One of this week’s $15 Deal picks from Erica Horton is Korean chili sauced deep-fried oyster mushroom Shroomlicious Baby “wings,” which Horton describes as “sweet and spicy” with “finger-licking stickiness” and “crunch” you might not expect from a vegan wing substitute.

The “Mushroom Queen” behind Shroomlicious Baby is Daishu McGriff, who joined me on the “Sound Bites” podcast back in January. (Listen below.)

I thought now would be a great time to highlight that interview again since several of the plans McGriff talked about then have come to fruition. She’s begun the Shroomlicious Baby residency at 412 S. Main St. 

On the podcast, McGriff charmed me with stories of her upbringing on a farm in Alabama.

“My dad cooked, my mom cooked, my granny cooked three times a day. She baked cakes every week. So I was always around cooks and chefs ... well, they’re chefs in my eyes.”

We discussed the ups and downs of her last few years, from closing Shroomlicious in January 2024 to a false start at a brick-and-mortar to building out The Artist’s Table as an incubator and pop-up concepts for other chefs to try out concepts.

One concept involves couples eating in the total darkness. “Couples are coming together to feed each other ... it’s like, you know, saving marriages and stuff,” she said on the podcast, laughing. That’s “Taste in the Dark” with Chef Ranequa Bean and we talk about several others as well.

McGriff and I got into vegan vs. plant-based vs. plant-forward food, and the intense, detailed work she’s put into developing solid plant-forward recipes that compliment her ingredient of choice: mushrooms.

Listen to the interview below for more about McGriff, Shroomlicious and The Artist’s Table and check out the $15 Deal story for even more.