Dominique Crenn, who founded the three Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, has revealed plans to launch a renowned vegan taco joint in Las Vegas the following year.
The restaurant, called La Madrina, will debut inside a brand-new food hall. La Madrina is Spanish for “the godmother.”
The area, known as The Sundry, is near to the main Strip. It is expected to be finished early next year and will house a variety of upscale eateries and bars.
There will be a variety of plant-based foods on the menu at La Madrina, with tacos getting special attention.
With numerous tequilas and mezcals already announced, the alcohol selection is likewise anticipated to be robust.
Removing animals from the menu
Crenn, the first American woman to receive three Michelin stars, has long supported meatless cuisine.
In her San Francisco restaurants, she stopped selling meat from land animals in 2019. The Crenn Dining Group revealed that the decision was environmentally driven in a statement at the time. There would still be fish supplied, it was asserted.
“Meat is insanely complicated — both within the food system and the environment as a whole — and, honestly, it felt easier to just remove it from the menus altogether,” Crenn said.
She opened the vegan takeout eatery VitaBowl in LA one year later. Additional locations are planned for New York, Austin, Chicago, and Seattle.
Michelin chefs stop using meat
Crenn isn’t alone, as many chefs are deciding to omit meat from their menus.
The head chef at Geranium in Copenhagen, recently rated the greatest restaurant in the world, is Rasmus Kofoed. Along with removing most beef from his Michelin-starred menu, Kofoed solely offered seafood.
He disclosed that the decision was motivated by environmental considerations, just like Crenn.
It’s important to remember that the seafood business is still mainly seen as unsustainable and has close linkages to pollution and biodiversity loss. Because of this, some chefs have completely abandoned using animal products.
Despite opposition from certain patrons, Michelin-starred chef Alexis Gauthier converted his London restaurant, Gauthier Soho, to a vegan-only establishment in 2021.
It required the French chef, who had had traditional training, to take foie gras off the menu. The change was effective enough to encourage the opening of a new plant-based café within the Fenwick department store in Mayfair.
Most recently, Eleven Madison Park in New York made history by keeping its three Michelin stars after switching to an entirely vegan menu. After closing and being reevaluated by chef Daniel Humm during the COVID-19 outbreak, the upscale Manhattan restaurant stunned customers by removing animal products from its menu.
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