US plant-based giant Beyond Meat has launched its hotly anticipated mycelium steak at New York City’s Ladybird and all BOA Steakhouse locations.
Beyond Meat is going beyond plants for its latest product launch, turning to fungi in a bid to attract consumers still unconvinced by the taste and texture of meat alternatives.
The company has launched the Beyond Steak Filet, a mycelium-based whole cut that ‘bleeds’ like beef and delivers a tender, juicy bite reminiscent of a premium steak.
The mycelium steak also contains fava bean protein and avocado oil – two ingredients that the company turned to last year to address nutritional concerns – and offers 28g of protein per serving.
It is now on the menu at New York City eatery Ladybird and all four locations of restaurant chain Boa Steakhouse. This rollout follows the steak’s quiet debut at Next Level Burger and Veggie Grill earlier this month, where it features in the All American Vegan menu alongside broccoli, potatoes, and a choice of melted blue cheese, a creamy peppercorn sauce, or chimichurri.
“We’re bringing something bold and inventive to the plant-forward scene with our Beyond Steak Filet – a protein crafted from plants that delivers the rich flavour and texture of a premium cut,” said Diana Stavaridis, culinary director at Beyond Meat.
How the Beyond Steak Filet will be served
Situated in the East Village, Ladybird is a vegan tapas bar known for its vegetable-forward dishes. It will showcase the Beyond Steak Filet in a bao bun.
“Partnering with a beloved dining destination like Ladybird is an exciting opportunity for any chef,” said Stavaridis. “Our aim is to offer the indulgence of a classic dining experience – rooted in vegetables.”
In line with the company’s approach of targeting meat-eaters, the mycelium steak will roll out at Boa Steakhouse too. The chain has locations in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach and Austin, with another opening soon in Las Vegas.
Here, the fermentation-derived product will be the centrepiece of a Club Room Style Steak Frites dish. It’s part of Boa and its chef Brendan Collins’s efforts to expand the steakhouse experience with innovative and thoughtful options.
“The launch of Beyond Steak Filet on our menu allows us to extend that hospitality to more people, without compromising on quality or creativity,” said Collins.
“It also gives our culinary team the chance to explore new ingredients while staying true to what we do best – serving food that’s thoughtful, delicious, and a little unexpected,” he added.
“The avocado oil gives us that high smoke point we need for a beautiful sear and caramelisation, locking in flavour and texture,” explained Stavaridis. “This is all about delivering that classic steakhouse experience – without compromise.”
Beyond Meat did not respond to questions about the use of mycelium and its retail plans for the Steak Filet at the time of writing.
Beyond Meat eyes turnaround with mycelium steak
The new steak, which is set to roll out at more restaurants across the US soon, was first announced by Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown last year, who imagined it as an alternative to chicken, salad toppings, and burrito fillings.
“The focus on this has been a very small number of ingredients, very high protein, very low saturated fat,” he told CNBC.
The company teased the product at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California earlier this year. At a taste test, Green Queen’s attendee, Alessandra Franco, was left impressed. “Beyond very much delivered on its promise of a steak that ‘mirrors the texture, flavour, and experience of a premium USDA steak fillet’,” she wrote. “The mouthfeel, texture, and flavour were all spot on.”
The mycelium steak is an effort to address a number of concerns about vegan meat alternatives in the US. Health is the main reason Americans eat plant-based food; that said, a third of Americans (32%) last year had been buying fewer plant-based products because they didn’t like how they tasted.
In a restaurant setting, however, over half of consumers (54%) said they wouldn’t choose a main with plant-based meat because of its taste, and 42% blamed the texture.
Beyond Meat has been ramping up its health messaging, via packaging, product development and a documentary, and has blamed “intense misinformation” for the sales slump of plant-based alternatives. The company itself had a “disappointing Q1”, witnessing a 9% drop and getting a $100M debt financing deal.
It is now betting on mycelium to help turn its fortunes around. The ingredient has become a darling of the alternative protein industry, and fermentation startups have kept attracting investors in an otherwise dire funding landscape. The root-like structure of filamentous fungi, mycelium is a complete protein with a very low environmental footprint and can be adapted to match the flavour and texture of meat.
The Beyond Steak Filet will compete with the likes of The Better Meat Co, Meati and others in the US. Can fungi be it get its mojo back?
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