From left, Kale Me Crazy’s smoothies are on trend, Stand-Up Burgers’ meat is mysterious and Copper Branch does vegan food right.
Wooden bar stools, tall ceilings with hanging lightbulbs and fake plants brought an upscale feel to Kale Me Crazy, a healthy superfood café with ample vegan options that I visited in Atlanta. The cashier recommended the Tropical Trippin’ smoothie with orange, mango, pineapple, coconut yogurt and coconut milk, plus $1 extra to add strawberries, bringing the total to $12.72 after tip. A green straw made from natural plant-based chlorella felt on brand, and the first sip was smooth and delicious. “We believe in real food” was plastered in all caps on the white brick wall under the expansive menu, offering everything from mushroom coffee and matcha rose lattes to farro salads and poke bowls. With only five two-person tables, I picked a spot at the bar and watched a steady stream of millennial and Gen Z women enter, order the trendy and Instagrammable acai bowl and pay on their phones. “It’s a cool little place,” I overheard one customer say while walking out the door. I agree.
The upshot: Kale Me Crazy seems perfect for urban markets with plenty of health-conscious young consumers looking to satisfy their “fresh, organic, raw” food fix. —C.E.
Big glops of a tinny-tasting smoke-flavored orange sauce smothered all our food at Stand-Up Burgers, the vegan burger stand that bills itself as “unapologetically indulgent.” Someone should apologize for something, though, because the new franchise from the founders of Veggie Grill piles on the calories and the fake ingredients without disclosing anywhere what they are—presumably because with fewer units than 20 they aren’t required to do so, so far. The copy writers are working overtime here, with vague save-the-world slogans like “Eat Like You Give a Shake” and “There Is No Planet B.” There’s no Body B either, and after burdening ours with a flabby orange patty in the Buffalo Chick’n, a limp gray “burger” in the O.G., the Loaded Tots smothered with pieces of bark (I mean “bacon”) and gluey soft-serve in a root-beer float, we felt defiled. “At the end of the day it’s still a gut bomb,” my companion said, and at an insulting $52 for two people for lunch. No wonder it was empty at 1 p.m. on a Friday in Chicago.
The upshot: Stand-Up Burgers gives new meaning to the term “mystery meat,” with concoctions smothered by unknown items. —B.E.
Typically averse to plant-based food items masquerading as meat, it was a request from a vegetarian cousin while on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, that prompted a visit to Copper Branch, one of only two locations in the U.S. The Canadian concept presents a menu of bowls, sandwiches, smoothies and the like made—surprisingly—with ingredients that are vegan by nature and not manufactured in a lab. The General Copper Bowl, Copper Branch’s take on General Tso’s chicken, is a mix of broccoli, avocado, organic brown rice, sesame seeds, sriracha coleslaw and a tangy sauce, with slices of shiitake mushroom teriyaki replacing the poultry. Flavorful and with fresh-tasting ingredients, it impressed this carnivore, while the Aztec bowl with savory sweet potato cubes and mango salsa was a hit with my discerning dining companion. And for about $28, it was far less than what I would later drop for an array of fried chicken plates at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken.
The upshot: With an inventive menu and stylish interior, Copper Branch has the makings of a successful concept and is one to watch should it continue making a push into the U.S. —L.M.