Three months after Knead Bakery closed, the house at 294 North Winooski Avenue in Burlington’s Previous North Finish is a vegan restaurant as soon as once more. Chef-owner David Quintana and chef Jeff Hodgdon launched Despacito with a mushy opening in mid-December; they’re focusing on a grand opening on Saturday, January 14.
The co-chefs are cooking up a menu of each “vegan junk meals and elevated vegan dishes,” Quintana mentioned.
“It is a enjoyable, tapas-style, inventive tackle issues,” Hodgdon added.
To date, dinner service has featured small plates comparable to Buffalo cauliflower, beet tartare and kimchi sliders on housemade buns, in addition to bigger, shareable dishes comparable to a tofu plate. Most menu gadgets price $10 or much less, and lots of are gluten free.
Each Quintana and Hodgdon come from the cell meals biz world; Quintana has run the Burlington-based Dos Feos vegan meals truck since 2019, and Hodgdon based seitan firm the New Deal in 2018, launching a meals cart in 2022. The 2 cooks met whereas working at Winooski’s Mule Bar final winter.
A brick-and-mortar restaurant was all the time Quintana’s objective, he mentioned, although he’ll proceed to run Dos Feos within the hotter months. Just like the meals truck, the Despacito menu nods to his Puerto Rican roots, providing empanadas, mofongo, picadillo made with Unimaginable Burger and coconut flan.
Quintana and Hodgdon will complement their dinner service with beer, wine and mocktails. They’ve opened up the house so as to add seating and plan to supply leisure sooner or later.
Daytime café service is within the works, too. Despacito will accomplice with Middlebury’s Iluminar Coffee Roasters to supply Puerto Rican beans.
“We’re attempting to get the items collectively to open up the café,” Quintana mentioned. “That is what the group was used to,” he added, referring to the café service at Knead Bakery. “I get it.”
