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For Curtis Levy, the key to good vegan soul food starts with a great family recipe.

His family is from Wilmington, North Carolina — a region of the country known for barbeque. In the space of a former Subway in Armory Square, his grandmother’s recipe black bean soup steamed from a metal container.

The restaurant opened on March 5 and features vegan takes on a variety of classic soul food dishes like ribs, fried chicken and mac and cheese. There are also some Mexican options like vegan nachos and tacos. Levy substitutes meat with plant-based proteins such as seitan, which is made of wheat gluten, among other alternatives.

Levy’s restaurant also serves vegan ice cream and Italian ice. He began running his Italian ice cart, Razzle Dazzle Italian Ices, at downtown events in 2016 and moved that business into Destiny USA in 2018. In 2019, he opened a bakery called Our Neighborhood Chef next door to Razzle Dazzle.

Monajsia Adams has worked with Levy at both of his Destiny USA businesses since December, but started working at Our Vegan Corner this month.

“It’s been very busy in here, and everyone loves the Italian ice,” Adams said. “It was perfect for the warm weather we had earlier.”

Levy is a reverend and started his businesses to help fund his nonprofit, Last House on the Block Ministries, which provides temporary housing for people returning from incarceration and those dealing with substance abuse or homelessness.

Monajsia Adams, who has worked at both of Levy’s businesses in Destiny USA, started working at Our Vegan Corner this month. Wendy Wang | Staff Photographer

He moved to Syracuse in 2010 and decided to found Last House on the Block Ministries in 2012 after working with a similar for-profit transitional housing business in Wilmington.

“Coming to the city, I couldn’t get funding, so as a reverend I just had to find a way to make sure what I was doing would work,” Levy said. “I’m a visionary, God gave me the ability to do, so when it comes to me, I draw it and put it into place.”

The pandemic closed many restaurants around Syracuse, but opened up the real estate for Levy’s new restaurant. After he temporarily closed his Destiny USA businesses due to COVID-19, Levy and some friends built a food truck out of a U-Haul serving Italian ice and vegan soul food, a preview of Our Vegan Corner’s menu.

But Our Vegan Corner appeals to a wider customer base than just vegans.

To Levy, the key to attracting the sometimes-tentative non-vegan audience is with smiles and lots of free samples. People are always amazed when they taste his fan-favorite ribs and find out that they’re meatless, he said. Eating vegan isn’t all about taste, but health, too.

“I try to educate people on the healthy parts of (eating vegan),” Levy said. “It changes some people’s lives, but it also helps people look at things differently.”

Published on March 17, 2021 at 9:34 pm

Contact Nick: nickrobertson@dailyorange.com | @NickRobertsonSU