rating but also several reviews that mentioned great vegetarian and vegan options. In an airport, this is very rare! So trekked over to this terminal with the hope it would dethrone my reigning favorite meal at an airport: Veggie Guacamole Burger with a side of steamed broccoli — Chili’s Too, Oakland Airport.
But sadly, CIBO Express was a let down. There were very few prepared options that didn’t have meat. And the items that were mentioned in other reviews are not available. My best guess is those reviews were actually for the Cibo Gourmet Market and not the express location.

In my years of hitting up ORD, I have never travelled via a connection requiring passage through the terminals 1 – 2. I am so glad that I took the time to walk around! Although it cost me $ 30… I was pleased with the variety offered for this little convenient to go shop in the hallway past B en route to the E-​F concourses through a cute hallway.
So what do they have? Healthier options for fast consumption. Plenty of salads, including vegan kale salad, grilled veg tofu kababs, green house salad, vegan yogurt, Naked juices, vegan chocolates, raw snacks like macaroons and nuts, apples, bananas and Vegani vegan entrees like wraps, super green salad, buffalo tofu and vegan eggplant parm. They also have about 2 dozen bars to choose from including raw, vegan, gluten free and the like. The beverage choices are also plentiful and interesting.
Great choices but, the prices will knock you back a bit. I guess it can’t be helped? I fell for it! Worth it though since I hasn’t eaten a real meal all day.

Being a traveler and a picky eater often leads to airports being a difficult place! As I was in Terminal 2 of Chicago O’hare, I was stumped. I wander around and found the standard fast food, sports bars and coffee places, but I was starving and wanted some thing with nutritional density.
Then I found it: Cibo Express Market! The chalkboard sign that read «Healthy options, vegan options, GF options» was a sure sign of a good place!
Inside could be mistaken for any airport market, but this one is filled with amazing goodies, Vegan Tempeh Sandiwiches, Southwestern Tofu wraps, vegan eggplant pasta bake, veggie sushi, soy yogurt and so so much more!
I just had the amazing breakfast of a veggie sushi platter, a vegan super greens salad (kale, onion, garlic, Tamari and cilantro) and a chocolate Silk Soy milk box. I isn’t very expensive for airport food and totally worth it!

Love this place!
If you’re a healthy eater who needs to pick up something quick, and is sick of the typical airport food greasy/​nasty situation, go here! So many great, fresh and interesting food options. Yes, it is a little pricey, but it’s so worth it.

I was so happy to find this OASIS of healthy food in a sea of stuff that isn’t good for you. As someone working hard to shed all these extra pounds I was worried about what I would find at the airport to eat. This place has loads of healthy alternatives that are fresh, convenient and delicious. The items are expensive but it is an airport after all. If you are at O’Hare and watching what you eat, definitely check this place out. I had Greek Yogurt and the mixed fruit.

For being a quick stop snack shop in an airport, this place has some good stuff. The pre-​made kale salad was really good and the Buffalo BBQ tofu was also tasty. It’s not inexpensive, but what in the airport is? If you are looking for a healthy, good tasting snack as you are rushing through the airport, I would highly recommend that you stop in at CIBO Express.

This is like a little wanna-​be Whole Foods corner of the airport. What — that organic peanut butter candy bar? snacks that say CHIA on the package.. . Pur gum? I could not walk in a straight line to my gate because the organic yum gravitational pull curved my course. I was a bit surprised at the total, but I guess I did buy my share of goodies. I guess it shares more than product brands with its real cousin. I was so fucking happy though. And it’s right next to Argo Tea which was my next stop, and those two are in front of Starbuck’s little sunlit oasis where you can pretend for just one moment that your first flight wasn’t delayed three hours so that you missed your 1^st connecting flight and will probably miss your second. Are you sinking into coast-​to-​coast-​through-​absurd-​number-​of-​time-​zones-​for-​one-​country despair?
No.
You are just enjoying your coconut chia bar from CIBO and letting the warm Chicago sun float upon your skin like an angel.
Oh, and it is around the H-​10 gate I think.

The first line of every review already sums up the situation: healthy food + airport.
I thoroughly enjoyed my Thai chicken wrap – wolfing it down minutes before my flight boarded – but It would have been nice to peruse the selection had I a little more time. The $ 8’s for the wrap is obvious price-​gauging, but nothing out of line in an airport – in fact, I’ve paid more for worse dozens upon dozens if times…

Healthy food at an airport. This is legit one of my favorite shops in any airport. Greek yogurt, fresh veggies and fruit, hummus, small sandwiches. This is what all airports need, it makes flying just SO much better.

This place is awesome! Lots of healthy organic, gluten-​free, lactose-​free, vegan and even low carb snack food options. The items are pricy, but the purchase is worth it. Cibo express should be at every airport and mall.

Lots of healthy options in an airport with few. Seriously, O’Hare needs some new places! Gluten free goods, fruit, salads, veggies, even hard boiled eggs and dolmathes. Will be stopping here again!

This is a rare airport find!!! CIBO Express brings a fresh face to the airport dining experience. Great selection of healthy and fresh options with a good selection of gluten-​free, vegan, vegetarian food. I enjoyed the mini salmon wraps I had along with a small box of stuffed grape leaves (5/​pack). By the door it said they have good smoothies, so I will be curious to try those next time I’m flying through O’Hare.

Terminal E Thank you! So happy to find you amongst the fast food. Fruit, wraps, gluten-​free chips, oolong tea, and so much more. Wow, way to go O’Hare.

This might be the only healthy, veggie friendly place in Terminal 2! It made me so happy to find it! With a wide variety of packaged sandwiches and salads, lots of «healthyish» snacks (or if not healthy, at least organic, or vegan, stuff made from whole foods). The little package of roasted root veggies was really delicious and sweet. Kale salad was much needed after an indulgent business trip. Yes it’s pricey, as is everything in O’Hare, but at least here you are getting something healthy and tasty for your money!

Are you in a jam and rushed for time?
Tired of the crowds and standing in line?
Passing through O’Hare in Terminal 2?
Then Cibo Express may be just for you.
If you are traveling across the US through O’Hare, chances are that you ate some breakfast before you left for your first 3+ hour flight. So as you are walking through the terminal you aren’t really that hungry yet, but you know that you will get hungry on the next flight (or you have a multi-​hour layover). A good option is to get something at Cibo Express.
The food is better than what is served on all domestic flights, it is fresh and well made, and the prices are fairly standard for airport food. They offer a nice variety for a small place, including vegetarian options. You can stop in as you walk between terminal 1 and 2, pick up a nice sandwich or salad or veggies and hummus, and be set for food on your next flight. Or sneak it into the United Club and eat in there since they don’t sell meals in there.

I try to buy food here every time I have a connection at ORD. Very dependable for a pint cup of raw veggies w/​hummus dip and one of my favorite airport food finds of all time — a tempeh/​seitan spicy burrito in a roasted red pepper tortilla (served cold) and SO good. I am not even a vegetarian and I think it’s amazing. According to the label, the burrito is made by a local organic food grocer and what I like is the entire refrigerated section has expiration dates no more than 2 days in the future so you know it’s made with good stuff, not preservatives.
A dazzling array of Clif bar products and other flaxseed and granola type bar choices. I wish every airport had one of these places. I believe the other one I know if is at JFK, but I’m not sure.
I used to do the Jamba Juice /​Garrett’s Popcorn routine in the B concourse, then I found the Cibo market and never looked back. Worth the 3 minute walk to Terminal 2, and you don’t need to leave or re-​enter any TSA security checkpoints to get there or get back from Terminal 1 (B and C gates).
Please bring one to the new Las Vegas Terminal 3!
Easily 5 stars in the world of airport food options. Makes ORD almost bearable. (Aside from the automatic toilet seat covers in the bathrooms, ORD is really worn and torn. You can’t find a single tight AC outlet in the whole facility. The ill-​maintained neon tunnel between B and C gates is downright depressing to walk through. That and all of the two-​tone blue is so blech!)

OK, 5 stars might seem a bit much for an airport deli, but the food choices in America’s airports has been so historically horrible that a place with reasonably priced, healthy choices that taste great deserves the accolades.
Simply put, you’ll find something healthy, fresh and reasonably priced here. No pizza, no burgers. But Cous Cous salad for $ 1.99 and Roasted Root Vegetable salad for $ 2.49? Excellent. Friendly Skies.

I don’t spend much time in major airports any more and even less time in the terminals. I go to the Executive or General Aviation terminals where the private and charter jets park so knowing that I was going to be in O’Hare flying in on AA to pick up the second half of a trip that was too many hours of waiting for one crew to complete, offered the possibility of bringing my search for vegan food to a heretofore unexplored and frankly quiet scary venue.
I send out a tweet and my new found friend, the only, (I hope not), vegan pilot on the planet responds and says to seek out Soul Wraps at Cibo.
I thought of soul food, collards and other greens, … I didn’t know what to think but as my flying partner settled into his meal of big macs, fries, apple pies and drink with a yogurtish frozen thing for dessert I thought of what was more important, looking up the nutritional, (or lack of), content of his meal or going out on the hunt for mine. Off I went. OK, I did give him a disparaging look first. Then went off.
I shlep and I shlep and I shlep. You know the way airline terminals can be. I ask for directions. Oy. I do a 180 degree turn and shlep back. Finally a map. I am good at maps. I do maps for a living. I locate my destination and seek and find.
Cibo Express is like a typical food stand with refrigerator cases stocked with beverages and sandwiches and salads all in plastic containers. The difference is that the food looks fresh, bright and inviting. Now where are those wraps? I grab a vegetable Chipotle Wrap, don’t see the V for vegan anywhere and read the ingredients. I do so want to eat this thing. Chipotle Cream? What kind of cream? Cream like dairy cream? arggggh! I don’t know! I come so close … but put it back.
Then I see …
Tofu? What? Really?
Yesssssssss!!!
Then I realize that the soul wraps were from the Soul Vegetarian Restaurant I reviewed in another posting and right next to it … what is this? Health? I like Health. Ingredients are…
Seitan? I look around. Yeah, I’m really at an airport although I feel like I’m in the promised land. Why isn’t there a beam of sunlight shining down on me?
I grabbed both sandwiches, Asian Noodles, Tabouli and Roasted Root vegetables. I look around and I’m STILL in an airport. I can’t believe this selection. I feel a little like a cat burglar, in need of a big sack to throw my loot into.
Back to the food court I go, stomach growling. I dive into the cold food after scrounging a fork from Starbucks. Ok, I did get my double tall, one pump mocha, soy, no whip, 140 degrees latte while I was there but that was only because I couldn’t take my Silk Soymilk creamer through security.
The tabouli was bright and fresh and the asian noodles had a really nice peanutty flavor in a rather light sauce.
The Tofu was in a nice BBQ sauce and had a very nice heat level. Don’t eat this if you like mild food. It certainly aint mild! Nice big chunks of tofu to sink your teeth into. I finished half of this wrap in about 6 seconds.
The Seitan was in a sweet tomato sauce with a hint of heat. Very nice but I wonder if it would he easier to eat if it was less like ground meat and more like slices of seitan. Just a thought.
Now in all fairness I did get a wrap that had an expiration/​sell by date that was the same day. When I opened it it smelled a bit «off» so I returned it for a wrap with a date a few days later and it was delicious.
I also heated them up later in the microwave on the airplane. I know they would have been good cold but they were outstanding hot.
Roasted Veggies were interesting. Sometimes I eat food that is good for me rather than good tasting. I enjoy roasted root vegetables but although the carrots and sweet potatoes were cooked perfectly the parsnips were incredibly fibrous. The beets were also a little undercooked, (and weren’t even on the label.)
It’s just nice to see this kind of food in a fast food take out place. Now to tweak the recipe.
Thank you Cibo Express for being so progressive in offering a vegan menu. You should definitely put up a bigger sign!
Sometimes it’s cool to be so close to things that influence the world to such a degree.
Now, the coolest part of this trip was watching Air Force One land. It’s only called Air Force One if the President is onboard. Here it is on the ramp next to the General Aviation Terminal last night after it taxied in and the President got off to give his speech in Chicago.
This is one of several helicopters departing the staging area for Air Force One. If the President is on board this would have had a call sign of Marine One.
If you can find my blog, which I’m not allowed to help you find then you can see all those pictures.