NYC’s Meatball Shop’s Veggie Balls Go Vegan

In response to customer demand, popular New York City eatery The Meatball Shop recently added vegan meatballs to its customizable menu. Chef/owner Daniel Holzman—who previously worked at New York City’s Candle Café and Los Angeles-based Inn at the Seventh Ray—replaced the restaurant’s vegetarian meatballs (which contained eggs) with a vegan version for one week at their Lower East Side location in celebration of Thug Kitchen’s new cookbook. The meatballs—now available at all seven locations of The Meatball Shop—are made with a “meaty” combination of lentils, mushrooms, and walnuts, and can be paired with a weekly rotation of seasonal vegetable sides. The Meatball Shop’s objective is to offer options for everyone and Holzman says he loves “vegetables and [doesn’t] find cooking with only them to be constraining”