Boulevard News – March 2018

Anthem Vegan

Patrick was raised in a large family, and in his teenage years, his mother worked evenings.  Dinner time wasn’t much more than frozen prepackaged TV dinners.  When he was old enough to move out of his house, Patrick took matters into his own hands, and discovered a new passion for cooking.

The turning point in his vegan diet was when he tried soyrizo for the first time.  He was blown away by the similarity, and decided that there was no point in eating chorizo again.  Fast forward some years, he was living with a former girlfriend who was vegan and also enjoyed cooking at home.  He became more and more intrigued about the ingenuity of how certain ingredients could easily mask themselves as meat.

Along with the health and environmental benefits, Patrick felt better transitioning to a vegan-based diet, and wanted to share his creations with other like-minded individuals.  He launched a Speakeasy Vegan Brunch once a month in his backyard for 30 plus people. With the positive feedback, he expanded this pop-up concept by hosting a free Vegan Happy Hour at the former bar Eleven on El Cajon Boulevard.  He helped ignite a community by simply sharing his food with others and felt a greater sense of purpose for what he was doing.

With over 5000 followers on Facebook, Patrick officially launched his business, Anthem Vegan! For four and a half years, Patrick worked tirelessly, setting up at farmer’s markets including the 3^rd Friday BLVD Market,  as well as his late night gig on 30^th Street in North Park in what he describes as the epicenter of the bars.  With little sleep and absolutely no social life, his main drive was to remain creative and share a quality alternative to typical meat-based cuisine such as Philly cheese steak and pull-pork sandwiches.  While he doesn’t consider himself a vocal advocate, he is encouraged to transform people’s mindset by sharing the flavors of his tried and true specialty vegan dishes.

In the meantime, his intentions for opening a restaurant remained.  Unfortunately, with no track record of running a restaurant, and only providing food that 5-10% of the population embrace, not many landlords shared an interest in his business concept.  Patrick’s vision for a brick and mortar was for more than just a restaurant.  After years of shopping around for vegan ingredients, and having to zigzag all over town to complete his errands, he wanted to make this effort simple for other vegans by providing a marketplace with all of his favorite vegan products in one place, including selling his homemade sauces.  The other intention behind the business was to host community events.

With the support of a major crowd sourcing effort, the vision of a restaurant was finally realized in early 2018, right here on El Cajon Blvd.  The space is phenomenal, and speaks highly to the devotion that Patrick has in supporting the community who has embraced his dream to grow and build a new home for the Vegan, food loving community of San Diego.

Anthem Vegan – 2611 El Cajon Blvd

 Trashy Hour

---