15 January 2026
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The New Year is a time ripe for change, a hinge in time when aspirational resolutions tend to pile up like pancakes on a breakfast plate — some may last while some will disappear quickly. The need for absolution after December’s indulgence is a powerful draw for those considering a clean start to 2026. Chefs across the country at vegan, vegetarian and plant-forward MICHELIN restaurants like Vedge and Pietramala in Philadelphia, Fabrik in Austin, and Shizen, a unique vegan sushi bar and izakaya in San Francisco, are happy to oblige with menus that serve up both salvation and innovation.
“I think people are interested in vegan cuisine not because it’s a trend, but because they are more genuinely interested in exploring,” says Chef Amanda Cohen of New York City’s vegan tasting menu restaurant, Dirt Candy, where she has been advocating vegetable and plant-based cooking long before it was cool.
“There are so many steak restaurants opening, and you are not seeing a backlash, but people want a chance to try something else even if it's for one night.”
“There are so many steak restaurants opening, and you are not seeing a backlash, but people want a chance to try something else even if it's for one night.”
Her five course tasting menu remains one of the most impressive in the city and includes showstopping dishes even in winter, like an onion tart layered with pearl onion petals, onion cream and seaweed caviar, and a salt-roasted yellow beet filled with curried chawanmushi (a Japanese custard) finished with mint chutney and cooling raita.
That inclination to experiment with vegan or plant-forward dishes is particularly strong in January, which leads many chefs to break the mold and lean into innovation.
“Every year we do January specials and new dishes,” says Ravi DeRossi, who owns Avant Garden, celebrating 10 years at the forefront of plant-based dining in New York City. Under the leadership of Chef Juan Pajarito, the kitchen lets vegetables truly take center stage with an anniversary tasting menu bringing together the original dishes that defined Avant Garden’s story. Designed for the table to share, the tasting menu “is intentionally communal, celebrating abundance, generosity and the pleasure of eating together,” says DeRossi.
It includes dishes like a baby gem Caesar salad with roasted tomato, avocado and garlic-nori croutons; an avocado with carrot ginger purée, crispy rice, miso glaze and blistered shishito; spinach-stuffed artichoke with black truffles; scorched cauliflower with toasted garlic, fried capers and cauliflower purée; and an almond cake for dessert.
Brooks Headley's Superiority Burger, the first-come, first-served cult favorite in Manhattan’s East Village, boasts vintage diner vibes and a vegetarian menu that is equal parts quirky and contemporary. Headley leans hard on camp and kitsch, serving a playful menu that includes dishes like roasted carrots with dill crema, market pickles, tofu, and salt and vinegar masa chips; cabbage filled with sticky rice and oyster mushrooms; and a signature burger crafted from quinoa, chickpeas, carrots and walnuts. For Christmas this year, Headley created a 100% vegan strawberry “mortadella” stuffed with cookies, pistachios and house candied strawberries all bound together with a strawberry jelly. “Think Swiss Colony meets John Waters,” says Headley on Instagram about the holiday dessert.
At Oyster Oyster in Washington, D.C., Chef Rob Rubba prepares imaginative vegan and vegetarian dishes. The winter menu, called “The Cellar Larder” and closely tied to local farmers’ harvests, showcases root vegetables, winter squashes, hearty greens, and the expansive larder pantry Rubba has built from spring through fall, including ferments and pickles.
His Cellar Larder menu for January is comprised of plates like grilled kale crowns filled with house made smoked tofu puree; badger flame beet “pastrami” served with caraway buckwheat bread; delicata squash with seaweed in a tomato tamari; and fermented kohlrabi with watermelon radish and coriander capers.
“We are always striving to showcase plants in their full range of flavors and textures,” says Rubba. “Winter vegetables tend to be richer, so the way we build a menu needs to create a crescendo of flavor without weighing down the diner. The larder brings brightness and energy to the cold winter.”
While creativity is a hallmark of many Veganuary menus, a focus on lightness is at play at others. At New York City’s abcV, where a mushroom walnut bolognese is one of the restaurant’s top sellers, Culinary Director Neal Harden explains that January is a time where he adds “more virtuous, light eating dishes that are also delicious. We focus on greens, broths, roots, sprouts and whole grains.”
It’s an effort that he says appeals to the new faces in the restaurant — those coming in to explore both vegan cuisine and healthy eating. “I strive to make vegan dishes that have a lot of layers and surprises,” he says. “I am always working to achieve deep notes of umami using whole food, plant ingredients — no mock foods.”
Harden says winter is an appealing time of year to let those ingredients take center stage. “I love winter cooking because ingredient availability is not in as much flux as in summer,” he says. “You can really sit back and focus on dish composition and make something special out of overlooked ingredients that require extra culling, like burdock or rutabaga. Additionally, vibrant winter salads of bitter chicories and sweet citrus are tops.”
Vegan dining is just one way toward a cleaner lifestyle; plant-forward restaurants like Feld in Chicago, which recently won its first MICHELIN Star, offer a way to dip a toe into the waters. At this “relationship-to-table" restaurant, the menu for each evening is designed that morning, creating an a la minute response to the produce available on that day, whether it’s summer heirloom tomatoes drizzled with burnt maple sugar and blackberry jus and topped with a sprinkle of fresh cut chives and flaky salt, or a wintery roasted patty pan squash sitting in a pool of salted allium cream.
For Rubba, Veganuary’s reset is ideal for after the holidays. “I think it’s a seasonal choice that aligns with New Year’s resolutions,” he says. “After the opulence of the holidays, gym memberships, reduced alcohol intake, and vegan or vegetarian diets all see a boost.”
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Hero image: Charred Broccoli - ©Kate Jacoby/Vedge
