Veganized in New Brunswick to expand with vegan pizzeria and full vegan bar

Jenna Intersimone | Courier News and Home News Tribune

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NEW BRUNSWICK – It’s time to stop rolling your eyes at your vegan friends — vegan food is much more than salads and nuts, which Veganized, a 100-percent vegan eatery in New Brunswick, has been proving — and serving — since it opened in 2015.

At Veganized, 95 percent of the eatery's customer base does not identify as vegan. Customer favorites include the deluxe lentil mushroom burger ($16), the “hot diggity dog” ($16) a white bean carrot dog, and the “mackin cheese,” ($16) elbow pasta with sweet potato cashew cream.

And that's just the beginning. Building on its success, the eatery is expanding to a new location, and will soon be home to a full vegan bar.

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“The misconception is that vegan food is not satisfying and is lacking in certain nutrients, which is untrue,” said owner Ron Biton, who has been vegan for almost 25 years and lives in New Brunswick. “If you make the food delicious and satisfying, then people will be enticed and when they understand it is nutritious, it’s a win-win.”

Every item at Veganized is made in-house from scratch, including the restaurant's baked bread, and prices range from $12 to $18 for an entrée.

Business at the eatery opened by Biton, who attended Edison High School and Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools, has been booming, so the 30-seat restaurant is ready to take the next step with a new, larger space.

Veganized will be moving in late August or early September to 1 Elm St. in a 3,000 square-foot, two-floor space that formerly was home to Mike's Courtside Sports Bar & Grill. The new location will include an outdoor patio as well as a full bar which will only serve organic beers and wine.

The current location at 9 Spring St. will become a vegan pizzeria called Pizza Vegano.

Veganized's menu will expand with two new entrees, several new appetizers and a few new pastries. Although the new menu hasn't been finalized, Biton said that he plans to offer a risotto entree as well as a dish featuring black rice, otherwise known as "forbidden rice," alongside chickpeas, corn sauce and saffron.

Pizza Vegano in the soon-to-be former space will open a month or two following the new location's opening and will offer personal-sized gourmet pizzas, some of which will be converted from the restaurant's current flatbread offerings including the Roma with cashew cheese, slow roasted Roma tomatoes, caper kalamata tapenade, pesto and arugula as well as the Cauli-fornia with a truffle cauliflower spread, charred peas, maitake mushrooms, roasted bell peppers and arugula.

Since those who are vegan will likely try Veganized anyway, said Biton, his target customer base is non-vegans who are learning what vegan food really is.

Many of the customers who dine at Veganized for the first time may have been dragged there by a vegan or health-conscious friend, Biton said, but they often have an eye-opening experience which gives them the courage to try new vegan items — that taste good, too.

“I think a lot more people are more interested in vegan cuisine and this satisfied their curiosity if they have never ate in a vegan eatery,” Biton said. “Once they get past that hurdle, they realize it’s delicious and healthy.”

Staff Writer Jenna Intersimone: 908-303-8390, JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com

Veganized

Where: To open at 1 Elm St., New Brunswick, currently at 9 Spring St., New Brunswick

When: Late August or early September

Contact: 732-342-7412, veganizedfoods.com

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