DISH OF THE WEEK: Vegan Soft Serve at LEKKA BURGER

SADLY, LEKKA BURGER IS NOW CLOSED.

Lekka Burger was primed to be the next hot vegan burger spot. The chef behind it is Amanda Cohen, who is possibly the biggest name in New York’s innovative vegetable-forward cuisine. She owns and operates Dirt Candy and I have always admired her and her work.

I stopped by Lekka Burger shortly after they opened at the end of 2019 – just months before the entire world was flipped upside down. To be honest, I didn’t love their signature vegan burger.

One of my favorite things about Cohen’s dishes is that she generally uses vegetables we recognize to create something exciting. Here, like many vegan burger options, she is using an alternative meat, but an ancient and chemical-free one called yuguanfei. It’s comprised of fried dough and red yeast rice.

The other mostly secret ingredients in the patty include portobellos and beans.

It just didn’t do it for me – it had a very earthy smoky legume flavor that was not for me. Perhaps I needed to add some more toppings to enhance the flavor.

However, I did stop by again recently to try their vegan soft serve and I was much happier. Ice cream has a tendency to do that.

I was hoping for one of the more exotic special flavors like Beet or Carrot, but I ended up with an enjoyable cup of Mango and Vanilla.

The smooth creamy texture does not hint at the fact that this contains no dairy. It was right on.

The flavor was something different than traditional ice cream, but still pretty yummy. These concoctions are made with oat milk and they’re a crowd pleaser thanks to a slightly sweet breadiness that played very nicely with the vanilla and the fresh mango flavor. Anyone who swears by oat milk in their coffee will lose their minds over this soft serve.

I do hope the company continues to grow and helps bring vegan treats and fast food to the masses. And I definitely will give their burger a second chance. But next time, toppings galore. Price: $3.95-$5.95