Looking for Cooper’s Hawk vegetarian options? Start with the Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto, a Caprese or Roasted Vegetable flatbread, and the Shaved Brussels Sprouts salad. Cooper’s Hawk is a full-service winery and restaurant, so the kitchen cooks from scratch and will modify most plates when you ask. That matters, because the printed menu leans hard on steak, chicken, and seafood. This guide covers what’s safe to order, what to skip, and where to ask a question first. If you’ve ever read a steakhouse-style menu and wondered what about the vegetarians, you’re in the right place.
A Quick Look at Cooper’s Hawk
Tim McEnery opened the first Cooper’s Hawk in October 2005 in Orland Park, Illinois. The idea was unusual: one building that holds a working winery, a tasting room, a retail shop, and a full-service restaurant. The wine club grew into one of the largest in the world, and the food grew with it.
The chain has passed 60 restaurants across the country. In 2019 its revenue was about $280 million, and the private equity firm Ares Management bought it that year in a deal valued near $700 million (Wikipedia). The menu is contemporary American with Italian and global touches, and every item is made in the scratch kitchen. That last part is the vegetarian’s best friend here, because the cooks can leave the meat off or swap an ingredient when you ask.
The wine is the draw, but the food is a full casual-dining menu, not an afterthought. Each restaurant pairs its dishes with a house wine, and many guests come for the tasting room as much as the table. For a vegetarian, that means a sit-down experience with table service, so you can talk through the menu with your server instead of scanning a counter board. Use that. The difference between a thin meal and a good one here is asking the right question before the order goes in.
Cooper’s Hawk Vegetarian Options: What to Order
The clear winner is the Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto. The brand lists it as vegetarian, and the kitchen will make it vegan on request by swapping the cheese for olive oil, herbs, and a tomato basil relish. After that, lean on the flatbreads, a couple of salads, and the side dishes. The table below is conservative. When an item depends on a dressing, a shared fryer, or cheese rennet that the brand doesn’t publicly confirm, it’s marked Check so you can ask before you order.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ On request (sub olive oil for cheese) |
| Caprese Flatbread (tomato, mozzarella, pesto) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese, pesto) |
| Roasted Vegetable & Goat Cheese Flatbread | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese) |
| Classic Tomato Bruschetta (burrata) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (burrata) |
| Crispy Brussels Sprouts | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Without sesame-sriracha aioli (egg) |
| Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad (parmesan) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese) |
| Plain Ol’ House Salad | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ No croutons, oil & vinegar |
| Caesar Salad | ⚠️ Check (Caesar dressing may have anchovy) | ❌ No |
| Tortilla Soup | ⚠️ Vegetarian on request (default stock) | ⚠️ Check |
| Oven-Roasted Vegetables, Asparagus, Grilled Broccoli | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Without butter |
| Mary’s Potatoes, Betty’s Potatoes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (butter, cream, cheese) |
| French Fries | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (shared fryer) |
| Desserts (chocolate cake, crème brûlée, key lime pie, truffles) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg, dairy) |
Flatbreads and Starters
The flatbreads are the easiest win. The Caprese Flatbread layers ripe tomato, mozzarella, red onion, pesto, and basil. The Roasted Vegetable & Goat Cheese Flatbread adds roasted grape tomatoes and goat cheese. Both are vegetarian as built. Skip the Italian Sausage flatbread, which is the one meat version in the lineup.
A flatbread also splits well for a table, which makes Cooper’s Hawk easy when you’re the only vegetarian in the group. Order one to share, then build your own plate from the salads and sides. Nobody has to wait while the kitchen works around a single dietary note.
For starters, the Classic Tomato Bruschetta tops grilled bread with burrata, basil, and balsamic glaze. The Crispy Brussels Sprouts come with cashews, mint, and a sweet Thai chili glaze, finished with a sesame-sriracha aioli. The aioli has egg, so order it without the aioli to keep the dish vegan. Steer clear of the Chicken Potstickers, House-Made Meatballs, Drunken Shrimp, and Over the Border Egg Rolls, all of which carry meat or seafood.
Salads
Two salads work as written. The Plain Ol’ House Salad is cucumber, carrot, tomato, and croutons with dressing on the side. The Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad brings olive oil, shaved parmesan, lemon, and Marcona almonds. Both are vegetarian.
The Caesar is trickier. Caesar dressing usually contains anchovy, and Cooper’s Hawk doesn’t publish whether theirs does, so treat it as Check and ask. The Chopped Wedge comes loaded with applewood-smoked bacon, so order it without the bacon. The chopped and combination salads (Napa, BBQ Ranch, Mediterranean) all start with chicken, steak, or shrimp. Ask for them without the protein and you get a solid vegetarian plate.
Pasta, Risotto, and Sides
Here’s the catch with the pasta section: almost every dish has meat or seafood baked in. Country Rigatoni, Gnocchi Carbonara, the spaghetti and meatballs, and all three other risottos carry sausage, chicken, pancetta, shrimp, scallop, or short rib. The one exception is the Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto with peas, shiitake mushrooms, roasted peppers, and spinach. It’s the dish to order, and it’s the one the kitchen will turn vegan for you.
The sides round out a meal. Mary’s Potatoes (whipped, butter, cream), Betty’s Potatoes (white cheddar, scallions), wasabi-buttered mashed, tomato-braised kale, oven-roasted vegetables, asparagus, grilled broccoli, and Asian slaw are all vegetarian. The plain roasted vegetables go vegan if you ask the kitchen to cook them without butter. Two or three sides plus a flatbread make a full vegetarian dinner without a single special request.
One more move worth knowing: the side dishes are real portions, not garnishes. A plate of Mary’s Potatoes, grilled broccoli, and tomato-braised kale eats like a main course, and it costs less than an entree. If the risotto isn’t your thing on a given night, a sides-and-flatbread spread is the reliable fallback that never needs a kitchen note. Pair it with a glass of the house red and you’ve got a full meal that fits the room.
What’s Vegan at Cooper’s Hawk?
Vegan takes a little work, but it’s doable. The Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto made vegan on request is the headline plate. Around it, build from the Plain Ol’ House Salad (no croutons, oil and vinegar), the Crispy Brussels Sprouts without the aioli, and roasted vegetables, asparagus, or broccoli cooked without butter. The Napa salad works vegan without the chicken and goat cheese, with a vinaigrette swap.
Nothing on the dessert menu is vegan, since every option leans on eggs, butter, or cream. The fries are dairy-free, but they share a fryer with meat and seafood items, so strict vegans should ask or skip them.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
A few caveats are worth knowing before you order. The Caesar dressing may contain anchovy, a common hidden fish ingredient, so confirm it if you avoid fish. The parmesan and other Italian cheeses can be made with animal rennet, and Cooper’s Hawk doesn’t publicly confirm a vegetarian source, so strict lacto-ovo vegetarians may want to ask about the cheese and the pesto.
The tortilla soup is only vegetarian when the kitchen makes it without chicken stock, so request that. Shared grills and fryers mean cross-contact with meat is always possible, which matters more for allergy safety than for a flexible diet. Cooper’s Hawk also runs a winery, and wine anywhere can be fined with animal-derived agents like isinglass, gelatin, or egg white. If a fully vegan pour matters to you, ask the staff which wines qualify. A gluten-free menu is available, and several vegetarian dishes can be made gluten-free on request.
Tips for Vegetarians at Cooper’s Hawk
- Lead with the Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto. It’s the only meat-free pasta or risotto, and it goes vegan on request.
- Build a meal from flatbreads and sides if you want variety. A flatbread plus two sides eats like a full dinner.
- Ask for any chopped or combination salad without the chicken, steak, shrimp, or bacon.
- Confirm the Caesar dressing for anchovy and ask whether the parmesan uses vegetarian rennet.
- For vegan, request the risotto without cheese and vegetables without butter, and skip the desserts.
- Tell your server you’re vegetarian up front. The scratch kitchen modifies plates, but only if it knows.
Conclusion
Cooper’s Hawk reads like a meat-and-seafood menu at first glance, but the scratch kitchen gives vegetarians a real meal. Order the Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto, pick a flatbread, add a couple of sides, and ask a question or two about the cheese and the Caesar. For more help eating out, see our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants and browse every restaurant guide we’ve published. If you like this kind of Italian-American spot, check our guides to Maggiano’s, Olive Garden, and The Cheesecake Factory.
