The latest addition to downtown Akron’s restaurant scene wants to make vegan dining enjoyable and approachable for everyone — from veg heads to meat eaters.
The Soulful Vegan opened Feb. 12 at 12 E. Exchange St. The restaurant originally opened in the Merriman Valley in April 2023. A glowing review from the Akron Beacon Journal gave The Soulful Vegan a big boost.
As its popularity rose, The Soulful Vegan quickly outgrew its small cafe space. That, paired with recent changes to downtown, convinced owner Frey Canty to relocate her restaurant.
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“A lot of our customers travel in. We get people from Columbus, Canton, Cleveland, and I felt like the accessibility of downtown would be a lot easier for our customers, as well as the whole vision for downtown Akron,” Canty said. “I think that with them bringing Lock 3 back to life and all the concerts, events, just the flow of traffic, I think we’re just on a rise of building downtown Akron. I wanted to be a part of that.”
Canty spent almost a year looking for a downtown space before finding the Exchange Street spot, with help from the Downtown Akron Partnership. The nonprofit’s Start Downtown program pairs businesses with property owners and provides rent assistance for six months.
The Soulful Vegan’s new home is in the AC&Y Railway Co. building in the space left vacant by the closure of Pad Thai about four years ago. Prior to that, House of Hunan was in the location for 15 years before closing in 2015. Work began on the space in October.
“It was challenging, but once I got connected with the right people, I was able to get some momentum going,” Canty said.
The new space features tall windows, light green walls and sleek yet comfortable seating. Also new to this space are two features that weren’t present at the previous location: a stage and a bar.
Since opening, The Soulful Vegan has hosted karaoke nights and wine down nights and has featured live music performances. With its full bar, entertainment schedule and late hours (the kitchen is open until 11 p.m.), the restaurant is a welcome addition in an area with limited nighttime dining.
Speaking of dining, the food is, of course, the star of the show at The Soulful Vegan. The menu is a mix, featuring comfort food dishes (Vegan Mac n Cheese and Vegan Chicken Breast Dinner), an array of sandwiches (Crispy Missin’ Chicken and Vegan Philly Cheesesteak) and a few one-offs (Big Non-Beefy Burrito, Vegan Stir Fry).
Canty has been vegan for 15 years. Her foray into vegan cooking started before she opened her restaurant.
“I was just tired of not having options,” she said. “But I knew I didn’t want to go back to eating meat.”
With her mom as her guinea pig, Canty got in the kitchen and began experimenting.
“Sometimes it was a hit, and sometimes I threw the whole kitchen away because it was disastrous,” she said. “But I got better and better at it.”
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With The Soulful Vegan, Canty is recreating the dishes she misses from her pre-vegan days. She wants to show everyone that vegan food can be comforting and just as delicious as their nonvegan counterparts.
“You do not have to convert your diet completely to try a vegan meal,” Canty said. “If you go to an Asian restaurant, a Jamaican restaurant, you don’t eat it all day every day. You just want something different. It’s the same here.”
“You can still have good food and it tastes good without the old methods.”
The Soulful Vegan
12 E. Exchange St.
thesoulfulvegans.com
Wednesday through Sunday: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. / 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. (The kitchen closes at 11 p.m.)
