When Chef Shenarri Freeman wanted to put vegan lasagna on the menu at her new restaurant, her boss Ravi DeRossi initially said no. The restaurant, Cadence, is a vegan soul food restaurant in New York City’s East Village, and DeRossi, founder and owner of plant-based restaurant group Overthrow Hospitality, didn’t think it fit the theme. Freeman, who grew up in Richmond, Virginia, insisted that it did.
“It was really hard trying to explain to him how technically yes, lasagna is traditionally an Italian dish, but many Southern and Black households have adopted this dish over time,” says Freeman. “It’s something that you could make and put it in the fridge and it will last for a couple of days, especially if you’re a single parent or a parent that can’t cook every single night, which was my mom’s situation. So she would make lasagna or spaghetti and we would eat it multiple times throughout the week, like many other Black families.”
When Freeman became vegan in 2017, lasagna was one of the first dishes she perfected into a plant-based version. Her original vegan version contains hummus instead of ricotta (or tofu ricotta, which she didn’t like) and no Bolognese. Once she finally convinced DeRossi to include it on the menu, it was a matter of how to make it both more authentic and Southern—and still keep it vegan, of course.
Chef Shenarri Freeman at Cadence, a vegan soul food restaurant in New York City's East Village. Photo: Eric Medsker
She tried making it in a cast iron pan, changed the almond ricotta to pine nut ricotta, and perfected her tomato sauce. Finally, they landed on deep-fried rolls.
“The first one was just terrible. I was trying to put tomato sauce into the actual lasagna rolls, and that was just a horrible idea, it would just not come right out,” says Freeman. “Then the Bolognese was too watery and it wouldn’t fry.”
Eventually, she thickened the Bolognese (which she makes with Beyond Meat), did a triple breading of flour, almond milk, and Panko bread crumbs, and set it in the fridge or freezer before frying to keep it together. Now the dish is two rolls of shatteringly satisfying crunchy noodles around a rich Bolognese and creamy ricotta, placed on top of a bright tomato sauce. And it’s all vegan.
Made from scratch, it takes about two hours.
Since Cadence opened in April, the lasagna has been the most popular dish on the menu, with about 200 orders a week coming in.
“My mom came up during the soft opening and told me that I am the best cook that she knows,” says Freeman. “Which is the highest form of a compliment that I could ever ask for.”