Four-Course Vegans

Whole Foods Park Lane goes gourmet for vegan wine dinner debut

It's a good time to be vegan in Dallas. The latest windfall is the advent of the vegan wine dinner, which premiered May 24 at the Whole Foods at Park Lane. The event drew a sellout crowd of about 60 diners, who supped on a four-course dinner paired with wines selected by staffer Emily Gould.

The Park Lane store has a soft spot for vegans, thanks to the efforts of chefs John Mercer and Michelle Vandenhende, who've become accomplished at the art of elevating vegan food to gourmet standards. The chefs introduced each course, sharing their techniques. Mercer said they'd also made the entire meal gluten-free, just to show that it could be done.

For the first course, Mercer layered thick slices of tomato and avocado purée atop a smoked portobello mushroom cap. Diners clucked over the idea of smoking a mushroom, although one woman at my table said she'd become such a smoking aficionado that she even smoked garbanzo beans.

The "secondi" was a clever "pasta" made of raw zucchini cut into spaghetti-like strands with a spiral machine, then tossed with tomato and basil. It was especially good paired with a Vinum Cellars Chardonnay.

The main course was a stick-to-your-ribs risotto tossed in a "cream" sauce made from puréed cashews, a popular and effective device in vegan cooking because the puréed cashews add such a creamy mouthfeel. What made the risotto so good was the inclusion of freshly shucked peas and fresh asparagus, cut on the diagonal into bite-size pieces.

Dessert was an incredibly rich construction with a peanut butter base topped by a crunchy chocolate shell, sprinkled with fresh raspberries, shredded coconut and toasted pecans.

The dinner took place in the supermarket's second-floor events room, which staffers primped up by covering the fluorescent lights with red fabric. Nice effort! Boo to the water served in environmental unfriendly plastic bottles. Next time, I would volunteer to be the water gal, happy to tote around a pitcher and top off everyone's glass. But points for their use of real glasses, not plastic.

Dallas vegans now have their own website, their own monthly drink series, their vegan-only and gourmet restaurants, and their own annual fall festival. Now they have their own wine dinners too — which Whole Foods intends to do more of.

Dessert was a rich chocolate and peanut butter.

Vegan wine dinner, chocolate peanut butter

Photo by Teresa Gubbins

Dessert was a rich chocolate and peanut butter.

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Where to Eat List

Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 biggest openings of the summer

Nuri Steakhouse

The tray of many dishes at Nuri Steakhouse.

We are back with Where to Eat, CultureMap's monthly column highlighting the top restaurants to check out. For September, we are both looking ahead and looking back. It's a little bit nostalgic, a little bit optimistic, as we ruminate on the hottest openings of summer '24 before we transition into fall.

Here's where to eat in Dallas right now:

Doughbird
Latest concept from Arizona-based Fox Restaurant Concepts just opened at Inwood Village, not far from its hippie sibling Flower Child. While originally positioned as a place for rotisserie chicken and pizza, Doughbird has shifted slightly towards a more generic "American classics" profile, with popular items like steak frites and crispy chicken parmesan. They still emphasize pizza, though, and do what is said to be a decent rendition of Detroit-style pies.

Even Coast
Steak and seafood restaurant that opened in August in the new Work Shop complex at Prestonwood Boulevard is from chef Omar Flores, founder of chicken restaurant Whistle Britches and Big Dill Hospitality. It's an upscale but casual concept with steak and seafood — Prime ribeye-Delmonico, bone-in ribeye, Texas redfish, Chilean salmon, lobster roll — that harks back to Driftwood, the high-end seafood restaurant he once helmed in Oak Cliff a decade ago.

Haunted Castle Cafe
Mysterious restaurant that dubs itself "the spookiest cafe in Plano" finally opened after much anticipation from local horror fans. The menu has a surprisingly interesting range of offerings from short ribs to ribeye with creamy eggplant to pistachio crusted rack of lamb, plus burgers, fresh salads, and fun themed cocktails. The food is better than it has to be, given that much of the attraction seems to lie in its spooky, haunted-castle atmosphere.

Kanpai Coffee + Beer Garden
Casual new concept is a combination coffee shop-beer garden, from a team that includes award-winning Austin chef Michael Carranza. It just opened quietly in Deep Ellum, in the former Mama Tried space, where it's serving a menu of Asian-inspired dishes and innovative creations such as Frito pie, with sushi rice and tuna tataki, and an egg sando with Kewpie mayo, plus coffee and a hospitable welcome to hang all day.

The Kati Roll Company
Buzzy Indian restaurant from New York just opened a spinoff in Plano, featuring its unique and irresistible kati rolls, a unique street food from Kolkata, India, that's a wrap or burrito, with a flatbread closing various fillings — but in kati rolls, the wrap part is a buttery Indian paratha flatbread, whose crisp and flaky texture makes all the difference. There are more than a dozen rolls including Chicken Tikka Roll, and Aloo Masala Roll with mashed potato, tomato, and green pepper.

La Casita
Long-awaited opening of La Casita inside the Half Price Books flagship on Northwest Highway arrived in late August. They're doing pastries and a big coffee program, along with sandwiches and savory items like avocado toast, mushroom toast, potato sandwich, turkey club, Cubano, Nashville hot chicken, chicken tiki masala, chicken parmesan, a burger, and an LCB burger. This marks their third location, the original in Richardson and a similar cafe in Rowlett, called La Casita Coffee, that they opened in January 2023.

La Rue Doughnuts
The hottest opening of the summer has to be this doughnut shop in Trinity Groves which opened August 29; unsurprisingly, they sold out the first day. The shop specializes in doughnuts: raised, cake doughnuts, and their signature crullers, in chef-driven flavors such as strawberry shortcake brioche, butterscotch, and pumpkin spice cake. They also do two savory items per day such as a recent Chicken & Pepper Pocket brioche with Oaxaca cheese and a jalapeño chimichurri.

Moaks Family Texas BBQ
Barbecue restaurant in the West End in the former Sonny Bryan’s spot is the latest from West End king Jay Khan (RJ's Mexican Cuisine, The Liam’s Steakhouse, Chet’s Dallas, and 3 Eleven Kitchen & Cocktails) and VP of Operations David Cole. Their menu of smoked meats and sides includes a brisket, chicken, sausage, baked potatoes, chicken-fried chicken, and classic desserts, including banana pudding and churro bites.

Nuri Steakhouse
Upscale steakhouse concept in Uptown Dallas from JOA Grill owner Wan Kim finally opened after two years (and many millions of dollars) in the making. The menu blends Asian, New Orleans, and Southern flavors for a switch from the typical American steakhouse. Dishes include Korean-style lobster, prime filet, Japanese Wagyu, and a chef's tasting board with handpicked chef selections. They also have a unique Earl Grey crème brûlée for dessert.

San Martin Bakery
International family-owned bakery from Guatemala opened its long-awaited second DFW-area location at 5407 Belt Line Rd. in Dallas in the Work Shop center, in a space that was previously Coal Vines Pizza. San Martin is a sophisticated bakery and cafe serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including exotic offerings like Salvadoreño: Corn tortillas stuffed with cheese topped with two fried eggs and ranchera sauce, served with a side of refried beans, plantains, and cabbage slaw. Their bakery is a serve-yourself feast with pan dulce, croissants, and pastries at bargain prices.

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