After Georgia Alexander adopted a vegan lifestyle for health reasons following her second pregnancy, she just wanted to consistently enjoy high-quality food that also fit with her diet. After she found the quality of plant-based options at most restaurants in the area wanting, she decided to fill the niche herself.
“I used to have to go seek out more upscale restaurants,” she said. “Those are the kinds of places I’d end up having to go to and spend a lot of money to get really great-tasting food that I’m used to.”
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Alexander signed up for an entrepreneurship course with The Clubhou.se, where she was mentored by FIELD Botanicals owner Jennifer Tinsley. As Alexander was developing a name for her business, a representative from Visit Augusta suggested she use one of the monikers being considered, “Soca,” which is a musical genre originating from Trinidad and Tobago.
“She said it already gave her a very happy, exciting vibe,” said Alexander. “So ‘Soca’ really came home at that point.”
Now Soca Vegan Kitchen is preparing to burst on the Augusta restaurant scene with a plant-based, Trinidadian-inspired menu, and is already generating some buzz on social media. She attributes her sense of culinary quality from her mother, Diane Francis, who coordinated the menu and who Alexander calls the primary kitchen talent.
“Just the way she cooks set a standard for me for food in general,” Alexander said. “So if I’m going to go to a restaurant, I want something that meets the standard as close to what my mom cooks.”
Alexander says she expects doubles, a common snack in Trinidad, to prove to be a signature dish when the restaurant opens. Doubles are a kind of sandwich consisting of two pieces of fried flatbread called bara, filled with seasoned chickpeas—or chana—usually served with garnish such as chutney or hot sauce.
“It’s aromatic, flavorful, you name it,” she said. “It’s also quite filling, but it is considered a street food in Trinidad. Usually when you go out to order doubles, you’re usually ordering like two or three at a time.”
Other selections will include phulourie, a kind of seasoned fritter, and aloo pie, a kind of fried dough filled with mashed potatoes. Alexander stresses that Soca Vegan’s selection will not consist of meals made to look, feel or taste like meat.
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“You’re not going to find stuff that is made out of a plants that looks like bacon,” she said. “Or cauliflower made to look like chicken wings. We’re going to prepare food in its most natural form. And what it is what it is.”
Alexander, an Army captain who will retire in November, came to the Augusta area after being stationed at Fort Gordon. She notes that while the local vegan community is not necessarily large, there’s still a significant number of vegan dieters who want to come out to eat. Between them, and people looking for a genuinely unique dining experience, she believes that Soca Vegan Kitchen will have plenty to offer.
“The ones that are out there are pretty more or less the same thing, what they normally used to when it comes to vegan food,” she said. “But then the difference is we’ve got a lot of a lot of variety.”
Alexander hopes for Soca Vegan Kitchen to open its doors by the middle of May. When it does, it will be at 630 Crane Creek Dr., Suite 103. For more information, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SocaVeganKitchen/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
