Eatin’ Vegan in Milwaukee: The TLT

The terms “Veganism” and “Vegan” were first coined by English animal rights activists Donald and Dot Watson when they formed the Vegan Society along with a few friends in 1944. They invented it to describe a vegetarian diet and lifestyle that also eschewed not only animal-based products that required the death of an animal to produce, such as meat or leather, but also any products which required the exploitation of animals to produce, such as dairy, eggs, honey, wool, or silk.

They invented a word, though, not necessarily a concept. Prehistoric modern humans may have eaten a mostly vegetarian diet, with occasional opportunistic scavenging of meat. Various cultures throughout history have, by choice or by necessity, abstained from harming animals. Indian cultures have practiced lacto-vegetarianism as part of their ethic of non-violence for thousands of years, and various ancient civilizations from Greece, Rome, and Egypt to China and Japan have had their proponents of vegetarianism to varying degrees as well.

Of course, once the Pandora’s box of omnivorism had been opened, it was difficult to stuff all that delicious meat back into it. As a result, various types of meat analogues or substitutes have been developed to not only replace the protein provided by a diet containing meat, but to replicate the texture and savory character of meat, to make such a diet more attractive to people who’ve grown accustomed to richer, chewier sources of protein. China developed tofu around 2000 years ago. Tofu is a soy milk curd (or “bean cheese” as I described it to my youngest son a few years ago to get him to eat it) coagulated to various thicknesses to provide different textures. Seitan, also originally developed in China around 1500 years ago, is a wheat gluten-based meat substitute providing a chewier texture than tofu, though perhaps less nutritional value. Tempeh, a type of fermented soybean pressed into bricks, originated in Indonesia several hundred years ago. As technology has marched on, other realistically-textured meat analogues have come into play more recently–textured vegetable protein, Impossible Burgers, Beyond Meat. Tofurkey. Etc.

Tempeh may be unique among these though. Tempeh’s texture is provided by the use of whole beans, bound together by the beneficial fungal growths developed during its short fermentation. The fermentation process can generate additional nutrients in the product, and make the soy more easily digestible to the human gut. It doesn’t have the most interesting flavor, but is often brined or marinated before being fried. A common use of tempeh in the US has it cut into strips, marinated in a smokey salty and sweet mixture, and fried crisp in a pan to resemble bacon.

Cue Homer Simpson-esque drool. Bacoooon.

Now I’m in no more danger of adopting a fully vegan diet than I am of going gluten-free, or paleo, or Keto, or of deciding to only eat potatoes from now on. But I’ve always harbored a secret respect for those who make an ethical decision to alter their lifestyle in a pretty fundamental way, and then stick with it. I haven’t always been vocal about it, but I do. And while I love bacon, I’m certainly at least open to trying salty smoky meaty faux-bacons. So though you may not believe me, I have actually been looking forward to this month, and trying what Wikipedia calls the “TLT,” or Tempeh, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich.

My initial flurry of research revealed that early in 2018, Whole Foods Market “went viral”–or at least tried to–with a sandwich they called the TTLA, for tempeh, tomato, lettuce, and avocado. The sandwich was originally developed at one of their stores in California, and is supposedly available at a long list of stores nationwide, including this West Loop location in Chicago.

Sadly, the sandwich maker at this Whole Foods location had not heard of the TTLA. However, she was happy to take their regular BLT and “make it vegan” for me. Their standard mayonnaise, she said, was a vegan mayo, and she had tempeh bacon available.

The “BLT” in addition to the “bacon,” lettuce, and tomato on toasted pain au levain bread, also included onion, kale, cucumber, and some kind of parsley goop. I requested avocado as well, to try to get something close to the TTLA I’d been after.

I also grabbed a bag of veggie chips that looked good, or at least interesting.

Look, this wasn’t a bad lunch at all. The veggie chips were quite good, and the sandwich was at least interesting. It didn’t push any BLT-shaped buttons for me but the bread was good and contained what amounted to a fairly hearty salad.

Still looking for that vegan BLT experience though, I brought home a package of the tempeh bacon, along with some leaf lettuce, vegan mayonnaise, and a loaf of whole wheat bread. Since September is tomato season, I had more than enough of those ready to go from my garden.

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When I wrote about BLTs several years ago, I identified, for me, the ideal assembly of a BLT. Starting with toasted bread, first put a layer of mayonnaise on both sides.

The mayonnaise, or veganaise in this case, is to dress the vegetables, not the bread or bacon, so we put the tomatoes on one side, seasoning them lightly, and the lettuce on the other, with the tempeh bacon inbetween. This tempeh doesn’t hold together as well as pork belly, so several of the pieces broke while I was frying them.

I may have fried them a bit too hard as well. Some of the soy in the tempeh had the texture of crisp rice–not unpleasant, but perhaps a symptom of overcooking.

The sandwich as a whole was agreeable enough, though the tempeh bacon was less of a presence than a similar amount of bacon would have been. Perhaps I didn’t cook it right, perhaps I had my ratios off. Perhaps what I needed to do was to try the sandwich as it was made by a shop dedicated to serving vegetarians and vegans, by someone who knew the ingredients and cared about making a good product. Unfortunately, the few vegan restaurant menus I’d scanned in Chicago hadn’t listed the sandwich as an option.

Then I heard from one of those people I mentioned earlier, a long-term vegetarian I admire, someone who made an ethical choice to avoid harm to animals and has stuck with it as long as I’ve known him, and a great friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in a few years. He commented right here on the site. “Come visit yer old pal Jeb up in Milwaukee,” he said, “and I’ll take you to two separate restaurants that both have great TLTs.”

Jeb, old buddy, you’re on!

Mindy and I drove to Milwaukee on a weekend morning, meeting up with Jeb and his wife Mary, and finally getting to meet their young daughter Vera, on the cusp between infant and toddler, for the first time. They live in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee, a small and walkable residential community home to various co-ops, a small press, an art walk featuring tours of various artists’ homes and studios, and the Riverwest 24, a 24-hour bike race / block party held annually in July. Their home is ideally situated roughly equidistant between the two restaurants Jeb intended us to visit, and made an excellent starting point.

We began by walking to the Riverwest Co-op, a small organic grocery and vegetarian/vegan cafe located in what appears to be an old neighborhood corner bar.

We arrived during brunch time, and I ordered what the menu calls the “Breakfast VLT.” This is a sandwich of tempeh bacon, spinach, tomato, Veganaise, and either scrambled egg or a tofu scramble for the vegan option. To keep in the spirit of the thing, I opted for the vegan tofu scramble.

I was glad I did. Scrambled egg is scrambled egg, it has a creamy texture or a firm one but it’s protein and fat in a relatively simple form. The tofu scramble at Riverwest, well-herbed and colored yellow by a large dose of turmeric, evokes more exotic flavors, Indian, Middle Eastern. It’s far more substantial an ingredient than the tempeh in this case, but the sandwich would not be as good without that, the meatlike component tying the scramble together with the tomato and spinach.

Jeb also ordered the breakfast VLT, and appeared to enjoy it as much as I did. Mary ordered pancakes, a perfect breakfast to share with their child. Mindy tried the Riverwest version of Bi Bim Bop, a Korean rice dish we always enjoy, this one served with brown rice, steamed vegetables, a fried egg, locally-made kimchi, and a bright red chili sauce.

To pass the time between meals, we walked Riverwest, visiting a community garden, a small concert ampitheater on a hill overlooking the river, and walking some of the paths used during the Riverwest 24 bike race a few weeks earlier (in which Mary had competed, and done well!)

We also went on an entertaining tour of Lakefront Brewery, tasting several of their beers and learning a tongue-in-cheek version of their history. The brewery is housed in an old power plant building along the Milwaukee River, with a large taproom and an outdoor riverwalk and a food truck serving some very tempting fried cheese curds.

We weren’t there for the cheese curds, though, no matter how tempting they were. Our next stop was a few blocks along the road from the brewery, a certified “green” restaurant called Beerline Cafe. And when they say green, they mean it.

Beerline serves vegetarian and vegan fare, along with fresh juices, craft soft drinks, wines, and bottled beers. I’d had enough beer for the afternoon, though, and with a 2 hour drive ahead of me to get home, I opted for a cortado from their espresso bar.

The meat analogues in use at Beerline were various. There was the mushroom barley burger ordered by Mary, the patty a mixture of diced mushroom and barley groats, interestingly dressed with rosemary aioli and bean sprouts, along with the more ordinary tomato and lettuce. It looked spectacular, even to the toasted focaccia used in place of a bun.

Then there were the loaded nachos ordered by Mindy, in which chorizo was portrayed successfully by highly-seasoned coarsely ground chickpeas, cheese sauce by a type of nutritional yeast, crema by thickened cashew milk.

But I was there to try the TLT, in this case called a Blatz, in which bacon was replaced by two different analogues–thicker-sliced seasoned tempeh, and… is that smoked carrot? sweet potato? Some type of orange root vegetable. My palate at the time was fogged from the brewery tour but I believe we landed on carrot as the most likely candidate.

The Blatz is served on a nutty toasted multi-grain bread, and also contains a vegan tabasco mayonnaise, avocado, tomato, and romaine lettuce, with a small dish of grapes on the side. Stacked as high as it is, the ingredients have a tendency to want to escape out the sides.

It’s a sloppy sandwich, but quite good, and as interesting as the tempeh is, the real revelation here was the smoked carrot.

Sweet and smoky, soft but not mushy, it provided more flavor to the sandwich than any other ingredient. The tempeh’s texture was enjoyable, but the flavor was mild in comparison. There was a light bite from the tabasco mayo, and the bread was good. Overall it was an enjoyable sandwich, but the thing I’ll always remember about it is that carrot.

Clearly, vegans have no lack of options when it comes to meat analogues, and the ingenuity of vegan chefs has resulted in some delicious uses of them. As much as I enjoyed this foray into the lifestyle, if I’m being completely honest, I was still quite hungry upon my arrival back in Chicago and stopped for an Italian beef sandwich on the way home.

I’m not ready to make that leap into ethical vegetarianism or veganism, and I likely never will be. If I were ever to dip my toe in though, perhaps by planning one vegan day a week as suggested by the Vegan Society’s website, I think I could find some tasty things to eat. Between the falafels, chickpea salad, and Trini doubles we’ve explored previously, and the tofu scrambles, smoked tempeh and carrots, and chickpea chorizo we discovered this weekend. I’d have a decent rotation to start with.