DC Restaurant Goes Vegan in May and Beyond

The owners of Pow Pow, an Asian fast-casual restaurant in Washington, DC, launched an all-vegan menu for the month of May. After trying vegan chef Margaux Riccio’s dishes, co-owners Shaun Sharkey and John Yamashita decided to transition to a plant-based menu to ascertain if it could support itself. Riccio, alongside Yamashita, created a new menu featuring mock meats, hearty bowls, and veganized egg rolls. “I am looking forward to tasting [chef Yamashita’s] new creations.” Riccio told VegNews. “Now that we are no longer a divided kitchen, we can work fully as a plant-based creative team.” Diners can expect new dishes such as a Natalie Porkman bowl with sweet and sour pork seitan atop tomatoes, grilled pineapple, green pepper, carrots, bean sprouts, and scallions; Disco Stick Egg Roll with plant-based chicken, pickled carrot, pineapple kimchi, and cabbage; and Chicken Fingers with soy-based Taiwanese fried chicken tossed in a choice of seven sauces. “If the community supports us as much as I believe they will, we will stay plant-based,” Riccio said. “We never get tired of hearing ‘If you hadn’t told me it was plant-based, I’d never known.’”