Toad Style

This Vegan Restaurant Is in It for the Long Haul | Eater NY

"Opening in 2015 at 93 Ralph Avenue (at Putnam Avenue) in Bedford-Stuyvesant, I watched owners Jillian Camera and Tyler Merfeld turn a former fish market into a small counter-service restaurant focused on soy- and palm-oil-free, scratch-made vegan comfort food; they emphasized housemade nut cheeses and an array of veggie burgers alongside meatballs, chickpea tofu, and a tofu scramble on a chalkboard menu. I found their approach deliberately whole-foods and accessible — offering gluten-free options from the start and, in 2017, a gyro special made with mushrooms and artichoke instead of seitan — and their made-in-house components (burger patties, cheeses, pickles, and a homemade ketchup that tops a classic cheeseburger with almond mozzarella) signal food people could imagine making at home but prefer to get out. Their menu also includes vegan, gluten-free riffs like a Crunchwrap-style dish with five-bean chili, chipotle jackfruit burritos, a Buffalo cauliflower quesadilla, and a pickle soup cup ($5); pricing (burgers $11–$15, with a weekday lunch add-on for seltzer and chips) has kept them accessible when volume is high. I noted they survived the pandemic by shifting to to-go and delivery, added pizzeria-style booths to entice diners on a low-foot-traffic block, and now flag themselves as Impossible- and Beyond-free on Instagram as part of resisting the processed-meat trend." - Alicia Kennedy