If you’re a meat eater like Brandon (OLC team rider & product tester), then there is no reason to read any further.

Ok- now that all the meat eaters have left, us vegetarians (and you vegans!) can talk shop. Here in Chicago, if you go to pretty much any of the vegetarian restaurants you have had Upton’s. I have bought a few packages of their seitan. I decided to write them and see if I could do a review (sometimes I really have a rough job). I was stoked when they said sure and sent along a box of awesomeness, a shirt, and some buttons. The package included tamales, a calzone, an empanada, four 3 flavors of seitan. I'll give you a brief description of each.

First up were the tamales
Usually the only tamale I can get is a cheese one because most have meat, but Upton’s took care of us tamale lovers. The tamales came wrapped in cornhusk for the auhtienc feel and I believe were stuffed with chorizo seitan. The taste was good, although they were a little on the dry side (hey- no animal fat does have its draw backs). I would give them 4 stars.
 
Plain seitan.
I cooked it up with some basmati rice and added some Braggs and ate happy! Not much to say about this except that it’s great. I give it 3.5 stars
 
Calzone.
Holy crap! We are talking Italian seitan, a tomato sauce, and soy cheese in a fluffy bread pocket. I always thought soy cheese was pretty lame, so I never really gave it a shot. Not sure I would buy myself some, but it was pretty good in the calzone.
This calzone was so good I didn’t want it to end! I'm even tempted to go to whole foods and pay waaaaaay to much for one just to taste it again. I give it the big five stars, two thumbs up, 10 out of 10, whatever- just seek one out and be happy!
 
Italian seitan.
I used this in tomato sauce with some other vegetables, and put it over some ravioli. It was really good in the sauce. The sauce keeps it nice and moist, and the flavor was great.
I made pizza the other night and used it again, but it kind of dried out on top of the pizza. Maybe it needed more cheese... 3.5 stars.
 
Chorizo seitan.
I used this in some tacos and it was awesome. I tried to remake the tacos at my favorite breakfast place here in Chicago (it's called the Flying Saucer if you're in town- seek it out and get the tacos- they're awesome!).
I was close but still have some work to do- nothing to do with the seitan, that was spot on. This is my favorite seitan of the three. Its just got great flavor. 4.5 stars
 
Empanada with a sauce that I forgot what it was.
Most empanadas I eat are sweet because just like the tamale, finding a vegetarian version is pretty much impossible.  We are talking about the chorizo sestina in with golden raisins in a pocket of some good bread. The sauce was really good too- it had some kick that really added to the flavor. This was a great surprise- I give 4.75 stars.

To sum it all up, I'm totally hungry writing this review and want more. There are no pics because it's a pet peeve of mine- like when people post pics of their vegan meals on the facebook, and to be honest there was no time for pics because I couldn’t wait to eat them!

The website says All products are certified Kosher by the CRC and are guaranteed 100% vegan/vegetarian. So you vegans out there should look into them. The company seems totally rad- they're are super cool and friendly. I have heard a rumor that if you get some friends together you can place a wholesale order.  Me? I'm trying to work a deal to print shirts for food!

-Cole