CleverRoot

1 6 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t F NICKY FORK AS A VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN, if you mention that you are on your way to get sushi, you will more likely than not be met with a furrowed brow and a cocked head. Most people don't realize that you can indeed eat sushi with- out the fish; technically, sushi is defined as vinegared rice prepared with various other ingredients. Unfortunately, this definition doesn't save non- fish eaters from a menu with very few and, quite frankly, boring options— which got New York City's Chef Guy Vaknin thinking. He began testing out vegan sushi ideas at some of the events he catered around the city. When people began asking where his storefront was, he took the hint and opened his first location of Beyond Sushi in Union Square. With additional locations now in Chelsea Market and Midtown West and fourth and fifth locations slated for this year, Beyond Sushi offers everything you'd expect from your typical sushi restaurant, but with a major twist: The menu includes only 100 percent vegan items. No longer do you have only avocado and cucumber rolls to choose from; at these establishments, the world is your plant-based oyster. You can enjoy white and red miso, coconut curry and several types of dump- lings, noodle salads, rice bed salads and noodle soups. And then there are the sushi rolls themselves, like the La Fiesta roll—black rice, avocado, chayote and pickled jalapeño topped with black bean purée and Kaffir lime chips with a tomato guajillo; the Sunny Side roll—black rice, braised fennel, sundried tomato and avocado, topped with butternut squash and almond pesto sauce; and the Chic Pea—black rice, roasted eggplant, artichoke and English cucumber, topped with saffron chickpea purée, parsley and a tahini sauce. Vegans whose mouths don't water at the sound of that might need to get their salivary glands checked out. "I'm inspired by what's in season and what nature brings to the table," Vaknin explains. "I've drawn inspiration for my specials from my grandma's old recipes to my travels around the globe. Anything and everything can spark an idea that inspires the menu." Roughly 60 percent of Beyond Sushi's customer base comes from the non-vegan community, which might surprise you until you take your first bite. "People don't miss the fish when eating here," he notes. "If the food tastes good and there is good service to complement it, then there is no reason not to enjoy." There's nothing fishy about that. On a Roll NYC'S BEYOND SUSHI IS A HAVEN FOR VEGANS AND NON-VEGANS ALIKE by Emily Coleman Beyond Sushi in New York City creates works of art from 100 percent plant-based ingredients. The limelight rice bed salad. Chef Guy Vaknin and his wife, Tali, opened their first Beyond Sushi in December 2012, with their fourth and fifth locations opening this year. The sweet bean rice paper wraps. ■cr PHOTOS COURTESY OF BEYOND SUSHI

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