Vegan 'Butcher Shop' Opening in Brooklyn Spring 2017

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — MONK'S Vegan Delicatessen and Kitchen is opening its first brick and mortar store in Brooklyn next spring, a take-out BBQ "vegan butcher shop" where the company will offer its famous homemade vegan meats, it announced.

MONK'S MEATS will set up shop at 477 Gates Ave. between Tompkins and Marcy avenues in Bed-Stuy, the site of a former Chinese take-out restaurant. The restaurant reached its $50,000 Kickstarter goal to open up shop.

"MONK'S is a place reminiscent of the butcher shops of old New York, but with a conscious difference - an un-butcher's shop," the Kickstarter says.

"We are hoping to bring a lot of healthy fresh food to our neighborhood and the vegan community in NYC through our shop," Chris Kim, co-owner of MONK'S, told Patch in an email. "We try to make plant based food accessible and we very much believe that a vegan meal shouldn't leave the eater feeling like they are missing out. There's no contradiction in enjoying a delicious plant based meal and still enjoying animal meat from time to time as well. We believe that it's important to put food first and politics second. When people see how good plant based foods can be, they feel a lot more comfortable with making the choice."

MONK'S puts just as much care into its vegan BBQ as regular BBQ places put into their meat. Kim told Gothamist that he and his co-owner, Rebecca Lopez-Howes, make their smoked seitan by hand, dry rub it with a spice blend, let it "age" for a whopping three days, and smoke it over mesquite for at least two hours before they put maple barbecue sauce on it, slice it, and serve.

MONK'S will serve wheatsteaks, meatballs, sausages, vegan charcuterie, fresh tofu and yuba, vegan cheeses and spreads, housemade sauces, seasonal side dishes, sandwiches, beverages, and more. Vegan sandwiches, with nut cheese, will be available every day of the week.

MONK'S has a stand in Smorgasburg in both Williamsburg and Prospect Park, and well as pop-ups in Bushwick's Pine Box Rock Shop and Mooshoes in the Lower East Side. This is its first official restaurant, but there will be no seating, just strictly take-out.

Photo credit: MONK'S