WALNUT CREEK — Gott’s Roadside Diner will serve the plant-based Impossible Burger at its existing locations, raising the possibility that the vegan hamburger that “bleeds” will be on the menu when the Walnut Creek restaurant opens.
Gott’s Roadside is converting the former Fresh Choice space at 1275 S. Main St. into a retro eatery serving one-third pound Niman Ranch gourmet burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries and milkshakes. The diner is scheduled to open in the fall, according to the website.
Redwood City-based Impossible Foods, which also has an Oakland production facility, makes the burgers from coconut oil, wheat and potato protein and other ingredients.
But it is the inclusion of heme, a molecule found in living cells, that gives the burgers their uncanny meaty flavor and pinkish “bloody” color.
Brothers Joel and Duncan Gott founded Gott’s in 1999 in St. Helena. Walnut Creek will be the fifth restaurant in the chain.
