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Fast-casual vegan eatery planned for Scottsdale

Insomnia Cookies offers late-night treats

BY MALLORY GLEICH Progress Staff Writer

In 2019, Arizona transplant Daniel Homaijani had an idea for a vegan burger restaurant that he wanted to share with the Valley, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. The first idea was a pop-up shop, but then he thought, “I’m going to chase my dream.” He took some time, did plenty of research, and that is how UNiQ Burger came to be.

“I knew this concept could be trendy, so after my researching, I decided just to dive in and open an actual restaurant,” Homaijani said.

UNiQ Burger is a 100 percent plantbased eatery that will open in early 2022 at the Fountain Plaza off McDowell and Hayden roads in Scottsdale. Guests will order at the counter, be seated and called to pick up their meal. “It was quite a struggle to find a location that would work for UNiQ, so it’s exhilarating to finally be in the home stretch of this rollercoaster of an experience,” Homaijani said.

He explained that each time the team thought a location for the new restaurant would work, another business had already taken it.

They considered moving to a few different cities but knew that Scottsdale didn’t

have many vegan options and that the vegan demographic was much more significant in that part of the Valley. UNiQ will serve a signature burger made with a thin-sliced and seasoned Impossible patty, grilled onion, lettuce, vegan cheese and UNiQ sauce (a secret Daniel Homaijani plans to make an all-vegan burger the menu recipe). focal point of his southern Scottsdale restaurant. (Facebook) “We think that the patty shouldn’t be the star of the burger – then, it would be like every other spot. The combinations of flavor we use are what makes the burger great,” Homaijani said. The eatery will also serve multiple seeVEGAN page 37

BY MALLORY GLEICH Progress Staff Writer

From the east coast to the west comes Insomnia Cookies, a latenight bakery concept that started in an unconventional place – a dorm room in Pennsylvania.

Former UPenn student and New York native Seth Berkowitz and his roommates were up late one evening studying when they decided a snack was in order. While they usually settled for takeout, the group was looking for something sweet – and were disappointed when they couldn’t find any open shops.

“Based on this universal need – the midnight snack – Insomnia Cookies was born,” Chief Marketing Officer Tom Carusona said. “The first shop opened in Syracuse, New

Back in Philadelphia where Insomnia Cookies was born, the company runs a CookieLab to experiment with different flavors and toppings. (YouTube) One of the CookieLab creations was this assortment of vibrantly decorated treats. (YouTube)

York in 2006, and there are now more than 200 locations nationwide.” Berkowitz said that his first location was near UPenn and he chose Syracuse because of the convenience – the shop was so popular that he opened three Insomnia Cookie shops next, all around the same time. Berkowitz was majoring in finance, which helped prepare him for what was to come, especially in building the brand and

French-fry plates, salads, desserts and snacks (another secret to be revealed before the grand opening). Homaijani said that UNiQ plans on offering a small menu so that everything is served exceptionally.

“There are many places in the Valley where people can get a good vegan meal, but I’ve found that there aren’t many where you can get food fast while still being delicious. We will ensure that everything is made to perfection,” he said.

On the drink side of the menu, guests will find fountain bevvies, vegan milkshakes and a variety of draught beer and seltzers.

The secret behind a good vegan milkshake? “High-quality vegan ice cream and plant milk,” Homaijani said. “If you start with those things, the rest comes naturally.”

The UNiQ team plans on holding their grand opening in the coming months – Homaijani explained that, in his opinion, this is the most exciting part about launching a burger shop.

“The grand opening will be a very sentimental day, and I am personally so excited to see people enjoying meals and hopefully making an impact on their lives. It makes me very happy hearing how excited people are to try out the restaurant,” he said.

For those that are skeptical, Homaijani wants everyone to know that there are absolutely zero animal products in the restaurant.

“No dairy, no honey, no eggs, no gelatin, no meat. It might fool some people because a lot of the food we’re serving tastes non-vegan, but we can assure you we are completely vegan,” he said.

UNiQ plans to offer various promotions and discounts and incorporate seasonal menu items. Projected hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sundays and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

For more information (and to �ind out when the grand opening celebration will be), visit uniqburger.com.

COOKIE ���� page 36

helping him run the business.

Insomnia’s name is a nod to the late-night sweet-cravers – Insomnia keeps most of its stores open until 1 a.m. and can be picked up or delivered right to your door.

The menu has an array of classic and deluxe cookies, as well as seasonal options. Past limited-time flavors include bananas foster, blueberry cobbler, red velvet and pumpkin spice.

They’ve even offered breakfast-themed cookies, like cereal and milk, blueberry pancake and everything bagel cookie (that one comes with cream cheese icing). Classic cookie flavors include chocolate chunk, double chocolate chunk and snickerdoodle – but there are more than 12 flavors to choose from. Even better, Insomnia also offers ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, cookie cakes and “dippers,” which are cookies that come with spreadable icing. There are also vegan and gluten-free options.

“We would like to share the recipes, but those, we keep secret,” Carusona said. “We’re always baking up exciting new flavors.”

In June of last year, Insomnia Cookies unveiled a new research and development department called CookieLab, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. CookieLab experts use the space to develop new flavors and desserts, which allows Insomnia to release cookie creations throughout the year.

What’s even more remarkable about CookieLab is that it has a “secret” passage (behind a bookcase) inside the Passyunk (Philadelphia) location where guests can pick up goodies from a secret menu or create their decadence by picking their favorite dough, mix-ins and toppings.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any plans to build a CookieLab in Arizona, but we have three locations to choose from.

In early September, the newest location opened inside Kitchen United Mix, 7127 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale. One location is steps from Arizona State University on University Drive in Tempe and the other is in Tucson.

“Scottsdale was a perfect next step to expand the footprint of the brand in Arizona. We’re so excited to join the Scottsdale community and look forward to making some new Insomniacs,” Carusona said.

The Scottsdale location hours vary, but pick up during the week is from 11 a.m. to midnight and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Delivery starts at noon and is offered until midnight during the week and 1 a.m. on weekends.

Information: insomniacookies.com.

With JAN D’ATRI

Progress Contributor

Whether a dessert or dinner side, this pie satisfi es

It’s the time of year when we start thinking about the comfort foods of the harvest season; squash, pumpkins and, of course, sweet potatoes. Time to pull out my recipe for Rustic Southern Sweet Potato Pie.

In the Southern kitchens of America, homebakers just called it potato pie because, according to my 1965 Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook, folks south of the Mason Dixon Line refer to sweet potatoes as simply “potatoes” and the white variety they call “Irish” potatoes.

In any case sweet potato pie is an American favorite and the soul food sister of our beloved pumpkin pie. Not necessarily associated with a holiday like Thanksgiving though, you can gobble up sweet potato pie anytime of the year, especially now when the yams and sweet potatoes are in peak season.

A good old-fashioned rustic southern sweet potato pie is rich and luscious enough to be a gut-busting dessert, but it can also be a full-bodied side to a main entrée. So dive in! It’s a sweet and soulful October dish and as easy as pie to and as easy as pie to whip together.

For the fi lling:

2 large yams 2 large sweet potatoes 2 cups sugar 1 stick of butter, melted 1 teaspoon cinnamon ½ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Directions:

In a large pot, boil yams and potatoes for about one hour or until tender. Drain water and let potatoes cool. When cool enough to handle, peel skins o and place yams and potatoes in a ricer or potato masher.

In a bowl, combine yams and potatoes, sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla. Mix well.

For the dough:

3 tablespoons butter 3 cups fl our ½ teaspoon salt ¼ cup sugar 1/3 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon pure vanilla 1 cup whole milk 1 egg 1 tablespoon milk

Directions for dough:

Preheat oven to 375. In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it turns golden brown. When done, it should have a nutty-like aroma. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine fl our, salt and sugar, mixing well.

In another bowl, whisk together olive oil, vanilla, milk and melted butter.

Pour into the fl our mixture and mix with a fork. Dough should hold together. If too crumbly, add ice water, a tablespoon at a time. Cover and let sit for about a half an hour.

To Assemble:

On a fl oured surface, roll out dough to fi t a 14” round or rectangular baking pan.

Place dough on pan. Spoon fi lling into the center of the dough, leaving about a 1 ½ inch border. Gently fold the sides of the dough up and over some of the fi lling.

Make an egg wash by mixing the egg and tablespoon of milk together with a fork. Coat the bread with egg wash using a pastry brush. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.