The Orchard Grocer’s bagel with cream cheese and lox looks pretty standard at first glance — a bed of silky salmon-hued ribbons, sliced so thin they’re almost translucent, sits atop a bagel that’s artfully schmeared with cream cheese. However salmon-like, the lox is actually made of smoked carrots, cured with a classic blend of spices. That cream cheese? It’s really a smooth puree of cashews with a rich consistency similar to its dairy doppelgänger.
With the growing popularity of vegan takes on the classics, it was just a matter of time before a vegan Jewish-inspired deli found its home in the Lower East Side. The Orchard Grocer, opened by sisters Erica and Sara Kubersky, reinvents Jewish deli staples with a vegan, whole-foods and from-scratch approach.
The sisters, who both eat plant-based diets, grew up visiting Katz’s Deli and Russ & Daughters and later began re-imagining their favorite Jewish dishes without meat. Now they bring their meat-free, fish-free Jewish favorites to the masses in a way that celebrates the feeling, history and culture of the Jewish Lower East Side.
According to The Thrillest, recipe developer Joya Carlton said, “I know that our lox doesn’t taste like salmon, but it has a lot of the same textures and looks, and it gives you the experience of eating a bagel with lox.”
