An afternoon eating Dominican food at The Vegan Factory

A cozy restaurant serves Caribbean vegan cuisine in Parkchester.

Mofonguitos are a popular order at Vegan Factory.

Last Thursday, I visited The Vegan Factory at 1818 Archer Street, near Parkchester. The restaurant opened in 2022 and offers entirely vegan renditions of traditional Dominican (and Bronx) dishes, from rice, beans, and chicken plates to mofonguitos to chopped cheese sandwiches to sanchoco. 

I learned about the restaurant after my friend, comrade, and fellow Bronxite, Siddika, messaged me a link to the restaurant’s Instagram page. They are a vegetarian, I am not, and we decided to visit together. When we arrived, Ana, the store’s owner, greeted us. She described her journey to veganism as beginning when her sister invited her to give up meat and dairy for a month after she had complications with food. She fell in love with it. 

This is the second vegan restaurant she has opened. The first is Next Stop Vegan, which she opened with her sister. She runs Vegan Factory with her cousin Tita, the shop’s manager. Ana loves creating a vegan space for Dominican people in the Bronx, the borough where she lived before moving to New Jersey.

My friend Siddika sits while I snap pictures. We were the only customers for the first 10 to 15 minutes, and then it got extremely busy with late lunch/early dinner orders.

Vegan Factory is small and cozy. One side features tables with brown tabletops and green velvet chairs set against tropical, leafy wallpaper. Across the tables is a single cash register that features a painting of Ana at a vegetable market.

This is my favorite part of the restaurant’s aesthetic. I love the black menu and how it contrasts with the neon pink.

We placed our orders—mofonguitos con quinoa carne, a vegan chimi, and two Country Club Frambuesas—and sat at a corner table. While we waited for our entrees, Ana gave us complimentary pastelitos filled with macaroni, vegan cheese, and beef.

Next, we tried the vegan chimi. Traditionally, a Dominican chimichurri burger has beef. The Vegan Factory chimi has a brown rice and black beans pattie, cabbage, tomatoes, red onions, and VF’s special chimi sauce on a toasted roll. Last, we tried the mofonguitos, little baskets of plantains filled with quinoa, sour cream, chimi sauce, fried onions, and pico de gallo. All of the food was delicious, and the customer service was outstanding.

The kitchen is open daily, Monday through Sunday, from 11:30 am to 7 pm.

These pastelitos were filled with macaroni, vegan cheese, and beef.

The Vegan Factory chimi featured a brown rice and black beans pattie instead of a beef one, cabbage, tomatoes, red onions, and their special chimi sauce on a toasted roll.