A new vegan cafe has debuted in Richardson from an award-winning chef. Called TLC Vegan Cafe, it's from vegan chef Troy Gardner, and it opened at 1930 N. Coit Rd. #140 on November 11.

It's in the space previously occupied by Reverie Bakeshop, the vegan and gluten-free bakery, which relocated to 980 Coit Rd. in June. With seating for about 30, TLC will have dine-in service plus a market for sandwiches and other grab-and-go items.

The Cafe is an evolution from TLC Vegan Kitchen, the ghost kitchen concept Gardner founded during the pandemic at Revolving Kitchen in Garland.

TLC Vegan Kitchen was voted D Magazine’s Best Vegan restaurant and won CultureMap's Tastemaker Award in 2021 for Best Ghost Kitchen.

The menu includes Gardner's signature oyster mushrooms, said to taste like chicken, the inspiration for the name TLC, which stands for "Tastes like Chicken."

Other items include:

• chicken fried steak
• lasagna with house-made ricotta, mozzarella, & parmesan
• chocolate lava cake
• banana foster pudding

Gardner is partnered with Sherry Copeland, owner of Jai Meals, a food service located at the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano serving vegan meals from different chefs for pick-up or home delivery. Copeland wanted a storefront outside of the mall and leased the Richardson spot.

TLC Vegan Café will be among the first locations in the country to offer Better Balance, a new plant-based food brand currently available in Europe and Mexico that launched in the U.S. in 2022 and is headquartered in Dallas.

Gardner was previously co-owner and chef at V-Eats in Trinity Groves, as well as owner and chef at Samson’s Gourmet Hot Dogs from 2013 to 2016, where half of the menu was vegan - catching the eye of celebrities like Erykah Badu and Andre 3000 of Outkast. He also had a successful catering business called Mobile Gourmet that he started in 1997, where he first started serving and adding vegan dishes.

In late 2018, he was featured on the Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games, Season 20, episode 1 of the “Clash of the Vegetarians." In 2022, he published his first cookbook of plant-based recipes called Easy Southern Vegan Cookbook and also launched a line of spice mixes called Veganize IT!