Vegan restaurant opens in Gastonia

When Sasha Quinn opened Soul Miner's Garden Food Truck in the beginning of March 2020, she had researched where to park her truck, and she had put together a schedule. The food truck was the fulfillment of a longtime dream, and she was prepared.

"I wanted a food truck for over 10 years. I actually left serving and bartending to start my food truck," she said. "We had like a whole schedule that we had done, a lot of research on where we should go, all these emails and phone calls speaking with different people.".

A couple of weeks later, "all of that went out the window."

The pandemic had started, and restaurants and other businesses were temporarily shuttered.

"We had to go back to the drawing board and figure out, 'OK, where can we go now?'"

She made it work anyway. Despite that initial challenge, Soul Miner's Garden Food Truck built a following in the Charlotte area, winning awards for its vegan cuisine, and now, they've opened a restaurant in Gastonia.

Located in a building that formerly housed a Japanese restaurant at 3204 Union Road, Soul Miner's Garden and Market offers a variety of vegan dishes, ranging from vegan tacos to loaded nachos made from fresh, hand-cut tortillas that are fried to order.

"I try to create dishes that are flavorful. I still make like potato salad and collard greens and things like that that people here in the South love to eat," she said. "I'm making food that I wish I could go and sit down and eat somewhere."

Quinn said she initially looked in Charlotte, but found the real estate in Charlotte "out of control."

"I've been looking for two years for a space in Charlotte. With no real sign of commercial rent dropping, it seemed like I had to look elsewhere or choose to close all together," she said.

Her restaurant in Gastonia is the culmination of a career largely spent in the restaurant industry.

"Honestly, it's a dream come true. I've worked in restaurants pretty much ever since I was able to work," she said. "My first job was in a restaurant, and almost every job I've had since minus a couple have been in restaurants."

The name for the restaurant was inspired by the song "Coal Miner's Daughter" by the late Loretta Lynn.

"It's all about coming from nothing, making something out of nothing," Quinn said.

Soul Miner's Garden and Market has a market area in the front of the restaurant that Quinn plans to expand.

"Eventually we'll have our own house made grab and go items, like cold salads, cold sandwiches, things like that," she said.

She also plans to sell vegan ice cream and vegan cheeses, "so anyone who is dairy free can also partake in that."

"For us, how we've been able to find some new clients or customers are through that − being dairy free," she said.

Quinn said that as she is currently focusing on getting the restaurant running smoothly. The food truck won't be operational, but it may someday re-open.

"For the moment, we're just focusing on this because staffing is really hard right now, and I need to have a strong crew for the restaurant, and I would also have a strong crew for the food truck as well," she said.

Soul Miner's Garden and Market is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Reporter Kara Fohner can be reached at kfohner@gannett.com or at 704-869-1850.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Vegan restaurant opens in Gastonia