Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits
For many a North Texan, a nice juicy steak is considered the pinnacle of a great meal. But this notion is being put to the test at a new fine dining establishment that prides itself on offering a totally vegan menu to its patrons. The new Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits, located at 1216 6th Avenue located in the Near Southside District of town, is in some ways challenging this tradition. But this new spot, which has some familiar curves purposefully reminiscent of the Kimbell Art Museum, isn’t being pretentious about its cuisine. It’s quite the opposite says Maiden owner and executive chef Amy McNutt. The way she puts it, vegan cuisine has been around for years, and she and her husband, award-winning filmmaker, James M. Johnston are just elevating some of the things they have experienced during their travels around the world.
But this isn’t the first vegan-inspired eatery McNutt has come up with. She is also known for her two other vegan eateries, one of which has been around for close to 20 years. The first of these restaurants is the Spiral Diner & Bakery, which has three spots that Include Fort Worth, Dallas, and Denton. And the second locale is the new Dreamboat Vegan Doughnuts and Scoops located next door to the new Maiden. So, with so much buzz surrounding her new restaurant opening, Fort Worth Magazine sat down with McNutt to discuss why she was inspired to open a new spot.
FM: Where did the inception of this new restaurant come from?
AM: My husband and I get to travel all over the world with his job and we, throughout the years, have experienced different vegan-tasting menus, which is something I had never seen in Texas. Now that we have about twenty years under our belts in this business, we kind of just wanted to do something new by offering a vegan fine dining experience like the ones we experienced on our travels. In Texas, there’s really nowhere to go to get a proper course-tasting menu that’s fully vegan.
FM: How did this idea become a reality?
AM: A few years ago, my husband James kind of got into messing around at home with a little molecular gastronomy, gettin’ a little fancy in the kitchen, and by doing so, inspired me to do the same thing. After a few years of doing that, in 2019, we kind of decided, ‘All right, we’re doing this.’ Then we started looking for spaces and started fleshing out the concept. In 2020, we found out about this space and loved the design and that it was across the street from Spiral. We like how the design of this space is an homage to the design of the Kimbell [Art] Museum and also, we were able to snag a little spot for Dreamboat Doughnuts just a few steps away.
FM: Is the food on the new menu inspired by other vegan fine dining restaurants or is it just the concept?
AM: It’s more the concept. The menu is pretty much our own. A lot of the menu items are recipes I feel I haven’t seen anywhere as a vegan. For example, we have a potato-leek course that’s inspired by a potato-leek soup my dad used to make when I was a kid that is super rich with so much heavy cream and leeks. We are trying to come up with the most creative visually interesting way to present these flavors that we want to get across. So, for my dad’s recipe, our take is a creamy wheat croquette and a fondant potato. We are really trying to take the pretentiousness out of this concept. I mean, we want to be fancy, but we aren’t trying to make people feel uncomfortable with the idea of high-end vegan food. We want everyone to come in and relax and feel like they have been on a nice little tiny vacation. Like the feeling, you get from a spa day or something. We’ll do all of the heavy lifting when it comes to feeling fancy here.
FM: Will there be an outdoor space for patrons to enjoy soon?
Stephen Montoya
AM: Yes, we are actually going to have a small lounge area at the entrance, which will be first come first serve and will have a little cheese plate for everyone to enjoy which also includes the bar and the new patio area. These three spots have been set up for people who don’t want to commit to the full three-hour chunk of service we provide with our reservations. You can just pop in and have a cocktail or two and go about your evening. We will actually be open for reservations starting this June for the full-service side of things. The word’s getting out and people are excited to try the new menu.
FM: Is there still a stigma around vegan food in your opinion?
AM: Twenty years ago, yeah for sure. Back then people would be like, ‘What, I don’t want no vegetation burger,’ you know that kind of thing. That kind of stuff doesn’t happen as much now because it’s more in the mainstream and people are actually realizing how much of an impact it has on the environment and climate change. It’s almost like we are trying to do one last ‘Hail Mary’ and see if we can turn it all around. It’s not that hard of a sell these days.
