Small bites: Local couple gets set to open new vegan lunch service

Veganized

A meal should be more than salad. This was the shared sentiment that prompted Veronica and Eric Walsh to launch Veganized, their soon-to-open vegan lunch service.

“One of the things we realized as vegans is that if we were eating with friends or family or if we went to a restaurant, they offered us salad … but we don’t really like salad for dinner,” says Eric. “So ever since then, we’ve been on a mission to veganize comfort food dishes that we knew when we were growing up — things like my grandma or her grandpa made.”

“We wanted a place where vegans can feel completely comfortable ordering anything on the menu and a place where they have faith that we understand their needs and their compassion for animals,” adds Veronica.

The couple, who say they’ve made whole vegan Thankgsiving meals that received praise from even the family’s elder omnivores, will offer a new menu of lunch choices Tuesday-Friday of each week on the Veganized website. Choices currently available to order for Veganized’s opening week — Aug. 18-21 — include vegan versions of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, chicken pot pie, grilled cheese with spinach spread and a tofu scramble with biscuits. The featured dessert for that week is chocolate-peanut butter pie.

Lunches for each day must be preordered through the site’s online ordering system or via phone, text or email. Prices are $10 per dish for pickup (between 11 and 11:30 a.m. at their space in the Eden-Out kitchen in Woodfin) or $14 per dish for delivery. The week’s featured dessert can be added on for an extra $4.50.

The Walshes will obtain much of their produce from local farms and tailgate markets and list No Evil Foods seitan and Smiling Hara tempeh among their protein sources. They currently use Daiya and Field Roast brand cheeses, “but we are always looking for the newest and best option,” says Veronica.

Veganized is offering samples of its food at local tailgate markets and will have a booth at Vegan Fest in Pack Square on Sunday, Aug. 16. To view the menu and place an order for the Aug. 18-21 opening week, visit veganizedasheville.com. Pickup is at Eden-Out, 148 Weaverville Road, Woodfin.

Farm Burger raffle

Farm Burger is hosting a raffle to benefit the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and its mission to support local farmers and bring healthy food to local communities. The winner will receive a Globe bicycle plus a gift basket full of Asheville goodies — think gift cards for Farm Burger and Vortex Doughnuts, tickets for Asheville Food Tours and the ASAP Farm Tour and tons of local swag and food items. The bike and the gift basket are both on display at Farm Burger.

Raffle tickets are $5 and are on sale through Friday, July 31, at Farm Burger, 10 Patton Ave. No purchase is necessary. A winner will be announced in August. For details on ASAP, visit asapconnections.org.

Wine Spectator Restaurant Wine List Awards

Five Asheville restaurants were recognized in Wine Spectator magazine’s 2015 Restaurant Wine List Awards in its August issue, which hit the stands July 21.There are three tiers of awards presented in the listing: the Award of Excellence, the Best of the Award of Excellence and the Grand Award.

Posana Café, Omni Grove Park Inn’s Sunset Terrace, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and The Inn on Biltmore Estate were among about 2,500 Award of Excellence winners in the world for 2015. Omni Grove Park Inn’s Vue 1913 was among 973 Best of Awards of Excellence winners.

The awards “recognize restaurants whose wine lists offer interesting selections, are appropriate to their cuisine and appeal to a wide range of wine lovers,” says Wine Spectator’s website.

Posana, the only independent restaurant among the local winners, has announced its beverage director, James Moskal, plans to amp up its wine program this summer, increasing stock by 50 percent and adding more emerging wine regions to its list of biodynamic, sustainable, organic and local wines. Moskal is also offering a half-price bottle night for wines on Wednesdays.