Remember those signs promising a Donut Diner downtown? Turns out it was the popular Birch Bark Eatery behind it all! They just recently opened in their new location on Ridge Street after moving from their previous spot in Queensbury, and we were thrilled to check out the new space, sample some old favorites, and taste the donuts, of course. Their entire menu is filled with everyone’s favorite comfort foods - all vegan - and all delicious. We were excited catch up with owner Tania Sharlow to see how they’re settling in downtown and hear a bit more about how it all got started.
What inspired you to get into the restaurant industry?
I’ve always been in the restaurant industry. And I say restaurant loosely because I don't consider Dunkin Donuts (where I started out) really a restaurant, but I have worked in kitchens before. I just love the environment, the atmosphere, the crunch for time, you know, the “get stuff done” mentality. And then the satisfaction of creating something people then enjoy and are grateful for. That’s the payoff for all of it.
When I knew that I wasn’t going to do Dunkin Donuts anymore, I knew I wanted to stay in the industry, but I didn’t quite know how.
So how did it happen?
A lot of things came into play that seemed like the universe just kind of working for me. I got hurt at work. That was kind of the universe pushing me in the right direction, into doing my own thing. I found a small spot that I thought could work and I knew at least if we gave it a go there and it failed, we wouldn’t be losing everything. But if it was great and it excelled, we’d have nowhere to go but up.
How did the name Birch Bark come about?
Where I'm from, which is about three hours north of here, there's a little tiny bookstore called the Birch Bark Bookstore and it was just part of happy childhood memories. It initially popped into my mind because it's catchy, but the more we talked about it, with it being something from my childhood that has meaning, it just fit.
ON BEING VEGAN
What prompted you to transition to a vegan diet?
It was just something that was happening in our family. My youngest daughter decided to become vegetarian, and my boyfriend and I decided to support her. We all stopped eating as much meat, and around the same time I saw a horrific video of what happens to chickens, and I get emotional every time I think about it. I didn’t want to put my energy into that. I’m big on energy. Wherever your intention flows, energy goes. And I didn’t want to be a part of that anymore.
So, how do you take yourself out of that? Well, you stop spending your money on it, because that is your energy, and then you start putting your energy into things that fight it - so, veganism.
Have you found there are any misconceptions about being vegan?
There is of course the idea that vegans only eat grass and sticks, or more seriously that we only eat salads, which just isn’t true. We want home cooked comfort foods as much as we want chia pudding and the things that we know are good for us.
What was the easiest thing (or the hardest thing!) about transitioning to a vegan diet?
For myself personally, the easiest thing was just giving up the meat because there are so many good substitutes out there when you’re craving something like that. You can have a buffalo chicken patty that doesn’t have chicken in it, and now you can have a Beyond Sausage - which tastes better than the real thing I think. Beyond Burgers are amazing. There are a lot of amazing things that, if you get a craving, you can fulfill it with those.
The hardest thing was cheese. Along our process, we were vegetarian first and subsisting on omelets and cheese for a long time. So to drop that, when it was a significant part of our diet, we asked ourselves - what do we do now? And unfortunately, the vegan cheese was not always as tasty as the real thing.
It’s nice to have so many options out there now! What do you make of more fast food restaurants catching on - for example, the Impossible Whopper at Burger King or the Beyond Sausage Sandwich at Dunkin?
I think that all of it is amazing. Whatever pushes vegan plant based diets to the forefront and lets people know that it is becoming more mainstream is amazing. We talk about Dunkin Donuts and their new signs that say “Plant Based, Great Taste” - so you know, they’re doing my advertising for me now!
Things are changing fast. Restaurants are scrambling to add these things to their menus. Development in fast food typically takes a while, and it seems like we’re seeing things popping up on the menu faster than ever. Now is the time.
Have you seen more and more people being open to trying vegan food in your experience here?
Absolutely. I'll draw upon a situation that happened a few days ago… We had two men that came in wearing full camo gear and were obviously just coming in from hunting. They sat down, and I was a little bit nervous wondering if they knew they were in a vegan restaurant. People don't always know when they walk in here, and some people don't realize until they start reading the menu! The one gentleman mentioned to the server that this was his favorite restaurant and he brought his friend to try it. When I walked out to check on them, the guy said, “actually, everything's really good!” in this way that was like he couldn't believe it.
We don’t care where you came from, we just want to share great food with you and change minds one mouth at a time.
Any suggestions you’d give to someone transitioning to a vegan diet?
Definitely Beyond products, and definitely Impossible products. A lot of people say they can’t tell the difference between an Impossible Burger and a real beef hamburger. And definitely some of the things that we make! We’ll change your mind about vegan cheese. We’ve learned how to season it, melt it, and make it taste better than you’d expect.
ON THE MOVE
How did you decide to make the move downtown?
We knew we needed more space, since every weekend our tables would be packed. We’d been thinking about it for a while and had our feelers out since April of this year. We were looking at things as they came up. When we found this space, it actually coincided with our one year anniversary, so we decided to surprise everyone. We made up an excuse that we were going to have an anniversary party, but that we invited so many people that we had to rent someplace bigger for it.
And then we moved the restaurant in 10 days and reopened it, which took a small army of very dedicated people working around the clock.
Did you make any changes to the space?
We mostly painted. It took a lot of painting. We kept what we had and added a little flair of our own, and we’ll continue to add to it as we have time!
What’s one of your favorite things about the new space?
I just love the vibe of being downtown with people walking by. We love that folks now have the ability to just pop their head in to check out the space and say hello. And we love the feeling of being more a part of the community.
ON THE MENU
Did you have any changes to the menu with the move?
We added pizza! There was a pizza oven in the space when we moved in, so why not? We’re a nice compliment to folks already offering that, but we make it “Birchy”.
Haha! What’s Birchy?
A little over the top. You know, like onion rings on your pizza.
Any other fan favorites?
Cauli bites, avocado fries, or the ultimate Grilled Cheese - it’s like a cheese stick sandwich!
We overheard a group saying they came from Albany - sounds like you have folks coming from all over?
Oh yes. We’re a destination. Vegans will travel for good food. I’ve done it myself!
We’ve met people who have driven up from New York City to have lunch and dinner here, and they spend the night and then come back for breakfast in the morning. It warms my heart every time I hear somebody planned a trip around what we do here.
How do they find out about you?
A lot of social media. That's something that vegans are really on top of. When they find good vegan options, they want to get it out there and continue to normalize it. Our guests have been our best marketers and cheerleaders.
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