Vegan News

Vegan-friendly new Plano restaurant goes beyond the usual burgers

You can customize your wrap with regular chicken or the healthier plant-based version.

Photo courtesy of BVG

A new mom-and-pop restaurant is opening in Plano with a menu that features burgers and chicken sandwiches side by side with vegan versions of the same.

Called Beyond Veggies Grill, it's opening on January 7 at 1885 Dallas Pkwy. #300, at the corner of Park Boulevard, in the space next to Torchy's Tacos.

Beyond Veggies comes from Nate and Cici Hanson, who wanted to bring a fast, healthy option to Plano with both regular meat and plant-based meat, for lunch and dinner.

The location was most recently home to 24 Hot Chicken & Waffles, a restaurant that Nate opened with another partner; it closed in 2019, but the original location is still open in Studio City, California.

At Beyond Veggies or "BVG," flexitarian is the name of the game, says Cici.

"You can choose veggies and sauces and we serve beef, chicken, and our specialty plant-based proteins, so we have a choice for everyone in any group," she says.

Their menu features customizable bowls, wraps, tacos, or salads. It includes a chicken sandwich, burger, vegan chicken tenders, vegan chicken sandwich, a Beyond burger, tacos, fries, or queso & chips.

They also serves six craft beers on tap, with a daily happy hour from 4-7 pm with $1.50 beers.

The Hansons were inspired by the revolution involving new plant based proteins from companies like Impossible and Beyond, that make for a convincing substitute of meat.

They incorporated the products into their meals, and saw major benefits.

"We were floored when we tried Beyond plant-based meat," Cici says. "It was just as good as the real deal in terms of taste, but we also loved the increase in energy and ease on our digestive systems that we experienced."

She says they haven't totally given up beef and chicken nor gone "all out vegan," but are instead doing what many people are doing: cutting back on animal products and diversifying with plant protein.

"It makes dining out feel healthier and fun with all the varieties to try," she says.

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Coming attraction

Dallas hospitality pros team up for new restaurant in Inwood Village

Rendering courtesy of

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Dallas restaurateur Bob Sambol, who brought Bob's Steak & Chop House to the city in the 1990s, is partnering with a prolific Dallas hospitality group to open an intimate new eatery called Charlie’s in Inwood Village.

Planned for spring or summer of 2027, Charlie's - a partnership between Sambol and Vandelay Companies - will take over the space at 5450 W. Lovers Ln. #225 formerly occupied by longtime Dallas favorite Adelmo's.

The restaurant will be small, with about 30 tables, and will serve dinner only. It will also take reservations the old-fashioned way: by landline phone in the restaurant.

Specifics about the menu, chef, and exact opening timeline will be announced closer to the restaurant's debut. But a rendering included with the press release shows a white brick exterior with black shutters, and text beneath the restaurant name that suggests the involvement of "steak," "chop," and "seafood."

Sambol describes Charlie's as "low-key" and "quietly sophisticated," with a "warm palette" and calls this a "very personal" project, which will be built in the spirit of small East Coast neighborhood dining rooms of the past, such as a place his father once owned called The Continental in New Jersey.

“After 30 years, I wanted to create something that feels humble and familiar with great hospitality, a beautiful room, people you know and a restaurant you want to return to again and again," Sambol says in the release. "Nothing overly complicated. Just a really special place for the neighborhood.”

Charlie's restaurant owners Vandalay Companies' Hunter Pond and Rick Dunlap flank Bob Sambol.Photo by Samantha Marie Photography

Sambol says he's had a longtime friendship with the Vandelay Companies' Hunter Pond and Rick Dunlap, whose restaurants include Hudson House, Anchor Sushi, Drake’s, and a variety of other brands. He says he’s watched the restaurant development investors grow up and make a name for themselves in Dallas hospitality.

“I’ve known Hunter and Rick since they were in grade school, and seeing what they have built is truly remarkable. It’s a surreal moment to partner with them on such a personal project” Sambol says.

Pond calls the partnership with Sambol a "fun and unique project ... that no one in Dallas has done in quite some time."

Charlie’s will be "deliberately different" from many of the big city's large-scale "highly produced" restaurants, the owners say, adding that it "will embrace an understated, old-school elegance."

“Charlie’s isn’t about trying to make the biggest restaurant or the loudest statement. It’s about creating a timeless one," Pond says. "That restraint is what makes the project so exciting to us.”

As for Charlie's predecessor at the coveted Inwood Village address, Adelmo's — known for its Italian food "with accents" of French and Mediterranean — occupied the space for 10 years before closing in December 2025 and reopening this year in the Preston Valley Shopping Center, at the southwest corner of Preston Road.

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