By Jason Hibbets

Nestled on the edge of the Warehouse District in Downtown Raleigh is an outstanding restaurant that started with passion and was certified by the community. A haven for vegetarians and vegans, it’s a place to explore southern foods with a twist, without the heavy meats.

If you want to try something different, delicious, and doing it local, then The Fiction Kitchen should be on your to-do list. After eating here several times, I knew we had to feature them on Southwest Raleigh. So we got a chance to catch up with, Siobhan Southern, co-owner and General Manager, and Caroline Morrison, co-owner and Executive Chef. They’ve got a great story as unique as their cuisine. We put them on the hot seat to learn more about what puts the fiction, in their kitchen.

What makes The Fiction Kitchen unique?

We are the only 100% vegetarian/vegan, farm to fork restaurant in Raleigh. However, our food is not the only thing unique at Fiction Kitchen, we also highlight local artists and keep our space fun and interesting with changes in color, form and function.

What was your inspiration to start The Fiction Kitchen?

Caroline, the chef at Fiction Kitchen, developed an interest in cooking when she became a vegetarian. She quickly realized how hard it was to find delicious, creative meals for vegetarians other than a mushroom sandwich or salad. Having recently met her partner, Siobhan, who was a wedding cake finisher and active in the service industry for many years, Caroline began to feel stifled working in the corporate IT world and decided to enroll in culinary school.

Siobhan helped Caroline through culinary school and then they decided to test Caroline’s food at pop-up brunches in Durham, NC. They both found the brunches more popular than expected and saw the demand and necessity for delicious, approachable vegan and vegetarian cuisine. Once they found a brick and mortar location which needed extensive renovations, they started a Kickstarter campaign to see if the community agreed.

Through this campaign, Caroline and Siobhan were able to raise $36,000, to help buy new equipment that was never previously used in any other restaurant (making it completely vegetarian!), and to prove that the community was indeed in support of such a concept.

What type of cuisine can people expect when the eat at The Fiction Kitchen?

We like to call it seasonally inspired Southern fusion. We really like to play with cuisines from around the world and blend them with the produce that is available to us locally (which usually means a touch of Southern cooking). Traditional Southern food also tends to be meat-heavy, so several of our dishes are vegetarian reinterpretations of classic Southern comfort food.

You offer different proteins for many dishes, can you tell us more about those options and how you make them?

We will take a soy or wheat protein and add our unique touches by either/or marinating, grilling, braising, smoking,  or roasting to impart more flavor. All of our proteins are non-GMO soy and some of them are distributed and produced locally. All of them are from the East coast.

Exploring vegan and vegetarian food might be new for some people. Does your staff help to educate guests to help them understand what they’re getting?

Our staff is well versed to help guide our customers in their dining experience. We will answer any question or help the diner detail their meal to their specific palate. However, we do not preach or discriminate, we welcome all eating styles.

What’s The Fiction Kitchen signature dish?

I think when we opened, we thought the NC style BBQ “pork” with smashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables would be our signature dish. We quickly learned this might in fact be trumped by the crispy fried “chicken” and waffles with arugula salad.

What can we look forward to from The Fiction Kitchen in 2014?

Hopefully we will continue to grow with our ever changing and evolving food and drink menu. We look forward to working with more local farmers to continue to highlight the bounty of North Carolina, provide the best customer service we possibly can, and get even better at what we do!

If you’ve been to The Fiction Kitchen before, let us know what you think in the comments.

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