Paging Dr. Weil

True Food Kitchen previews kale and quinoa burgers as Dallas opening day looms

True Food Kitchen quinoa veggie burger, with a side of diced sweet potato.
Photo by Marc Lee
Autumnal salad with cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash and whitebeans.
Photo by Marc Lee
True Food Kitchen opens in Preston Center on November 19.
True Food Kitchen/Facebook
Chef at the Preston Center branch of True Food Kitchen is Michael Sullivan.
Photo by Marc Lee
True Food Kitchen desserts include this flourless chocolate cake, served warm,with vanilla ice cream and cocoa nibs.
Photo by Marc Lee
True Food Kitchen has lime-green leather banquettes and festive displays ofproduce.
Photo by Marc Lee
Panang curry with rice is one of True Food Kitchen's more popular dishes.
Photo by Marc Lee

Days before its November 19 opening in Dallas' Preston Center, True Food Kitchen — the "healthy" concept from Arizona-based Fox Restaurant Concepts — hosted a giant media cattle call to preview its menu of au courant foodie trends.

With a menu devised by author Dr. Andrew Weil, True Food Kitchen follows the anti-inflammatory diet, dubbed "Hollywood's new favorite eating plan." It asserts that saturated fats and refined sugar make your body release chemicals that cause inflammation, which purportedly leads to illness, including heart disease, cancer and arthritis.

The menu accommodates all your special-interest eating tribes including celiacs, Paleoliths, vegetarians and vegans. It also serves as an amusing one-stop for all of the restaurant world's trendiest ingredients and buzzwords. Culled from the menu and press materials:

grass-fed, sustainably raised, organic, season's best, fresh, natural, nutritionally dense, sea buckthorn, kale, Anasazi beans, quinoa, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, vitamin- and antioxidant-rich, bio-dynamic, umami, juice, smoothie, kale, eco-friendly, compostable take-out packaging, renewable, recycled plastic soda bottles

Fox had previously announced that it would open a True Food Kitchen in Austin — but that was before its arch-rival Seasons 52 settled here first, with two branches, in Plano and at NorthPark Center. This marks the seventh in the chain, following locations in Arizona, California and Colorado.

It's in the old Corner Bakery (which moved a few doors down), and it's a bright, attractive space with an open kitchen, a citrus-y color scheme, decorative produce displays, butcher-block wood and lime-green leather banquettes; the vegan nod extends to the menu, not the furniture. None of the staffers seemed to be over 25 and sported many piercings, including "gaged" ears.

Servers all mechanically hyped the onion-and-fig tart appetizer and the squash pie, which is funny-ironic because most canned pumpkin is actually butternut squash. Big sellers include the bison burger with kale salad and the panang curry, which held a broccoli spear or two and a dulling quantity of tofu.

An unwieldy veggie burger called the "inside out quinoa burger" dispensed with the bun: Two cumin-spiced quinoa patties served as the top and bottom, enclosing a filling of lettuce, tomato, red onion, hummus and feta cheese — an impossibly tall stack requiring fork and knife.

The margarita had ginger and agave, and the beer selection included an organic acai berry wheat ale from Eel River Brewing. The meal was gratis but checks were dropped at the table, likely to make sure the servers got tipped. (Sure hope they weren't holding their breath for the journalism tightwads.)

Two drinks; one "autumnal salad" with squash, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower; two entrees; and one flourless chocolate cake added up to $61, plus tip.

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Bread News

Award-winning Dallas bakery scores storefront in Oak Cliff mixed use

Photo courtesy of Kuluntu

Kuluntu bread

One of Dallas' best bakeries is graduating to a new location: Kuluntu Bakery, which currently operates as a cottage bakery in Oak Cliff, is moving into the East Dock, the innovative new mixed-use hub at 900 E. Clarendon Dr. near the Dallas Zoo and Halperin Park.

Founded in 2018, Kuluntu is the cottage food bakery that has been selling breads and pastries from an Oak Cliff home. Despite not having a brick-and-mortar location, the bakery has racked up numerous awards including an impressive ranking on a Food & Wine list of the Best Breads in Every State, a 2023 nomination for a James Beard Award, and a CultureMap Tastemaker Awards nomination for co-founder Stephanie Leichtle-Chalklen for Best Pastry Chef.

And now they will have a brick-and-mortar location.

Their current menu changes weekly, with breads such as country sour and lemon-lavender-walnut sour; their signature granola; cinnamon rolls; and pastries such as almond & lemon croissant, cheesy artichoke galette, and salted rye chocolate chip cookies. They send out an email to subscribers every week listing the latest offerings. (To get on the list, email kuluntu@kuluntubakery.org.)

"At the new location, we will be expanding the menu quite a bit," Leichtle-Chalken says. "It will include items that we’re currently baking plus South African dishes for lunch service."

They're hoping to be open by the end of the year, and once they do open, they'll close down the cottage operation.

But Leichtle-Chalklen says this new location will be more than a bakery — it will be a community hub that centers women’s experiences and builds collective power through education, health & wellness, and equity initiatives.

She already operates Kuluntu as a non-profit, with a goal of co-creating a more equitable food system and community by connecting the food industry, consumers, and partners to center women and humanize all food workers.

Sustainability and taking care of the planet is a practice that threads throughout their organization: whether that's using Barton Springs Mill organic flours and Cedar Ridge Egg Farm free-range eggs, or whether it's following zero-waste baking by recycling, composting, and using environmentally friendly packaging.

East Dock Courtesy rendering

They'll fit right in at East Dock, a former industrial building that was built in 1915 and is being thoughtfully refurbished with a goal of creating an 18-hour campus: coffee in the morning, daytime operators such as offices, studios, and restaurants, then bars and entertainment at night.

On July 12, Kuluntu will host "Reimagining an Inclusive Restaurant in Dallas," where attendees can learn about the lived experiences of women food workers and how we can humanize the food system, as well as re-imagine what an equitable and inclusive restaurant could be — sharing your experiences, ideas, and perspectives to shape Kuluntu Bakery into a true community space for all. Pastries and beverages will be included.

The session will take place at East Dock, allowing a preview of the site which will be under active construction. Get tickets here.

desserts openings