Black Tastemakers: Fayetteville couple to bring vegan restaurant to Murchison Road
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A soon-to-open restaurant on Murchison Road in Fayetteville will serve a menu that’s right at home in the All-American City — pizza, submarine sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks, burgers, chicken tenders and chocolate chip cookies — with one major departure from the norm.
All the food is vegan.
Slated to open Jan. 17 at Murchison Marketplace shopping center, The Vegan Spot has roots in a vegan comfort food truck by the same name opened by married couple Yoniara Montoya, 35, and Robert Harris, 32, in 2021.
Montoya said she began a vegan diet in 2019 after a diagnosis of acute heart failure. Before long, she improved enough to ditch her heart medicine, she said. Now, she’s 125 pounds down and has more energy than ever.
“Seeing the benefits made me want to share it with my community,” said the Clinton native who moved to Fayetteville over a decade ago. “I wanted to share it with as many people as possible.”
She started with a blog, then came the food truck, and now a restaurant.
Bringing vegan food to Fayetteville's historically Black corridor
Located at the former site of The Salad Box, along Fayetteville’s historically Black corridor, which suffers from limited access to fresh food, otherwise known as a “food desert," the 2,500-square-foot Vegan Spot will seat 32 and employ a staff of 11.
The new eatery will be the third vegan restaurant in Fayetteville, and the only one in the Murchison Road area.
Montoya, however, is up for the challenge. She said she's no stranger to introducing customers to vegan food, and she looks forward to bringing new life to the shopping center that once housed a Walmart.
“I feel like we’re waking it up. We’re going to have it jumping as soon as we open,” she said.
Menu offers "a slice of the city"
While the food truck, which will operate as an extension of the kitchen in the parking lot, follows a military theme, the new restaurant items are named for local landmarks like the Crown Coliseum, the Haymount neighborhood and the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens.
“The food truck was for the military, the restaurant is for the city,” Montoya explained.
Pizza is at the center of the menu, with toppings like vegan sausage, pepperoni, shrimp or chicken layered over a house cheese blend. There are also starters like pepperoni croissants and garlic knots with marinara sauce.
The deli case will soon be stocked with plant-based versions of ham, turkey, salami and buffalo chicken.
Montoya said she’s in the process of getting county approval to add wine to the menu. In the meantime, there will be bottled cold-pressed juices and smoothies, sparkling water, soft drinks and iced tea to drink.
The owner has plans beyond the four walls of the new restaurant, however.
What's next for The Vegan Spot?
Montoya said she hopes to make Murchison Marketplace a mecca for anyone interested in vegan food by inviting Triangle-based food trucks like Pure Soul, Epic Vegan and Vegan Ice Cream Man to the shopping center for special events.
In the future, Montoya said, she has a vision for an alcohol-free bar that mixes up CBD drinks. She has her eye on the vacant Ruby Tuesday location on Skibo Road that was most recently home to a string of short-lived sushi restaurants.
“We need a place for us vegans to hang out,” she said.
Until then, she said, she and her crew are getting ready for a busy opening day at The Vegan Spot later this month.
“We know it’s going to be crowded,” she said. “We’re prepared for the madness.”
The details
Address: 3421 Murchison Road, Suite A
Phone: 910-500-3027
Business hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday.
On the web: theveganspotfaync.com, facebook.com/veganspotfayettevillenc,
Food, dining and culture reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com, on Twitter, or Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: The Vegan Spot opens Jan. 17 at Murchison Marketplace in Fayetteville
