Crystal Wise
Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits
Six years ago, when Belen Hernandez opened her first vegan restaurant in the area, a Mexican food spot in Granbury called Belenty’s Love, she knew she’d have to deal with a bit of a backlash. Vegan restaurants, after all, were few and far between in North Texas, and who’d ever heard of a vegan Mexican restaurant?
“But I had no idea what was coming,” she says.
What came was an often-heartbreaking adverse reaction to her restaurant that found diners coming in, realizing no meat or dairy products were being served, then angrily leaving, sometimes using choice words on their way out.
“That’s one of the worst things a restaurant owner can experience, people getting up and leaving,” she says. “I understand if maybe your prices are too high or there’s something you want but it’s not on the menu. But to not even give the place a chance, it was so depressing. There were times when we wanted to give up and close.”
Crystal Wise
The Vida Cafe
Hernandez toughed it out, though, and found an audience for her unique Mexican cuisine.
Much to her surprise, she discovered where many of her diners were coming from: Fort Worth. That led her to open a second location of Belenty’s Love on the Bluebonnet Circle, just south of TCU. Initially, she again dealt with some resistance from newcomers, but it dissipated after a few weeks.
The popularity of that restaurant led to her and her son, who is now a chef, to open a third endeavor: Vida, a vegan Italian restaurant; it’s located right next door to the Fort Worth outpost of Belenty’s Love on the traffic circle.
“The No. 1 favorite cuisine in our house is Mexican food,” she says. “No. 2 is Italian. Vegan doesn’t have to mean a certain type of food. Any style of food can be done with vegetables and plant-based products.”
Belenty’s Love and Vida are among a growing number of Fort Worth restaurants that are proving that point. The days of the term “vegan” being associated with a certain type of food — or a certain type of person, for that matter, are long gone. Sky’s the limit, say the chefs and restaurateurs who are blazing a trail for plant-based food in Fort Worth.
The seeds of this movement were, of course, planted by Spiral Diner, opened 20 years ago by then-restaurant newcomer Amy McNutt in a historic building on Magnolia Avenue. For years, Spiral Diner was the only vegan game in town. But today, there’s a dozen plant-based food concepts in a city nicknamed “Cowtown,” from casual restaurants to food trucks to fine dining.
Many of the concepts are groundbreaking. Maiden Fine Plants & Spirits, opened last year by McNutt and her Spiral Diner team, is Texas’ first plant-based fine dining restaurant. Vida is the state’s first and only vegan Italian restaurant and only the second in the country. VBQ Smokehouse, a shortly lived collaboration between local vegan chef Hank Storm and Mariachi’s Dine In owner Ashley Miller, was a twice-a-week pop-up at Mariachi’s where a wholly unique cuisine was served: vegan barbecue.
What’s happening in Fort Worth reflects a national food trend in which sales of plant-based products are on the rise.
Between 2018 and 2021, vegan meat alternative sales grew 75%, according to Tastewise, a food data, statistics, and trends-tracking website. Worldwide sales of plant-based meat alternatives are expected to be around $7.5 billion by 2025, according to the site.
That's not to say vegan restaurants are immune to the problems that plague other restaurants. Over the past few years, a handful of the vegan eateries that have risen in Fort Worth have fallen, including Planted, the city's first vegan bakery, a vegan burger joint called Zonk Burgers, and VBQ Smokehouse. Even Spiral Diner closed its spinoff locations in Dallas and Denton (a new location is still slated to open in Arlington this year).
"That's not a sign of people losing interest (in vegan restaurants)," says Hernandez. "That's just a sign of the economy these days. A lot of restaurants are struggling to stay open."
It's is certainly a lot easier to adhere to a plant-based diet today than it was, say, a decade ago, when such products were more difficult to find. These days, most major grocery stores carry plant-based alternatives to beef, cheese, eggs, butter, ice cream and other foods. As these products have become easier to attain, more plant-based restaurants have opened.
Plus, says Jennifer Cabarubio, plant-based food can now taste like regular food — sometimes, in the right hands, even better. She would definitely know: Jennifer and her husband Landon run Pizza Verde, a two-year-old vegan pizza joint on the city’s west side that is often considered one of the best pizza spots in Fort Worth.
“A lot of our customers aren’t vegan,” she says. “For them, it’s about the quality of the food and the preparation. For normal, everyday customers who don’t care about the word `vegan’ to come in and order one of our pizzas means a lot to us. It means tastes are changing. It means our food is becoming a bigger part of their everyday lives.”
Crystal Wise
Belenty's Love
Jennifer says she’s thrilled to see an uptick in vegan restaurants in Fort Worth. To her, it’s indicative that Fort Worth is finally catching up to a way of eating that has already become a part of the dining vernacular in other cities.
“For the rate the city has been growing, we’ve been a bit behind the other major cities like Austin, D.C., San Francisco,” she says. “We’re now on par with what is normal in major food cities. It’s been a long time coming.”
People who follow a vegan diet do so for a variety of reasons. Studies have shown that plant-based diets have many health benefits. The leading reason for becoming vegan or pursuing a non-meat diet, according to a survey conducted by Statista, a global data and business intelligence platform, is to have a healthier diet and/or lose weight.
Others are concerned about animal welfare. It was because of her deep love of animals that Amy McNutt spent her childhood years practicing vegetarianism. Years later, at age 19, when she was a film student at the University of Southern California, she made the jump to veganism.
“Someone on Venice Beach handed me a flyer about dairy cows and how they’re mistreated,” she says. “I had no idea. I actually believed the old TV commercials about happy dairy cows.”
Inspired by the vegan restaurants she came to love and admire in California, she came home to North Texas and decided to open a vegan food concept. Initially, she and partner James Johnston worked out of a storefront at the Fort Worth Rail Market downtown, focusing on baked goods. The demand, she says, was so high, the two turned their attention to opening a brick-and-mortar.
“I had zero restaurant experience,” she says. But she and Johnston worked on menus and concepts until they finally landed on Spiral Diner’s old-school cafe vibe and plant-based menu of baked goods, breakfast items, and sandwiches, a menu that grew immensely over time.
“I don’t remember there being much resistance when we first opened,” she says. “But I didn’t really ask anybody else’s opinion. We just did it.”
In the same way Spiral Diner broke ground 20 years ago in Fort Worth, so did her latest concept, Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits, her nearly year-old plant-based fine dining restaurant in the Near Southside. In vegan circles, it’s a pioneer — the first plant-based dining restaurant in Texas. Guests can choose to dine at intimate, stylish tables from a prix fixe menu or nibble on small, refined plates such as beer-battered tempura leeks or parsnip fries with serrano-orange aioli at the restaurant’s low-key bar.
“We have a lot of different ways to experience Maiden,” says McNutt. “You can do the full eight-course menu. That’s about a three-hour experience, and you’re completely pampered, or you can do the shorter four-course option, which is perfect if you don’t have three hours to kill.”
Maiden’s artfully presented dishes, such as celeriac root over vanilla citrus cream sauce and artichoke with chestnuts and wild rice, are as visually striking as they are flavorful. Moreover, Maiden’s food is proof that vegetables can be as fanciful as proteins.
In addition to Spiral Diner and Maiden, McNutt also opened a doughnut and ice cream shop last year called Dreamboat Donuts & Scoops; it’s next door to Maiden.
To be the owner of three vastly different vegan concepts in one city has been nothing short of a dream come true for McNutt, she says.
“That’s the dream, right? To see a vegan restaurant on every corner in every town,” she says. “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting there.”
Plant Yourself Here: We round up the city’s best vegan dining experiences, from restaurants to food trucks
Vegan dining in Fort Worth is, at this point, much like non-vegan dining. Fort Worth diners with an interest in plant-based diets can indulge in pizza, Mexican food, burgers and shakes, and Italian cuisine, and much more, thanks to several plant-based restaurants that have opened recently throughout the city.
Whether you’re a longtime vegan or just testing the waters of veganism, there’s undoubtedly a spot that’ll pique your curiosity, and please your palate.
Here, then, is a guide to Fort Worth’s many vegan eateries:
Spiral Diner, Dreamboat Donuts, Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits
Crystal Wise
At 22 years old and as the first vegan restaurant in Fort Worth, Spiral Diner is the city’s elder statesman for true plant-based eating. Owner Amy McNutt offers an expansive menu of vegan eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a cool, classic-diner atmosphere. Beef alternatives such as Beyond Meat and fresh vegetables are put to creative use on dishes such as Shepherd’s pie, Texas red chili, and on the restaurant’s many, many burgers, including the must-try (and must have a glass of water nearby) Ghost Burger, made with sweet and spicy ghost-chile jam, creamed cheese, grilled spinach, and fried onions. There’s also a host of breakfast dishes, served all day, including breakfast tacos made with tofu, home fries and chipotle mayo, and scratch-made biscuits with plant-based sausage and gravy. Spiral Diner is a great place to take kids. There’s a sizable kid’s menu, along with fun desserts and shakes.
Be sure to try: Thick pancakes are as filling as they are flavorful.
Good to know: McNutt has also opened two other vegan concepts in the PS1200 development, not far from Spiral Diner: the fine dining Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits (written about elsewhere in this story) and Dreamboat Donuts & Scoops, which serves vegan renditions of ice cream and scratch-made doughnuts.
Info: Spiral Diner, 1314 W. Magnolia Ave., spiraldiner.com; Maiden, 1216 Sixth Ave., maidenvegan.com; Dreamboat Donuts & Scoops, 1204 Sixth Ave., dreamboatdonuts.com
Boulevard of Greens and Vice Burger
Crystal Wise
Vice Burger
Like Spiral Diner, Boulevard of Greens has been a major pioneer in the plant-based restaurant scene in Fort Worth. Opened in 2018 by Charlsye Lewis and her husband Marcus Brunt, the restaurant offers bowls, salads, soups, smoothies, and sandwiches in a snug room with a warm, coffeehouse feel. Lewis says the store was born out of the couple’s love of animals and also their shared passion for eating healthy and wanting the people in their lives to do the same. “My father was a talented helicopter pilot who lost his eyesight and had to stop flying,” Charlsye says. “He passed away from complications from diabetes. Afterward, we went into overdrive learning about diabetes and how to prevent and help it with diet choices. Marcus’ mom recently beat cancer. We think it helped that she eats at Boulevard of Greens every day. We care very deeply about our family’s health and want to make it easy and tasty to make good choices.” Many of the menu items are inspired by other cities: Times Square is a New York-themed bagel topped with creamy vegan cream cheese, smoky carrot lox, capers, shallots, and fresh dill; and the Bay Bridge sandwich combines spinach, sliced Roma tomatoes, parsley, and a special housemade dip. There are also freshly made pastries, coffee, and tea.
Last year, the couple opened a second concept called Vice Burger on Magnolia Avenue. There, they’re serving burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese and fried chicken sandwiches, plus shakes and sides like sidewinder fries, all made entirely of plant-based ingredients.
Be sure to try: Smoothie bowls are a thing at Boulevard, and they’re dynamite. They’re served in a bowl, with a smoothie of your choice as a base, then filled with fresh fruit and other toppings, such as nuts, chia seeds, and protein powder.
Good to know: Vice Burger’s super-creamy milkshakes are made with vegan gelato in flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream.
Info: Boulevard of Greens, 2700 Horne St., Ste. 110, boulevardofgreens.com; Vice Burger, 1515 W. Magnolia Ave., vice-burger.square.site
Mariachi’s Dine-In and Guapo Taco
Mariachi’s first came to life in 2018 in a ramshackle gas station a few minutes east of downtown. While the tiny restaurant served meat dishes, it was also among the first restaurants in the area to have a full vegetarian and vegan menu, not just an item or two. In 2021, the two owners, Ashley Miller and Angel Fuentes, went separate ways, with Miller moving Mariachi’s to the west side, to the Locke block spot occupied by the much-missed Mariposa’s, while Fuentes rebranded the gas station restaurant as Guapo Taco. Both offer a wide assortment of vegan options.
Mariachi’s plant-based menu items include a trio of birria dishes made with jackfruit instead of goat or beef; a torta sandwich piled high with beans, cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onions, and your choice of meatless protein; and several variations of burritos, nachos, and tacos, all made with plant-based products. Guapo Taco’s vegan options are similar, which makes sense since Fuentes created many of Mariachi’s original menu when it was still located in the gas station. Any protein can be switched out for a plant-based option, Fuentes says.Where the two differ most is atmosphere: Mariachi’s is a sit-down restaurant, while Guapo has kept its counter service and scrappy vibe. Fuentes is often a one-man show, serving as host, cook, and cashier.
Be sure to try: Mariachi’s vegan pineapple burrito is a must. It’s designed to impersonate the flavors of a pastor burrito, and it does a great job mimicking the flavors of pork and pineapple. Likewise, Guapo’s El Borracho taco — made with roasted corn, guajillo crema, fresh pico, and sweet pineapple-habanero sauce — is a must.
Good to know: Both Mariachi's and Guapo offer an assortment of refreshing agua fresca drinks, such as horchata.
Info: Mariachi’s Dine-In, 5724 Locke Ave., mariachisdinein.com; Guapo Taco, 301 S. Sylvania Ave., facebook.com/guapotacofw/
Belenty’s Love and Vida Café
Crystal Wise
A native of Tamaulipas, Mexico, Belen Hernandez once owned a string of Mexican restaurants throughout Central and North Central Texas. When her son Sammy decided to switch to a vegan diet, she did, too. She was so passionate about changing the way she ate, she closed all of her restaurants to focus on a new one: the original Belenty’s Love in Granbury, which served plant-based renditions of Tex-Mex classics. This was followed by a Fort Worth location, which, like the original, serves a huge menu of Mexican fare, including tacos, enchiladas, and nachos, all made with 100% vegan ingredients. Then, when a nearby space became available, she jumped on it to open Vida Cafe, her and Sammy’s homage to their second favorite kind of food, Italian. In a dining room filled with a pink and floral motif, the two serve vegan versions of Italian standards, such as chickenless marsala and spaghetti and meatless meatballs. “You’d never know it’s vegan Italian food,” she says. “Sammy and I worked a long, long time on getting the recipes right, making sure that it would be hard to tell a difference. Most customers have said to me that they can’t, which we love to hear.”
Be sure to try: At Vida Cafe, try the excellent aglio e olió y, the restaurant’s fabulous rendition of the classic olive oil and garlic spaghetti. At Belenty’s, go for the portobello fajitas.
Good to know: Vida Cafe often hosts live music on the weekends.
Info: Belenty’s Love, 3516 Bluebonnet Circle, belentyslove.com; Vida Cafe, 3522 Bluebonnet Circle, instagram.com/vidacafe2023/
It’s Food
Crystal Wise
One of the latest arrivals — and most imaginative additions — to Fort Worth’s vegan scene is this Near Southside food truck with a quirky name. The truck was once a collab between two die-hard vegans, Lu Laac and Armando Perez, but Perez is now a chef at vegan pizza spot Pizza Verde, so now Laac is doing It’s Food on his own. He specializes in burgers made with Beyond Meat, but creative burgers piled super high with fresh vegetables, housemade sauces, and toppings such as fried avocado and slabs of tofu. Sides include fries, onion rings, and vegan eggrolls. There are whimsical specials galore, too, like mushroom tenders, popcorn tofu, and vegan gumbo. A big plus: Laac keeps late hours on the weekends.
Be sure to try: Pray you’re there when Laac is offering his eggplant-wrapped tofu, consisting of soft-fried tofu wrapped in grilled eggplant marinated in hoisin sauce and caramelized with teriyaki sauce, then topped with toasted sesame seeds.
Good to know: Instead of plasticware and Styrofoam, It’s Food admirably uses sustainable and biodegradable food containers.
Info: It’s Food is usually parked at 1001 W. Magnolia Ave., in the parking lot of Fort Liquor. Itsfood.lol
Pizza Verde
Crystal Wise
One of the city’s top restaurants — not just top “vegan” restaurants, but restaurants in general — is this cozy pizza spot on the west side, which took over the old Rocco’s Pizza space. Here, couple Jennifer and Landon Cabarubio serve 12-inch-size, wood-fired pizzas topped with delectable combinations of veggies and vegan ingredients. Featured pizzas include the popular potato leek pie, made with an olive oil and garlic base, diced potato, leeks, rosemary and lemon aioli drizzle; the Lando, a combo of tomato sauce, vegan mozzarella, red pepper flakes, garlic, Parmesan, and basil; and the Funghi pie, which comes topped with roasted oyster and cremini mushrooms. Over the past several months, they’ve expanded their menu to now include pastas, a build-your-own-calzone, and sandwiches.
Be sure to try: Definitely get a pizza, but don’t sleep on the sandwiches, especially the new fried mushroom sandwich, made with crispy fried oyster mushrooms, lemon aioli, seasoned tomatoes, red onions, and arugula.
Good to know: Pizza Verde offers a $10 lunch special on Fridays only that includes two slices of pepperoni or cheese pizza, a side salad (house or Caesar), and a glass of tea.
Info: 5716 Locke Ave., pizzaverdetx.com
VBQ Smokehouse
VBQ Smokehouse was a shortly lived pop-up collaboration between Mariachi’s owner Ashley Miller and local chef Hank Storm, in which the two served vegan versions of barbecue favorites at Mariachi’s twice a week. As with a regular BBQ joint, brisket was the star. A longtime chef who has worked at some of the city’s top vegan restaurants, including Spiral Diner and Vegan Food House in Dallas, Storm made his brisket from seitan, a common plant-based substitute for meat, according to CultureMap. Other items included brisket burgers and tacos, mac and cheese, and brisket elote. Although the pop-ups were discontinued in March, Miller says VBQ may find another home. "I haven't completely shut the door on it," she says. "We may try another venue somewhere down the road. We'll see what happens."
Be sure to try: Raspberry-glazed burnt end brisket on a housemade blueberry waffle; it’s only available on Sundays.
Good to know: Right now, VBQ is only open two days a week, on Sundays and Mondays.
Info: 5724 Locke Ave., instagram.com/vbqsmokehouse/
The High Vegan
Another new entry into Fort Worth's burgeoning vegan scene is this low-key spot on the far west side of Fort Worth. Owner and New Orleans native Imiry Perkins, who learned how to cook from her great-grandmother, pays homage to her hometown with dishes such as dirty rice and Cajun chicken alfredo pasta. There are also hot dogs and sandwiches and sides such as potato salad. Her specialty item: empanadas, baked pastry pockets filled with ingredients both sweet and savory, from apple pie to garlic chicken parmesan.
Be sure to try: Her excellent sweet potato empanada, the perfect balance of sweet and savory.
Good to know: Hours are a little unusual: It's open Sunday and Thursday from 5:30-9:30 p.m. and 6:30-11 p.m. Friday and Saturdays.
Info: 8008 Camp Bowie W. Blvd. #110, thehighvegantx.com/
Compatible Delights
New vegan restaurant in the Wedgwood area of Fort Worth comes from Cornelius Brown, who has spent the past several years fine-tuning his cooking skills by running a food truck and hosting pop-up events. Brown said in an interview with Fort Worth Magazine in March that the menu at his brick-and-mortar would include vegan renditions of barbecue, Italian food and Mexican cuisine, all made with vegan ingredients. Other dishes, such as collard greens and candied yams, have a Southern slant. “I grew up watching my grandmother cook, which means I learned a lot of her little secret sauces,” Brown told the magazine. “I took some of those secrets — those cooking secrets and ingredients as a base for making vegan food pop with flavor. I want my food to taste like how my food tasted when I was growing up.”
Be sure to try: Brown’s colossal vegan nachos, made with gluten-free tortilla chips, cashew cheese, diced tomatoes, cilantro, grilled onions, hot sauce and daily-free sour cream.
Good to know: Compatible Delights takes over the spot last occupied by another vegan concept, a vegan restaurant called Planted.
Info: 5400 Woodway Dr., #120, instagram.com/compatibledelights/
