From farmers market to West Boulevard — Dee’s Vegan To-Go opens brick-and-mortar
If you’ve visited the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market over the past few years, you’ve likely seen — and tried — Chef Dee’s vegan dishes and desserts. Soon, you’ll be able to grab one of Denise Hairston’s famous meals to go at the new brick-and-mortar store, Dee’s Vegan To-Go, on West Boulevard, set to open Nov. 6.
Hairston began selling her desserts and cookbooks at the farmers market in 2016. Every week, she’d receive feedback from customers asking her to cook for them. In response, she started prepping meals in a commercial kitchen, and they were an immediate hit.
“I love to cook. I’ve always been a foodie,” Hairston said. “My customers at the farmers market every week would ask when I was going to get a brick-and-mortar.”
She’d owned a full-service restaurant and bar before and didn’t want to do that again.
“I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to listen to my customers,’” Hairston said. “I was looking for a small spot to be in compliance with COVID-19. This space only allowed for to-go, where people could have their own personal commercial kitchen and a small retail spot up front. It was perfect for me.”
A twist on the traditional: vegan comfort food
Hairston hasn’t eaten meat for 30 years. After finding a lot of diet-related illness in both the minority community and in her own family, she began researching and studying. Her findings about the importance of healthy eating led her to write two cookbooks.
Hairston’s mother had taught her how to cook traditional comfort food — and Hairston learned how to turn that comfort food into a healthy vegan meal.
She took classes at both Johnston & Wales University and Central Piedmont Community College to learn the basics, but quickly learned those programs didn’t suit her culinary goals.
“The things I ate didn’t go along with what they were teaching,” Hairston said. “They didn’t teach a lot of vegan in culinary schools, so I have always done trial and error.”
Her method has been a success. Each week, she sells a hundred slices of cake at the farmer’s market and has a loyal customer base both at the market — and at home.
“My family is all avid meat eaters, but they love the way I prepare meals without meat,” Hairston said.
At Dee’s Vegan To-Go, you’ll find what Hairston calls “vegan comfort food,” with options such as jambalaya, “chicken” and waffles, burgers and hot dogs, teriyaki “chicken” and the very coveted crab cakes (which almost didn’t make it onto the menu, but we can thank her daughter’s friend for ensuring we get a taste). You can also get gluten-free, soy-free mac and cheese, prepared with a gluten-free pasta all the way from Italy.
There will also be desserts, including lemon pound cake, sweet potato cake and oatmeal raisin cookies with organic flax. Catering is available, as well.
Hairston prepares all of her dishes with plenty of flavor and spice. While she said she’d enjoy a bowl of vegetables with a sprinkle of quinoa on top, not everyone would, so she makes small additions to tasty meals (such as the flax in the oatmeal raisin cookies) to ensure even a sweet treat is healthy.
“Adding small things like that, just like if you’re trying to trick your children to eat healthy, that’s what we have to do,” Hairston said. “You have to do the same thing with adults as you do with children.”
And Hairston’s customer base isn’t limited to only those seeking a vegan meal or dessert.
“People are most surprised that 80 to 85 percent of my customers — people who buy my desserts and my meals — are not vegan,” Hairston said. “They’re regular meat eaters, but they’re like, ‘I love this food so much, I don’t care what it’s called.’ Non-vegans love my food, as well.”
What it’s like to open during COVID-19
Dee’s Vegan To-Go joins the lineup of spaces that have opened amid the pandemic. And though Hairston has a loyal customer base excited for the opening of the shop, it’s been anything but smooth sailing to ready the space.
“The biggest thing for me was the stress levels,” Hairston said.
She signed the contract to open the building in March, right as COVID-19 reached the Charlotte areastarted. It was supposed to be open Sept. 1.
“We kept getting pushed back because once COVID-19 hit, the builders couldn’t get permits or get started on anything,” Hairston said.
Then, once the contractors got in, they found more things that would need to be updated before the grab-and-go space could open. The building is a former police station that was turned into suites, so Hairston had to work with electricians and contractors to make the space kitchen-ready. She also found that getting food from suppliers was pushed back due to the pandemic.
Now, after months of anticipation and hard work, Dee’s Vegan To-Go will soon be open to grab a healthy vegan meal to enjoy from the comfort of your own home.
Dee’s Vegan To-Go
1540 West Blvd.
11 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Saturday
Instagram: @veganchefd
