The District’s vegan residents have plenty of options to satisfy their cravings around town (vegan donuts, anyone?), but there’s always room for improvement. Since November marks World Vegan Month, according to nonprofit The Vegan Society, it seemed as good a time as any to think about what’s next for the city’s plant-based cuisine. We spoke with restaurateurs and chefs around the city to generate a Washington vegan wish list. (And yes, we too wish Soupergirl had walked away with a Shark Tank deal, but alas, it was not to be.)

Bring on the elevated vegan cuisine

“My hope for the city is that there will be more appreciation for fine dining vegan,” says Elizabeth Petty, founder and owner of Elizabeth’s Gone Raw downtown, where a seven-course tasting menu of plant-based dishes, served only two nights a week, starts at $80. “I hope there’s a shift in the understanding of the potential of plant-based food,” she says. “Lentil soup and stir-fried broccoli are fine for everyday. But when you want fine dining, you wouldn’t have to ask for a vegan menu. It would be the norm, and you wouldn’t even miss the meat.”

Relief for vegan food deserts

“It would be great if we could put some vegan restaurants in vegan food deserts, if you will,” says Baruch Ben-Yehudah, owner of Takoma Park soul food spot Evolve Vegan Restaurant. He cites Southeast D.C. in particular, as well as parts of Northeast and Southwest. [Busboys and Poets (see below), at which roughly half the menu is vegan-friendly, has broken ground in Anacostia and is expected to open later this year.] He also says he’d like to see vegan establishments across the city band together in some way—perhaps with a newsletter—to demonstrate a commitment to veganism and the environment, beyond running good businesses.

Macarons, s’il vous plaît

“I’m a sweets person,” admits Chef Margaux Riccio of H Street Asian fast-casual spot Pow Pow. “While D.C. excels these days with plant-based dishes, it lacks desserts in non-vegan establishments,” she says. She hopes to see more non-vegan kitchens get creative and concoct plant-based versions of foods that people assume are heavy in butter and cream. In particular, she adds, “I’d die for plant-based macarons.”

Pizza and beer, please

“At the top of our wish list is really creative plant-based pizza,” says Ran Nussbacher, founder of Israeli fast-casual eatery Shouk. “Also, a great beer garden or beer hall that’s 100 percent plant-based would be amazing.”

More customers and more Japanese options

Kate Jacoby, chef and co-owner of H Street vegan restaurant Fancy Radish, is Philadelphia-based, and says she’s impressed with D.C.’s offerings. If something is missing, she says, it’s “maybe more vegan-friendly Japanese.” As for the future, she says, “we just hope to see the demand for plant-based dishes keep growing, so that mainstream chefs will embrace vegetables and not feel like they have to compensate for them with cheese and eggs.”

More variety and name recognition

“When you think of vegan food hot spots, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and Portland come to mind,” says Nicole Dao, co-owner and baker of the forthcoming Donut Run in Takoma. D.C. is continually improving the variety of its offerings, she says, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t be on that list. “One of our dreams, after Donut Run is established, is to open up a vegan food hall where we can host a variety of different vegan food vendors and share more plant-based foods with the district,” Dao says.

More Mexican choices

“I would like to see some more Mexican vegan options,” says Vernon Woodland, owner of vegan soul food destination NuVegan Café (multiple locations). But more importantly, he says, “what I wish is to have more 100 percent vegan kitchens.” Everybody gets excited when a national chain such as McDonald’s or Subway offers a vegan item or two, and that’s a good thing, he explains, “But they’re doing it to capture the vegan audience. They don’t believe in the cause.”

The secret sauce for gluten-free vegan

“For me, cheese used to be the dealbreaker,” says owner Andy Shallal of Busboys and Poets (multiple locations) and onetime mayoral candidate. But even with vegan dairy largely conquered, there’s still one type of menu item that poses a particular challenge for the kitchen of his chain of partially plant-based diners. “How do you do both vegan and gluten-free that’s still consistently good?” Shallal asks. “We haven’t been able to get that perfect balance,” he says. “As long as people can eat a vegan item and say ‘ehh, it’s good, but it’s not quite as good as the real thing,’ then there’s room for improvement.”