Vegan Urbano, who serve 100% scratch-made vegan street food, will open their first restaurant space in the Rolando neighborhood near San Diego State University. The restaurant will replace San Diego Blenders smoothie shop, which moved just down the road on El Cajon Boulevard.
Owner and Chef Jonathan Felix hails from Nogales, and has lived on both sides of the Mexico-Arizona border. For the past several years, he’s worked locally as a chef in some of San Diego’s premier restaurants.
During the pandemic, he jumped on an opportunity to debut his own style and Sonoran cooking techniques with his creation: Vegan Urbano. While operating pop-ups at partner businesses like Serpentine Cider, he’d sell out of food every time.
Chef Felix announced on Instagram last month they’ll become new neighbors to the Ugly Dog Pub as they prepare to transform the space into a Vegan Urbano restaurant.
Felix tells What Now San Diego he’s still working out the menu but will offer his tried and true recipes like Elote, Crunchwraps, Potato Tornados with his house-made cheese, and Arabic Tacos loaded with fillings and served in deep fried pita bread.
Felix and his partners are also working on new menu items they’re keeping secret for the moment but they let us in on a vegan ice cream recipe they’re developing. What we can undoubtedly expect is a menu made from scratch, from the tortillas to the vegan meats and cheeses.
Vegan Urbano is currently in construction and heading toward final inspections in March. The restaurant is projected to open by April 2022. In the meantime, Vegan Urbano will likely host more pop ups, and Chef Felix still offers private catering, and intricately designed fruit platters through Fruits By Felix. Keep up with Vegan Urbano on Instagram for updates.
