{"id":284247,"date":"2026-04-24T19:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/284247\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T19:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:44:08","slug":"vegan-mob-brings-soulful-vegan-barbecue-to-sacramento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/284247\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Mob brings soulful vegan barbecue to Sacramento"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vegan<\/p>\n

Vegan versions of hot links and fried chicken from Bay Area-based food truck Vegan Mob are served alongside candied sweet potatoes, greens, slaw, beans and \u201cSmackaroni\u201d on Sunday, April 12, 2026 in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Sean Timberlake<\/p>\n

stimberlake@sacbee.com<\/p>\n

When we were building out our roundup of vegetarian and vegan eats in the Sacramento region<\/a>, I happened to notice an Instagram post from vegan food truck Vegan Mob<\/a> that announced they were popping up in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve known about Vegan Mob since their inception. I was still living in San Francisco at the time, and they got a lot of buzz when they launched. Yet, seven years later, I had still never sampled their wares.<\/p>\n

Owner Toriano Gordon was pursuing his masters degree in psychology. It was during that time that he had an epiphany.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tell you to soul search when you do a therapy program. In my soul searching, I figured out that I actually didn\u2019t want to be in the program anymore, and I wanted to open a restaurant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Toriano and his wife are both vegan. He had been on the hunt for vegan barbecue, to no avail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just started to do recipes and post on social media after I got my business license and name all secure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Much to his surprise, Toriano had tapped into a deep well of demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo immediately people started going pretty crazy. And then I gave out food one day, and then one day I just did a delivery. Went crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cAnother day, my daughter told me to stop working and just deliver food. So I listened to her, and the first day we did, you know, 50 orders, $800 an hour \u2014 and I sold all of my deliveries. And then, I never turned back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon launched a food truck, and not long after opened a brick and mortar in Oakland. It ultimately closed in 2023 because his lease ended, and the owners plan to tear the building down for redevelopment. The current truck was launched in 2024.<\/p>\n

Gordon took his vegan barbecue on the road to Sacramento because he said people demanded it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did one pop up in Sacramento at a bar, and it was crazy. And then I did one in Stockton, at a food festival maybe a couple months later, and that was crazy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Bay Bay Area-based food truck Vegan Mob, seen here in South Sacramento on Sunday, April 12, 2026, pops up in Sacramento most Sundays and Stockton most Fridays. Sean Timberlake stimberlake@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

I went to the truck on a drizzly Sunday afternoon. It was parked in front of a dispensary in a nondescript strip mall on Bruceville Road in Valley Hi. I ordered ahead, worried I\u2019d have to fight off lines, but the rains kept the crowds away.<\/p>\n

I had ordered one Mob Plate ($25.30), choosing hot links as my main and candied sweet potatoes and greens as my sides, and a Louisiana fried chicken plate ($25.30) with Tasha\u2019s slaw and \u201cSmackaroni\u201d as sides.<\/p>\n

My order was ready and waiting. As I drove it home in the spitting rain, my car filled with rich aromas, sweet and savory. Not a bad start.<\/p>\n

The alt meats were surprisingly good. Gordon is currently using a soy protein for both the chicken and the links, and both offered pretty good textural approximation. The \u201cmeat\u201d of the chicken had a shreddy texture not unlike breast meat, and the links had the gravely texture of real sausage.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, not everything ate so well. The candied sweet potatoes were more candied than sweet potato, and the greens were palate-burningly salty, perhaps in an attempt to recreate collards cooked with ham hocks. The mac and cheese delivered on creaminess, but otherwise ran short on flavor.<\/p>\n

The beans were good, indistinguishable from Bush\u2019s, which I have no problem with, and the slaw was crunchy, creamy perfection. Had I not known it was vegan, I would have assumed it was made with mayonnaise.<\/p>\n

So overall, a good effort, and if the sides were to come into balance, it could be a standout experience.<\/p>\n

Vegan Mob<\/p>\n

Address: See Instagram<\/a> for locations and hours<\/p>\n

Phone: 888-708-3426<\/p>\n

Website: veganmob.biz<\/a><\/p>\n

Vegetarian options: Everything is vegan<\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Sean Timberlake<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Sean Timberlake is the food and dining reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He has been writing professionally for nearly 30 years, and about food for 20. A variety of well-known outlets have published his work, including Food Network, Cooking Channel, CNN, Sunset Magazine and SF Weekly.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n