SHOREWOOD - Melanie Manuel's vegan pop-up events have grown so popular that she now plans to open a restaurant in Shorewood.

Manuel held her first pop-up event one year ago at Draft and Vessel, a Shorewood craft beer bar. Since then, larger and larger crowds have been coming to pop-up events at other local microbreweries, such as Third Space, Good City, Eagle Park, Lost Valley Cider and Urban Harvest.

Now that she is routinely drawing crowds of 70 people, Manuel feels there is enough interest for a vegan restaurant, which is a unique concept in the Milwaukee area.

Manuel has secured a loan and is in the process of planning her new restaurant, which does not yet have a name. She said she is looking at a space in Shorewood, but the deal is too preliminary to announce at this time. She hopes to open in April 2018.

Manuel plans to serve lunch and dinner six days a week, as well as brunch on the weekends. She said she plans to have a full bar with creative craft cocktails, such as a beet-infused vodka mixed with ginger syrup. She envisions her restaurant as a community meeting place that caters to families with a kid-friendly menu.

"I'm hoping to have some very fun playful dishes from my pop-up events, as well as some elevated vegan cuisine that can show the best of what plants have to offer," she said.

Manuel, 40, moved to Shorewood two years ago after 11 years in Florida, where she taught creative writing at an arts high school.

Growing up, her father's Air Force service carried her from Illinois to Virginia, England, Germany, Alabama and Washington, D.C., where she went to high school. She studied in Japan and taught English in Germany and China. She is certified in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University.

Her culinary sensibilities were influenced from the time she spent in Kansas picking peas, potatoes and corn in her grandparent's farm — which would later become her parents' farm. She also draws from her time in Germany, where people picked up vegetables from the market every day for that night's dinner.

Manuel said she fell in love with Milwaukee during her visits to the area. She took a job in adult literacy on the north side of the city, which left an impression on her. When she brought pineapple to class one day, one of her students told her the only pineapple he had ever tasted came out of a can.

A vegetarian since she was 16, Manuel wants to show people how flavorful plant-based cuisine can be. She started Beatrix Foods, which has been catering events for the past year with the slogan "rabbit food, reinvented."

Manuel said she uses a variety of spices, seasonings and layers to her dishes.

Some menu ideas include miso mushroom and beet carpaccio small plates; Korean tacos, Peruvian fries and arancini as happy hour appetizers; and for entrees, a Ramen dish, Gado-gado salad from Indonesia or tempeh picatta with lemon sauce, fingerling potatoes and green beans.

"A lot of people look at plant-based eating as restrictive, but to me it's creative and fun," she said.

Manuel also enjoys playing with faux meats. For example, she makes her own seitan, which she incorporates into hot ham and rolls for football parties. She is also using seitan in a schnitzel dish for an upcoming Oktoberfest dinner on Oct. 23 at The National Cafe, 839 W. National Ave., Milwaukee.

Manuel's vegan proteins will be available at a "mini butchery" within her future restaurant, she said. One example of this concept can be found in Minneapolis, where a brother and sister founded a vegan "butchery" called The Herbivorious Butcher.

Here in Shorewood, Manuel envisions selling her seitan by the ounce or pound, so people can experiment with their own vegan recipes at home. She also plans to sell on-the-go meals, such as salads, soups and grain bowls with roasted vegetables.

"A lot of people who eat meat are more willing to go meatless, at least on occasion," she said. "The vegan market is really growing right now, and I think people want to try those options."