Louisville is now home to the mouthwatering and mindboggling Farby, a vegan version of an Arby’s Beef ’n Cheddar. The Farby even has a little trademark symbol next to it on the menu. Morels Cafe’s tagline: “Vegan food that doesn’t suck.”
Stanley Chase, who also owns the Louisville Vegan Jerky Co., opened the vegan counter-service restaurant in April, serving his take on pulled-pork sliders, chicken wings and mac ’n’ cheese. “I feel like everything I do either as a business or as a creative is a parody,” Chase says. “It’s what makes me happy.” (Several years ago, he actually created a vegan version of the KFC Double Down, which was a bacon and cheese sandwich with fried chicken patties as buns.)
The Farby tastes like the real thing, and Chase says that’s the whole point. Creamy “Cheddar cheese” and a sweet red sauce smother the “roast beef,” which ripples between an intentionally “shitty” (but nonetheless delicious) onion bun. The company Tofurky (hint: tofu) makes the “roast beef” logs, which Chase cuts in-house with a meat slicer. The yellow “Cheddar cheese” sauce is a mixture of potatoes and carrots, and the red sauce is ketchup and agave syrup. Of course the Farby meal ($9) comes with a heaping portion of crisp, seasoned curly fries. To-go sandwiches are foil-wrapped and packaged in a white paper bag, just like the drive-thru. “I like to approach things in an authentic way,” Chase says, “even though we’re kind of imposters.”
This originally appeared in the July 2017 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find your very own copy of Louisville Magazine, click here.
