Mike’s Vegan Grill will offer late-night plant-based dishes in University City

• Owner Mike Roach plans to open his new spot near Harold’s Chicken & Ice Bar. 

Context: The grill rose in popularity thanks to its statewide food truck pop-ups, which included a recurring stop in Charlotte. Recently, the business opened its first brick-and-mortar spot in Greensboro.

• Roach would show up in a new city every day for four years before opening his first location. You might’ve spotted the truck as Mike’s Vegan Hot Dogs or Mike’s Vegan Cook Out in other cities like Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Winston Salem and Greenville.
• Roach essentially aimed to offer a vegan version of Cook Out, with a wide range of items. 

Why it matters: The local plant-based community has few late-night restaurants to choose from. That’s something Roach and his partner Waleed Amer aim to remedy with Mike’s Vegan Grill. 

• Although Charlotte has more than a dozen vegetarian/vegan restaurants and an anticipated opening like Slutty Vegan coming soon, most places aren’t open after 10pm.
• “We want to provide a late-night experience for the vegan eaters out there too. We want to cater to them,” Amer said.

Menu: Signature items include plant-based burgers, hot dogs, tacos and Philly cheesesteaks. Eventually, they plan to offer vegan halal, hibachi and flatbreads. 

• Mike’s Vegan will also have cookies, cheesecakes, cakes, and several dairy-free milkshake flavors.

• The restaurant will incorporate a breakfast menu in the coming months. Plus, it has a secret menu that can only be found on Instagram.

“This is supposed to be a vegan heaven. We hope you can come in with any craving and we’ll have something on the menu to satisfy that,” Roach said.  

Details: Mike’s Vegan Grill is located at 440 E McCullough Dr., in the former Papi’s Puerto Rican Cuisine spot, behind Chex’s Grill & Wings.

• It’ll be open 11am-9pm daily to start. Shortly after they open they’ll extend their hours, at least for takeout, on the weekends until midnight or 2am.