The Butcher’s Son brings a vegan deli to Berkeley

Co-owners Christina Stobing (left), with her 6-month-old daughter, and Peter Fikaris work at their vegan deli the Butcher’s Son in Berkeley. Co-owners Christina Stobing (left), with her 6-month-old daughter, and Peter Fikaris work at their vegan deli the Butcher’s Son in Berkeley. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close The Butcher’s Son brings a vegan deli to Berkeley 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

A great meatball sub is a thing of sublime messiness. The meatballs, mozzarella and tomato sauce meld into a single organism, barely contained by a soft bun. Different flavors may surface — the tomato sauce’s sweetness, a bite of fennel from the meatball — but overall, this sandwich is an ensemble, not a solo performance.

The version at the Butcher’s Son, a new Berkeley sandwich shop and deli, ticks all the boxes: springy meatballs, gooey fried mozzarella, multiple napkins required.

All the more surprising for the fact that the mozzarella is made from cashews, the meatballs from seitan and shiitakes, and there’s nary an animal product in sight: The Butcher’s Son is a vegan butcher shop and delicatessen.

Half of you may be scared off already. Even in the Bay Area, vegan food all too often carries with it a whiff of hearty, Moosewood cookbook hippie-ism. It doesn’t help that most first-generation fake meat — chewy textured vegetable protein, too-sweet jackfruit “pork,” the cardboardy garden burger — left something to be desired.

To give up bacon and burgers doesn’t mean you develop a love for Tofurky and Field Roast overnight. Many vegans are disappointed with fake meat; they just decided at some point that the ethical, environmental and health benefits were worth the sacrifice.

Peter Fikaris was tired of sacrificing. The co-owner of the Butcher’s Son isn’t technically the son of a butcher — his father was a spiritual teacher who owned Michael’s American Vegetarian Diner on Telegraph Avenue for many years. But his butcher shop, and others like it that are opening around the country, represent the next generation of plant-based proteins: vegan meats and cheeses that look, smell and even bleed just like the real thing. With reasons to cut down on meat consumption piling up, there could be a point in our future where meatless meatball subs will be the new normal.

“Veganism will become mainstream when society starts to change their minds about what they eat, why they eat it it, and how they eat it,” Fikaris says. “We’re hitting a tipping point.”

Fikaris has been a vegan for most of his life and has put a lot of thought into his choices — but the Butcher’s Son came about primarily because he simply wanted a sandwich.

Specifically, he wanted one of the heroes that he used to make working in a deli but that he couldn’t replicate with fake meat. Most of the vegan products in the supermarket were hyper-processed, and he hated having no control over the portion size or cut.

He began dreaming of a counter where you could order a half-pound of turkey, a quarter-pound of Swiss and an eighth of a pound of pepper steak — all made from plants instead of animals.

Fikaris spent years developing his recipes, and these are among the most advanced vegan meats I’ve ever encountered. Sriracha pepper steak, garlic-chili chicken and roast beef are all made with seitan or yuba, with vital wheat gluten and high-protein flour to enhance the texture. They are flavored with oils, vinegars and spices, as well as soy sauce and chile and teriyaki sauces to give them the right taste. Few have the lingering aftertaste of coconut oil or grainy sweetness that so many animal protein imitations tend to have.

The key seems to be replicating the experience of eating these sandwiches more than the actual sandwich. That’s the case with the signature meatball sub, which satisfied my brain’s craving even though I probably could have picked the plant-based meatballs out of a lineup, as they were less dense than their porky counterparts.

A few sandwiches were almost there but had yet to cross the uncanny valley between real and imitation, like the spicy chicken B.L.A.T. — the smoky-tasting bacon lacked those irresistible pockets of fat, and the thin slices of garlic-roasted chicken had a grainier texture than the real thing, though it had all the flavors of a good chicken sub. And the pulled pork, made from yuba instead of jackfruit, had an almost fatty texture, even if it tasted mostly of barbecue sauce.

The cafe looks like any other deli: a large display case with meats and cheeses to go, an open station where sandwiches are assembled, tables next to large windows that look out over University Avenue. It was busy on my two visits, unsurprising for Berkeley, perhaps, and seemed to be filled with as many students and curiosity seekers as aging hippies. Mornings bring flaky vegan croissants and other pastries, while the lunch crowd gets sandwiches and sides like potato salad and bacon macaroni salad. Once they get a smoker, Fikaris hopes to add his versions of pastrami, smoked cheese, smoked whitefish and salami.

To me, the weirdest thing about the imitation meat movement is the nomenclature. Defining something by what it’s not — like calling it “fake meat” — invites comparisons that may not always be flattering. This was the case with the Philly cheesesteak, which had ribbons of pepper “steak” interspersed with grilled peppers and Swiss cheese. It was a perfectly good sandwich, but a great Philly cheesesteak it was not.

Then again, I can only bring myself to eat that glorious gut bomb of a sandwich about once a year. The Butcher’s Son is here for us the rest of the time.

Anna Roth is a freelance writer in San Francisco. Email: food@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annaroth

What to order: Meatball sub ($10.95), spicy chicken B.L.A.T. ($10.95), Caprese ($9.95).

Where: The Butcher’s Son, 1941 University Ave. (at Bonita Avenue), Berkeley, (510) 984-0818. www.thebutchersveganson.com.

When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.