Vegan News

Dallas' hot new vegan restaurant is doing soul food in Grand Prairie

Good-looking home cooking from Itso Vegan.

Photo courtesy of Itso Vegan

Dallas-Fort Worth has a new vegan restaurant that's doing so well, it's had to shut down a few times since its soft opening in early March.

Called Itso Vegan, it's located in a modest strip center in Grand Prairie, at 830 Mayfield Rd., in the southwest corner of town, just east of the George Bush Turnpike and north of I-20.

Itso Vegan specializes in vegan soul food, with a few Mexican and home-cooking touches. The owners are three siblings — Tren'a Lewis, Amiya Cleveland, and Jerrod Collins.

"Each of us play a role," Collins says. "I created the look and feel of the restaurant and the operation. Amiya is the executive chef; she created all the recipes. Tren'a is the manager."

Collins says that Cleveland led the way.

"She started on the vegan path, and it was a natural transition to start the restaurant," he says. "She began her vegan journey because of her son who was diagnosed as diabetic. She made the change for her son, and then brought along the entire family."

Cleveland's photos of the vegan dishes she was making at home earned a following; soon she was cooking for others. With the support of their family members, and the overcoming of some obstacles, they finally were able to open Itso Vegan.

They're working wonders using mushrooms, seitan, and other ingredients to substitute for meat. Their kitchen has a touch that is somehow both polished and homey, with all of the love you get from a home-cooked meal, yet all of the presentation and polish you expect from a restaurant.

The menu includes burritos with taco-style crumbled "beef," rice, fries, and guacamole. There are "wonton nachos," with veggie taco crumbles and "cashew queso." Cashews are a favorite go-to used by vegan cooks to make cream sauces and cheese dishes.

One of their most popular dishes has been the "nothing-from-the-sea-food platter" with "krab" cake and various fried "fish" done in a traditional manner with a light, crisp cornmeal crust. Their secret ingredient: breaded oyster mushrooms, whose fleshy texture makes a fab fake for seafood such as lobster and scallops.

Other best sellers include chicken & waffles, with seitan chicken and banana-flaxseed waffle; and a convincing chicken-fried "chicken" with mushroom gravy. There's a creamy vegan mac and cheese, and even vegan cheesecake.

The restaurant plans to institute daily specials including cinnamon rolls on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, enchiladas on Thursdays and Fridays, and BBQ jackfruit sliders on Saturdays and Sundays.

Itso Vegan has already been featured on Fox 4, but it was a Facebook blast by the Black Vegetarian Society sharing the news of Itso Vegan that ramped things up.

There's also just the fact that vegan is increasingly popular these days.

The restaurant has been deluged, and had to shut down more than once, either because they ran out of food or didn't have sufficient staff; for now, it's probably a good idea to call ahead and make sure they're on track before going there.

It's also unexpected to find a vegan soul food restaurant in Grand Prairie — or is it? Grand Prairie doesn't even have a Whole Foods Market yet, but GP is also where it's at right now, from the the game-changing Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark that opened in 2018, to the new Main Event bowling-dining destination coming in 2019, to the Ikea store that opened in 2018.

Itso Vegan is just a few blocks away from the Ikea store. Futon shopping and vegan lunch — sounds like a plan.

They're open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am to 8 pm.

vegan

Flair News

TGI Fridays files for bankruptcy, all 6 Dallas locations now closed

TGI Fridays

Restaurant chain TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy protection on November 2, saying it is looking for ways to “ensure the long-term viability” of the casual dining brand after closing many of its branches in 2024.

The Dallas-based company's Chapter 11 filing in a Texas federal court accelerates a gradual decline for an iconic chain that was once near the center of American pop culture but has seen its customer base dwindle as tastes changed.

TGI Fridays executive chairman Rohit Manocha said in a statement that the challenges were a result of COVID-19.

"The next steps announced today are difficult but necessary actions to protect the best interests of our stakeholders, including our domestic and international franchisees and our valued team members around the world," Manocha said. "The primary driver of our financial challenges resulted from COVID-19 and our capital structure. This restructuring will allow our go-forward restaurants to proceed with an optimized corporate infrastructure that enables them to reach their full potential."

Until recently, Dallas-Fort Worth had 11 locations including five at DFW Airport. Those airport locations are the only ones still open. The remaining six are all now closed — some closures very recent, most after being in business for a decade or more: 4951 Belt Line Rd. in Addison; 311 N. Clark St. in Cedar Hill, southwest of Dallas; 3700 Towne Crossing Blvd. in Mesquite; and 220 Cornflower Dr. at Firewheel Town Center in Garland.

A Plano location at 2444 Preston Rd. closed in 2022 and is now home to Rise Souffle, while the flagship in Dallas' West End at 1713 Market St. closed in 2020 after 32 years.

Privately owned by TriArtisan Capital Advisors, TGI Fridays has been a beloved dining destination since its inaugural bar opened in Manhattan in 1965. It expanded over the following decades to become a ubiquitous suburban gathering spot known for its ribs, potato skins topped with cheese and bacon, and a decor bedecked with red stripes and Tiffany-style lamps.

The company has boasted that its bartenders trained Tom Cruise for his role in the 1988 film Cocktail, while its serving staff's button-filled uniforms, meant to evoke a fun atmosphere, were later parodied in the 1999 satire Office Space, starring Jennifer Aniston.

Its empire peaked in 2008 with 601 restaurants in the U.S. and a $2 billion business, according to Kevin Schimpf, director of industry research at Technomic. Its sales in the U.S. were $728 million in 2023, down 15% from the prior year, according to Technomic.

It now counts 163 restaurants in the U.S., down from 269 last year and 213 from a week ago. It closed 36 in January and dozens more in the past week. TGI Fridays Inc. said it only owns and operates 39 restaurants in the U.S, a fraction of the 461 TGI Fridays-branded restaurants around the world.

A separate entity, TGI Fridays Franchisor, owns the intellectual property and has franchised the brand to 56 independent owners in 41 countries. Those are independently owned and not part of the Chapter 11 process, and remain open.

A United Kingdom-based franchisee, Hostmore, also sought debt protection in September and abruptly closed locations throughout that country after a failed takeover deal to acquire TGI Fridays.

During the pandemic TGI Fridays made an effort to expand into the delivery market by making itself a hub for ghost kitchens, which have no storefront and only prepare food for delivery. Among the major creditors owed money by TGI Fridays is the delivery service DoorDash, according to Saturday's bankruptcy court filings.

Sit-down chain restaurants more broadly have faced challenges in recent years as diners choose to get food delivered or visit upscale fast-food chains like Chipotle and Shake Shack. In September a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a reorganization plan for the seafood chain Red Lobster after years of mounting losses. Italian American food chain Buca di Beppo filed for bankruptcy protection in August. PAnother iconic U.S. sit-down restaurant, Denny's, announced in October that it is closing 150 of its lowest-performing restaurants in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales. Wendy’s is also closing up to 140 restaurants, according to a statement from The Wendy's Co. on October 31.