Situated on Main Street in Tonawanda is the restaurant Guud & Evul, a vegan eatery opened in September of 2021 by Shawn Mereau, a classically-trained chef who has been vegan for years. The idea sprouted between Mereau and his co-founder, Clarence Middlebrook (who sadly passed away in December), on the way back from a 2019 trip to Arkansas.
“We were both vegan and there was absolutely nothing to eat. We were actually going to the grocery store to buy fruits and vegetables,” Mereau said. “It started out as kind of a joke.” But before they knew it, they had an idea brewing and a dream to fulfill. Guud & Evul started as a food truck, inspired by the success of Slutty Vegan, a successful vegan eatery in Atlanta.
The food truck was a hit, so much so that they were able to buy the space in Tonawanda and create their own restaurant. Both the food truck and the restaurant ended up being a lot of work, especially nailing down the recipes for vegan meat without using name-brands like Impossible Meat or Beyond Meat— two substitutes that Mereau doesn’t eat because of the way they are made.
Mereau, who went vegan for health reasons, said he wanted to be able to eat all the food he was used to, just as a vegan. And so the idea for Guud & Evul was born. Their menu, which is fully vegan and housemade, consists of classic comfort foods ranging from burgers to hot dogs, chicken strips to pizza, and even “weed bowls” (salads). “We wanted to do something different,” he said. “We wanted to create all of our food and sauces in-house.”
And Mereau prides himself in creating a restaurant that is fully vegan, differentiated by the fact that they make their own vegan meat substitutes. He is used to people coming to Guud & Evul and being skeptical of the food. “People are scared to try the food and I’m like, dude, 70 percent of your diet is vegan,” Mereau said.
But every time this situation occurs, the customers leave completely satisfied. “People come in from all over the country to eat here, and they always want us to open up locations in their cities,” he said.
Mereau is a big believer in everything within the human body being connected, and that people aren’t educated enough about how what they eat affects them physically, but also mentally and emotionally. “What you put into your mouth, transforms your body,” Mereau said.
On their website, it states that, “In reality, 90% of the time we eat because we are emotionally moved by something,” and Mereau stands by that when serving each individual customer. “I want people to have an ‘ah-a’ moment, like, vegan food could be satisfying and make you emotionally happy,” he said.
Now, in Buffalo, there’re many more vegan eateries than there used to be, but Mereau is still disappointed in the lack of options at restaurants. He said it’s difficult to go anywhere and order something vegan due to fears of cross-contamination, and that there’s still a certain misconception about people who are vegan and what that means. “The perception of being a vegan was, you know, salad, bean sprouts and a piece of lettuce. But it’s really more than that,” Mereau said.
The success of Guud & Evul has pushed Mereau to look towards the future, and he hopes to one day get into vegan meat substitute manufacturing as well as franchising the restaurant. But for now, Mereau continues to serve customers staying true to their name. “Our goal is to make food good, but to make it in an evil way,” (hence the name “Guud & Evul”).
Before leaving, he nodded to their sign and pointed out the “Evul” backwards is “Luve.” He turned to me and said “We cook with love.”
Guud & Evul | 21 Main St, Tonawanda, NY 14150 | (716) 260-2278 | Menu | Instagram | Facebook