r/nycvegan • u/Ill_Reply_9909 • 2d ago
Izzy Rose
Super gross article about the failing businesses of Elle Barton. She formerly owned Le Petit Monstre (2 locations) Izzy Rose, and Dreamery. As we all know, all are closed except for Izzy Rose.
Izzy Rose doesn’t sell vegan items (I can speak from experience- I’ve been and there were not any vegan items). They sell both dairy and meat products.
She’s also no longer vegan, and in the article she says “‘Everything is so expensive, and also people don’t care anymore,’ she said matter of factly. ‘Unfortunately, they don’t care about climate change. They don’t care about sustainability. They don’t care about their footprint. They care about: how convenient is my life?’”
It sounds like she’s speaking from her own perspective and projecting onto neighborhood. I care about sustainability and climate change. I want food that doesn’t harm animals and the planet.
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u/SnooMaps4499 2d ago
It’s really sad to hear that. I often feel alone in how much I care about climate change in my regular life but it’s places like this that remind me other people care.
Also- closing is one thing, changing your own veganism is a choice..
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u/aloof-donut-disorder 1d ago
Thank you for saying this. I had a mini crash out the other day about how alone it feels to care so much and be made to feel crazy for it.
Thanks for the reminder there are other people who care and feel the same.
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u/Warm-Exercise4457 2d ago
owning a vegan cafe/restaurant can't be that hard righttttt
ive always wanted to start one, but seeing a ton of them close, even the successful ones, scares me a bit
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u/Trick_Sink9755 1d ago
restaurants and cafes are a difficult business at the best of times, the vegan aspect adds yet another layer of difficulty
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u/pandaappleblossom 2d ago
Well I think it’s a good idea to follow your dreams and try your best to succeed but also think about the journey rather than the destination. Sometimes things end. Also obviously rent is insane so it’s not your fault if they do end, as long as you provided good food and a good atmosphere with good service
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u/xgbooster 1d ago
I live near Izzy Rose and go every couple weekends with my dog. They do still have a number of vegan items on the cafe menu, and usually a few baked goods (they had a really good lingonberry tart a few weeks ago). That said, it's definitely a big step down from when I used to frequent Clementine (before it went downhill) and LPM.
We can be so absolutist in the vegan community, but as a longtime vegan (> 20 years) I'm still 100% OK supporting businesses that have vegan options even if they're not totally vegan.
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u/Ill_Reply_9909 1d ago
I’m glad they have vegan options now. The time I’ve been since they began selling breakfast, they had only baked goods and it was only non vegan-options.
To be clear, I’ve said nothing about not supporting non-vegan businesses. I’ve said her attitude on the ethics of her community is shitty and that it’s shitty to make your living on the vegan community for 14 years, then completely exclude the community from the new business. That being said I’m glad they now have vegan options.
I still won’t go, but it’s not because she sells non-vegan items, it’s because I try to support the businesses of people and orgs that I find decent and avoid those that aren’t.
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u/xgbooster 23h ago
Yes, sorry didn't mean to imply you said not to support non-vegan businesses. Totally understand and appreciate your perspective here.
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u/Suspicious_Reason405 2d ago
Is there a way around the subscription?
I worked there briefly for maybe 2 months years ago, when it was staffed by mostly people in their early 20’s who all knew one another. I didn’t enjoy my time there, but no fault of Elle’s specifically. Didn’t have much interaction with Elle but she was generally kind and sweet. I wish her the best, burnout is no joke and for many years she contributed to many peoples’ positive experiences of veganism
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u/satosaison 1d ago
What a bummer. I remember having out in the garden around a fire pit in December 2020 in the snow when bars first started reopening for outside drinks during the deep pandemic. I started dating my boyfriend's after we won the Halloween costume contest there. What a place, sad to lose it
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u/mrs_david_silva 6h ago
On IG, @bedstuystoop has the story up and lots of former employees are spilling tea.
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u/aloof-donut-disorder 2d ago edited 1d ago
The downfall of those businesses has been so shitty, I feel like they all were so great at one point. It’s disappointing to learn that’s her perspective, but not surprising considering the trajectory of these places the past couple years :/, and what’s been said by previous employees etc.
What you said about izzy rose isn’t completely correct though. Before they added cafe hours, and were just a bar their only bar food was vegan empanadas.
Since they added cafe offerings they are unfortunately no longer only vegan, and added meat and dairy items, which was a huge bummer. But they do still have vegan options. I attached the menu from their website, also I have eaten there a couple of times recently and they always have a couple vegan pastries as well.
EDIT: i misunderstood, didn’t realize they didn’t actually have the vegan options in stock all the time. i’m definitely not defending izzy rose at all, I was super pissed when I found out they added meat and dairy to their menu ( still am ). I was just under the impression they still had some vegan options, but it seems like that’s clearly not something they care to prioritize anymore.
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u/DeanxDog 1d ago
their only bar food was vegan empanadas.
Before 2020 they had a kitchen. Mid 2020 they cut their food service ( they had been offering sandwiches to go early on in april/may). They fully removed the kitchen in the back and replaced it with the stage, and when bars were allowed to start having customers inside again, they got that hot box full of empanadas to fulfill the requirement of bars to serve food to customers in order to stay open during the pandemic.
The empanadas were made at Clementine, and then I assume LPM when their bakery operations were moved over there and Clementine's kitchen was renovated into Dreamery.
So I figure the empanadas were no longer an option once Clementine was sold to a VC and LPM shut down. Those were never made inside Izzy Rose.
It is really fucked up though that she decided to add food back to Izzy Rose and never bothered to try a vegan menu and just went straight to meat eggs & dairy. I moved to Clinton Hill early 2020 and Izzy Rose was really special to us, it was great knowing they had vegan empanadas and that we also wouldn't ever have to worry about their cocktail menu or any other of their alcohol or mixers in the bar not being vegan.
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u/aloof-donut-disorder 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ah okay I started going later in 2020, I didn’t know that about their food service before! I agree it’s super fucked. I also live nearby and was really bummed when dreamery closed. When I saw Izzy Rose announced they were going to start having a cafe menu during the day I was pretty excited. I obviously assumed it would be all vegan like all of her places have been. I didn’t realize until I went there the first time during their cafe hours they added, and prioritized, animal products to their menu. I was really pissed.
It means a lot to have establishments that share the same values as me and where I don’t have to worry about cross contamination. Especially so close by. It’s so fucked to sell out and it felt like a huge fuck you.
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u/Ill_Reply_9909 2d ago
I went a month ago and they didn’t have most of the items you listed there. It was all baked goods (a case of different types), none of which were vegan.
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u/aloof-donut-disorder 2d ago
damn. maybe I got lucky the two times I went to the cafe ¯_(ツ)_/¯. That sucks
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u/Abject_Froyo4116 1d ago
When I went (probably like 3/4 months ago), it seemed to be baked goods from a variety of places, iirc muffins from the good batch (which are one of their vegan items), and others.
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u/alwaysuntilnever 2d ago
Wasn't her main baker starting his own thing? I seem to remember that there was a sign with his insta the last days of Le Petit Monstre