Courtesy of Flower Child
Flower Child's menu includes an array of offerings catering to various diets including vegan, vegetarian, keto, and paleo.
Those who frequented the ladies-who-lunch-loudly magnet McKinley’s Fine Bakery and Cafe may still be in mourning over its 2020 departure. It wasn’t just a fancy sandwich shop where Monticello moms chatterboxed their way through lunch.
Owner Stacey Rumfelt’s food was very good — and often, like when it came to her orange honey cranberry chicken sandwich, stellar. And if you played your carbs right, you could get a sandwich, side, drink, and slice of pie for $10 — a near impossible feat these days.
In other words, Flower Child has big shoes to fill. Opening April 12 in McKinley’s old spot at 1616 South University Drive, Ste. 301, in University Park Village, the restaurant is a fast-casual concept born in Phoenix, Arizona, as part of restaurateur Sam Fox’s Fox Restaurant Concepts. The Fort Worth location will be the company’s 10th in Texas (there are stores in Dallas, Austin, and Houston) and 29th in the U.S.
Courtesy of Flower Child
A rendering of Flower Child's upcoming Fort Worth location at University Park Village
The menu is, without question, more health-conscious than McKinley’s, although McK’s could whip up masterful salads. Flower Child has, smartly, covered all its dietary-restriction bases, with dishes that are vegan, paleo, keto, and vegetarian.
Those dishes include avocado hummus, grain and rice bowls with your choice of proteins such as salmon and shrimp, grilled chicken, and grilled steak wraps, rotating soups and nearly a half-dozen salads. The mac and cheese is gluten-free and the black beans are organic. Lemon avocado salad dressing, in case you’re wondering, is sugar-free and dairy-free. Healthy, healthy, healthy.
At least one trait it’ll share with McKinley’s: an upbeat atmosphere. Flower Child employees are trained to be gung-ho and free-spirited, and décor will be colorful and cheery, all in step with the restaurant’s name, brand, and good vibrations.
Flower Child, 1616 S. University Drive, iamaflowerchild.com
