Popular vegan pop-up Street Beet will operate out of Detroit's 3rd Street Bar indefinitely

The owners of Street Beet, the sustainable vegan pop-up with hours-long wait times that earned a cult-like status for its playful takes on fast-food chains, have found a more permanent home in Detroit's 3rd Street Bar.

Following a successful six-week trial run of their popular Kentucky Fake Chicken menu last year, Street Beet's Nina Paletta and Meghan Shaw will offer counter service within 3rd Street Bar five days a week, starting Feb. 6.

“We no longer feel like a pop-up,” Paletta told Metro Times following the announcement. “We definitely have a solid, functioning restaurant operation going on now. We have switched over to counter service, added carry-out and online ordering, and this has helped our flow tremendously. Our wait times are much shorter, our kitchen is better organized, and our guests are certainly happier,” she says. 

The menu, which will be offered 5-11 p.m. Monday, Thursday through Saturday, and noon-9 p.m. on Sundays, will serve up Street Beet's greatest hits, including favorite items from several iterations of pop-ups, as well as some new additions. From Taco Hell, the pair's Taco Bell spoof, the Supreme Crunchywrap and Nachos Hell Grande made the cut, as did the fake chicken sandwich and cashew mac & cheese, which were fixtures on their KFC-inspired menus, and the filet-no-fish sandwich, a fan favorite circa their limited-run McDaddy's pop-up. New to the menu are a phony cheesesteak, a party melt, loaded french fries, and a brownie and ice cream dessert. Per Street Beet's ingredient ethos, everything is made vegan and many items are gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free, or can be made to accommodate dietary and allergy restrictions.

Paletta says she and Shaw plan on running Street Beet out of 3rd Street until they are able to open a brick and mortar of their own, something they attempted to do last year with a crowdfunding campaign and, again, when they secured a spot as semi-finalists in the 2019 Hatch Detroit contest. But she says, for now, they're eager to see how they can continue to grow, master their craft, and continue feeding the masses fun and healthy food.

“In the meantime, we are super happy to have a home base,” Paletta says. “We aren't sure what the next year holds, but we know we are not going to slow down.”

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