Vegan News

Cottage bakery delivers luscious vegan yeast-raised doughnuts to Dallas

Special doughnuts from Chef Mercado's Kitchen.

Chef Mercado's Kitchen

A buzzy startup is bringing a valuable foodstuff to Dallas-Fort Worth: puffy, fluffy, vegan yeast-raised doughnuts.

Called Chef Mercado's Kitchen, it's cottage bakery in Richardson founded by baker Caroline Mercado that's earning raves for its doughnuts, custom cakes, and other pastries, all of which are vegan.

There are fried vegan yeast doughnuts, fritters, vegan wedding cakes, cupcakes, pies, and tarts.

The lineup of doughnuts includes flavors: Right now she's featuring "Georgia On My Mind," a vanilla glazed doughnut topped with brown sugar-oat crumble, and finished with peach slices and maple syrup. Popular classics include a doughnut topped with a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough, and maple bacon "Long Johns," a rectangular doughnut filled with sweet vegan cream, topped with maple glaze and a slice of vegan bacon.

Mercado sells them online and also offers specials and holiday menus featuring savory dishes such as chile rellenos, bruschetta, and charcuterie with vegan cheeses and meats.

She started the business after her mother was diagnosed with health issues and changed to a vegan diet.

"My entire family of 10 went vegan in support, and we felt better after we did - it's been good for us," she says.

She always had an interest in cooking, and wanted to pursue a career in culinary arts. After their switch, she became intrigued by the challenge of making vegan food.

"I saw a gap in the market and felt like there was room for innovation," she says.

She dedicated a year and a half to perfecting her recipe for a fried yeast vegan doughnut.

"At that time, there weren't any other shops doing vegan fried doughnuts," she says. "There were cake donuts that were baked, but none were frying them like conventional doughnuts, and I knew there was a market for it."

She launched her online catering business in 2019, initially focused entirely on doughnuts, before expanding into savory items including vegan ribs, which is one of her most popular items. Now Chef Mercado's Kitchen is a full-scale vegan catering company that does weddings, anniversaries, and events.

Custom decorated cakes are a big part of her business. And so is honoring her Hispanic culture.

"Food is something that's cherished in our community," she says.

openings vegan

Restaurant closure

Beloved Bishop Arts Japanese restaurant Zen Sushi closes after 20 years

Zen Sushi/Facebook

After two decades Zen exits Bishop Arts

From the ever-evolving Bishop Arts District in Dallas comes news of another longtime restaurant closing: Zen Sushi, which served modern Japanese fare at 380 W. 7th St. in Oak Cliff for 20 years, shuttered without fanfare following Halloween dinner.

D Magazine was the first to report the closure.

Zen Sushi owner and chef Michelle Carpenter earned a national reputation after opening the restaurant in 2007. She was Dallas' first female sushi chef, the first woman to own and operate a sushi restaurant in the city, and one of the first to offer vegan sushi, years before plant-based dining became a major trend.

In a 2013 Ask Me Anything (AMA) discussion on Reddit, she also said that she invented the popular caterpillar roll — an eel and cucumber-stuffed roll topped with avocado. In the thread, she defended the less traditional approach, saying:

I have to pay the rent. I try to offer something for everyone, for varying levels and preferences. I personally don't like it, but [salmon and cream cheese] is a best-selling roll. There is place for the Philly Roll. I met the Master Itamae that invented this roll, and he is the much more traditional than I am. But he understood his audience and it took me a while to understand my audience."

Carpenter trained for years in San Diego beginning in the 1980s to become an itamae, or master sushi chef, and helped to pioneer the New American Japanese food movement by integrating Texas flavors into her sushi, rolls, and cuisine, as CultureMap has reported.

In 2023, while still operating Zen, Carpenter opened Restaurant Beatrice in Oak Cliff, taking over a beautifully repurposed old home and drawing on the Cajun side of her ancestry for the menu. Restaurant Beatrice was named a 2023 James Beard Award semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant category, just nine months after opening.

In June 2026, Carpenter closed the acclaimed Beatrice primarily because she was suffering a brain tumor. "I can’t do recovery and run Beatrice," she said then. She didn't want to give anything less than 100 percent to her work.

Zen Sushi remained open at that time, CultureMap reported.

In a November 5 story, D Magazine says Zen's closing also is largely related to Carpenter's recovery from brain tumor removal surgery. She is about 80 percent of the way through her recovery, and her condition has improved, according to the magazine. Still, Carpenter opted not to renew her lease this month. She wasn't forced out and could have stayed, but after 20 years, she felt it was a "natural conclusion." She also felt it was better to prioritize her recovery.

And that choice could leave the door open for more culinary achievements. Notes D, "Carpenter has an idea in mind for what she calls a 'legacy' restaurant to open when she is operating at 100 percent ... 'I’ve got one more restaurant in me, and this is beyond Beatrice and Zen.'"

bishop arts closings japanese cuisine oak cliff oak cliff happenings restaurant closure zen sushi zen sushi closure