February 21, 2020
When I do my official Los Angeles Fried Chicken Battle… and I will… I know that Lettuce Feast will likely kick butt. You see, it’s likely the best I’ve ever had. And I have been sampling vegan fried chicken here on the East Coast for many months. Yes, I said Read more…
January 9, 2020
It is here! The end of my Vegan Fried Chicken Battle! Having started this showdown in June of 2019, I am so pleased to have finally arrived at this final battle with the true best of the bests facing off. From the start, these two contenders have been consistently impressive. Read more…
December 21, 2019
I am pleased to present to you Battle 10! And to its victor–an enthusiastic welcome to the Championship Round, the last Battle of The Vegan Victuals Fried Chicken Showdown. It has been a spectacular run. Reviewing the brackets, I am confident that the final battle has two of the bests Read more…
December 10, 2019
Here it is! The battle that decides which tofu-based vegan fried chicken would move into the Finals. The Finals!! I’ve said a lot about both Superiority Burger and Chickpea & Olive in previous posts, so I’m going to jump right in and let them go at it. Superiority Burger, East Read more…
November 27, 2019
With this Battle 8, the semi-finals are officially set! Are you as excited as I am? I feel really great about the state of these brackets, but I don’t look forward having to ultimately eliminate 3 of the 4 semi-finalist fried chicken sandwiches. But let me slow my roll. Battle Read more…
November 18, 2019
My vegan fried chicken battle is raging on in the East Village! This battle determines who would be up against tofu masters Chickpea & Olive… and I like the direction of the semi-finals thus far. Perhaps the championship round will be a seitan vs. tofu battle! ….But I am getting Read more…
November 8, 2019
With an ever-growing field of vegan fried chicken at my fingertips, I made an addition to my brackets. I had to. After hearing the vegan fried chicken sandwich at Bushwick’s new all-vegan bar and event space Gradient was house made, I told my friend to meet me there… because unless Read more…
November 3, 2019
Moving swiftly towards a vegan fried chicken crown, I give you Battle 6! The formidable Chickpea and Olive faces off versus new jack Petisco Vegano, a new lower east side all-vegan spot who, like Honeybee’s, were placed in Round 2 without a previous win, yes (like Hartbreakers), but also without Read more…
October 30, 2019
With a trip to Los Angeles soonish, it’ll be a mini-battle of vegan fried chicken in the city of vegan angels. Yes, the very vegan-friendly city is home to so many options for this mini-battle. But many are packaged or frozen texturized soy protein cutlets breaded and fried… not meeting Read more…
October 27, 2019
Since I began this competition, vegan fried chicken is definitely having its moment. With the “first” vegan chicken shop now open in Los Angeles (says VegNews, to which I say: Hartbreakers), vegan chicken debuting at Kentucky Fried Chicken, and vegan fried chicken on Shark Tank, seems it’s the new “it” Read more…
October 11, 2019
As I move into Round 2 of the Vegan Fried Chicken Showdown, I need to purge some chicken-y visits… and make the, I swear, final adjustment to the official brackets. Before creating my brackets, I did some preliminary research. Then, I hastily made half battle visits… visits I can no Read more…
September 26, 2019
Urban Vegan Kitchen, West VillageChick-un & Waffles I remember the first time I went to Urban Vegan Kitchen very crisply though it was in January 2017. I fled opportunistically from a teacher professional development class at the The Met because it was a disorganized shit show. It felt good to Read more…
September 12, 2019
Renegades of Sunset have a new Wednesday special that is off the charts. The last time I ate this sandwich I called it The Best Vegan Fried Chicken Sandwich. Now I am going to call it the Best Vegan Sandwich, in general. You just think on that while you look Read more…
July 27, 2019
When vegan fried chicken opportunity arises, you take a bite. This was the case with Battle 3. Facing off would be an elusive pop-up with inconsistent social media posts and an inconsistent sandwich shop special. So when Clean Meals Brooklyn showed up at the Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival, I Read more…
July 20, 2019
There is a lot more bao in Manhattan than in Brooklyn. So this second bao battle would have me back, representing the East Village and the Lower East Side, and a bit closer to naming the “chicken” bao who’ll be entering the official Vegan Fried Chicken Showdown. Baohaus vs. The Read more…
July 7, 2019
I’ve appreciated the burger wizardry of Chickpea & Olive for many years… and was excited to try Sol Sips, an all-vegan eatery in Bushwick owned by a 23 year old that has a lot of buzz. But this is a vegan victuals food battle! It’s the food that does the Read more…
June 26, 2019
Ever since I started my Vegan Fried Chicken Showdown, my brackets have been in flux. I just have to settle on them and create a second round if new eateries rear their fried goodness. The most updated version is at the end of this post, but first, a twist…. a Read more…
June 12, 2019
VegNews likes to post kooky articles on April Fools Day. And last year’s selection was about KFC launching a vegan chicken bucket. Flash forward only a year or so and it is actually on the horizon. But really now, if I had to choose between a bucket from all-vegan Modern Read more…
June 4, 2019
Superiority Burger, East VillageT.F.T. (Tofu-Fried Tofu) Sandwich Superiority Burger is a tiny space in the East Village with some amazing vegetarian offerings masterminded by Chef Brooks Headley. Don’t expect frills like French fries, a bathroom, an open seat, personal space, etc in this 300 square feet. Just great food. Food Read more…
June 3, 2019
I know, I know—my Burger Battles just abruptly stopped. But there were just so many options. This battle I’m getting an early jump on. As eateries begin to offer the vegan version of this staple, I’m going to get chomping. The best vegan fried chicken. First, some notes and guidelines. Read more…
April 8, 2018
Even a bad veggie burger patty can be a vehicle of delicious flavors and textures by way of its fixings. Though a bad burger/good fixings shouldn’t be an eatery’s goal, fixing compensation can certainly sway a battle. In that same vein, a veggie burger’s bun also plays a very important roll. Read more…
April 6, 2018
This Burger Brackets Ketchup, Part 2 is all ’bout that (burger) bass, ’bout that (burger) bass, no treble. The base of a burger is a very important part of a great veggie burger. Der, of course. There’s bean base, seitan base, rice base, soy science franken-food base, and… there’s a Read more…
April 5, 2018
That’s a flyer from the zine I made in the 90’s. Yes, I always liked to hear myself write. And that’s 90’s me… but this isn’t a post about how the 90’s were the last hurrah of authenticity and coolness, though that is truth. It’s about burgers. One from a Read more…
December 10, 2017
I’ll be straightforward here. New York City’s vegan burger game has evolved incredibly since I endeavored to find The Best. But I’m at a point where I need to start a ‘best of the best’ bracket. It is such a shame to bid some burgers farewell, while less amazing burgers Read more…
October 7, 2017
It’s been a while, I know. But there are NYC vegan burger happenings that have brought me out of “retirement.” Here are a few notes on the updated brackets above. These are entirely new* burgers from my last battle. And there are many more. Ok, so the “*” is for Read more…
January 1, 2017
Momofuku Nishi vs. Sugar Cafe In the near absence of real and affordable opportunity, New York City’s development in the last decades has shifted towards big box store chains. The same character-less stores that appear in suburban shopping Lego sets are now in New York City as patrons relish in convenience above all–unfortunately. Read more…