The cutting edge

I grew up in a vegan/vegetarian household. I flip-flopped around eating meat in my 20s, but I always had issues with eating meat; it almost felt like an addiction. The problem was that I just didn’t know how to eat right! I went vegan seven or eight years ago, and here I still am.

[When] my sister, Christina Stobing, and I began the business, we wanted something our family could work at. We’ve been in the business our whole lives—our dad had a vegetarian ’50s-style diner back in the ’80s.

The original concept was for us to source wholesale products from as many other vegan companies as we could, so we could offer a huge variety of vegan meats and cheeses in large quantities. The idea was that you could come in and buy it by the pound, or just by the slice.

But then I started to think that we should develop our own stuff instead—make something unique that you can’t get anywhere else. We spent a year on product development and trying to find the right location. Then we opened with a pretty limited menu as an East Coast-style deli, with almost all our meats and cheeses made in-house (plus a few favorites from other companies). We also serve great sandwiches, salads and appies.

Until people get familiar with vegan ingredients, we’re comfortable using terms like “chicken” or “mozzarella” because that’s what it’s modeling and that’s what people understand. We do have descriptions and we explain that part of what we’re doing is opening their eyes to a different way of living and eating, and other paths they could take.

The reaction has been amazing: everyone who’s vegan loves us, but we get a lot of … omnivores checking us out too. Does what we do taste like meat? I think if you’ve not had meat in a while then we’re pretty close with taste and textures. We’re getting good feedback that for people looking for more plant-based options, we’re providing an alternative to rice, beans and salads!

Final cut

Anatomy of a selection of sandwiches from The Butcher’s Son.

Pulled pork

• made from yuba (a soy skin left over from the production of tofu)
• cooked on griddle
• BBQ sauce, mustard and spices added at the end

Fried Mozzarella & Meatball

Fried mozzarella

• cashew and coconut based (same base as grilled mozzarella —see facing page)

Meatballs

• made from ground seitan, shiitake mushrooms, veggies and soy protein, plus spices/flavorings

Roast Beef Reuben

Roast beef

• beef made from seitan— aka “wheat meat”

Grilled mozzarella

• made from cashews and coconut oil
• cashews are cultured to get cheesy flavor
• cultures are derived from sprouted wheat berries

Hot Roast Beef

• made from seitan
• special steaming process creates sliceable deli meat
• sautéed on griddle