29 April 13th–April 19th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | On the Lowdown Find late-night vegan eats at this coffee shop drive-thru. BY GERI KOEPPEL F inding fast, affordable, convenient, and approachable vegan food can be a challenge, particularly for night owls. That’s why Theron Evans and Jai Jones, who are partners in life as well as business, devised the idea for Lowdown Vegan. “Jai and I both had similar gripes about late-night eating,” Evans says, noting that options are “limited and boring,” like a bean burrito without the cheese. He posed the questions, “Why is vegan food so expensive? Why do we have to wait 30 minutes for our order?” Jones adds that vegan options at conventional restaurants often miss the mark. “I don’t like French fries or some dumb, silly eggplant or zucchini option,” she says. “I’m very much not a fan of a zucchini sand- wich or hummus and pita bread.” In order to satisfy eaters like themselves and to entice others to try plant-based food, the couple opened Arizona’s first dedicated vegan fast food drive-thru, Lowdown Vegan, in January. It serves a concise menu of plant- based sandwiches, pasta, desserts, and beverages. The restaurant is “on the lowdown” because it operates out of Froth Coffee Roasters at East McDowell Road and North 15th Street from 7 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday after the daytime business closes. Most customers order online, pick up at the window, and take their brown paper bags to go, although some eat on-site at outdoor tables as the dining room is closed after Froth shuts down for the day. Lowdown Vegan also takes orders at the window and whips up the meals in a jiffy. “We want to be known as a place where you can roll up and get vegan food in under five minutes and keep going,” Evans says. That’s the main reason they’re keeping the menu selections tight—to preserve the speed in the kitchen, which uses just a two- burner hot plate and a tidy mise en place. Nothing is fried, which, they admit, has been a deal-breaker for some customers. And they don’t serve plant-based burgers, because they’re already ubiquitous. Most of the items at Lowdown Vegan are made with “chick’n” mock meat patties made by TiNDLE. “It tastes very, very much like conventional chicken,” Evans says. Sandwiches ($7.95) include BBQ Chick’n with homemade sauce and cara- melized onions; Italian Parmesan with marinara, vegan mozzarella, and fresh basil; and Jamaican Jerk, their best-selling and spiciest sandwich, made with Scotch bonnet vegan mayo. The Buffalo sauce is made in-house with a vegan butter substitute, and the ranch dressing is a special housemade blend as well. The buns are springy and not at all dry. Other menu options include a Tunah Pasta Salad ($7.95) and a side of LoVe (an abbreviation of Lowdown Vegan) Mac & Cheeze ($3.95). Desserts ($3.95) include a Banana Bread Mini-Loaf, Peanut Butter Bar, and Chocolate Chip Brownie. Drinks include The Mint Mend — a health-focused concoc- tion made with mint chlorophyll, filtered water, and a touch of sweetness ($2.50). While health is not the main focus in most of their dishes, Evans says, “we are going to be a healthier option than any current fast food because we don’t use animal fats.” Jones, who has been cooking since she was young, worked for a chef in Los Angeles during the raw food fad and at a company that made pre-packaged vegan meals. Evans, meanwhile, had a long career working with Hard Rock Cafe in several cities. Now striking out on their own, the couple hope to find their own building soon and add locations over time. “Our business model is designed for duplication [and] expansion,” Evans says. Meanwhile, Lowdown Vegan currently attracts customers in large part because they’ve Googled “vegan food.” They get a good number of people coming from the airport and from nearby hospitals. Also, Evans notes, “We’ve been told we’re getting some buzz in the vegan gatherings that are happening in real life.” And, in what Evans calls a feather in their cap, Lowdown Vegan provided food to the band Paramore when they played at the Super Bowl LVII Music Fest at Footprint Center in February. The band’s singer, Hayley Williams, is vegan and the tour manager called the restaurant and sent a courier to pick up the order. But the couple hopes to reach a much wider span of eaters beyond vegans by providing flavors and textures that mimic what omnivores already enjoy. “The more vegan options mirror the conventional way of eating in America, the more people will transition over,” Evans notes. Lowdown Vegan 1447 East McDowell Road 602-834-8346 Geri Koeppel | CHOW BELLA | t Café (Left to right): Lowdown Vegan Manager Frankie O’Neill and owners Theron Evans and Jai Jones.
