A beloved Denton-based breakfast chain expands its Dallas-Fort Worth footprint with a new location coming soon to a city that dearly deserves it: Mesquite.

Seven Mile Cafe, the healthy restaurant noted for bountiful breakfasts and vegan-friendly fare, is opening a location at 3817 Pavillion Court, in a space that was most recently Zenna Thai and Japanese Restaurant. The building faces 635 off Town East Boulevard in what is a growing restaurant row.

Seven Mile Cafe co-founded Kevin Klingele confirms it's coming but is quick to caution that the opening is still a ways down the road. Don't get antsy, people.

"We're excited, but it's still months away," he says. UPDATE 12-12-2022: The restaurant plans to open on December 20.

He and his wife Josi founded Seven Mile Cafe in Denton in 2011. The couple moved here from San Francisco and named the restaurant after Seven Mile Beach in the Grand Cayman Islands, where they honeymooned.

Seven Mile is famous for fantastic breakfasts, including benedicts and numerous flavors of pancakes, including their signature pancake sampler comes with three different flavored pancakes: buttermilk, blueberry, and red velvet. In 2022, they were a nominee for Best Breakfast in CultureMap's annual Tastemaker Awards.

They also serve lunch and are a popular destination for vegans, thanks to their plentiful selection of non-meat dishes such as:

• chicken & waffles made with vegan Beyond Chicken
• vegan papas featuring hash browns topped with black beans and soyrizo
• vigas, their twist on migas with tofu and soyrizo
• biscuit breakfast sandwich with Just Egg, Beyond sausage, and vegan cheese
• vegan French toast

This all makes them cutting-edge, since bountiful breakfasts and vegan food have emerged as two of the biggest trends in dining in recent years.

"Josi is vegan also and we make an enormous effort to offer a wide variety of vegan options on our menu," Kevin says.

They've grown slowly and carefully, and currently have five locations around Dallas-Fort Worth including Highland Village, Lewisville, Keller, which opened in 2016, and Fort Worth, which opened in 2019.

Mesquite is their first foray outside of their usual terrain in the northwest corner of the metroplex, and it represents a gift to a growing population of gentrifying types who've moved to areas on the far east side of Dallas such as Casa View, which is so happening that it also just got its own Starbucks, by the way.

The area they're going into is above Town East Mall, by LBJ Freeway and Town East Boulevard, where a number of more upscaley type businesses have opened including a Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store and a location of Blaze! Pizza.

The area will also likely see a renaissance following the completion of the 635 East Project, an 11-mile project that will add a lane in each direction, build continuous frontage roads along the corridor, and redo the interchange at I-635 and I-30. Construction began in early 2020 with an anticipated completion date of late 2024.

But there's still not much in the way of indie/vegan options on this side of town, making it likely this location will become as big a destination as their other five. These are people with vision.

"I think Mesquite is about to explode," Klingele says. "There's more retail, shopping, dining options. I see great things ahead for that area, especially once the freeway gets done."