The tradition when it comes to January dining is eating healthy, to atone for the excesses of the year-end holiday revelry. That said, there are many ideas about what healthy dining is. (Sorry people, but it ain't KETO.)
According to the just-released "Best Diets" list from U.S. News & World Report, an annual survey of the most beneficial diets as ranked by nutrition professionals, the best diets in order are: the Mediterranean diet which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, & seeds; the DASH Diet — which also emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and whole grains plus low salt — which came in second; and the "semi-vegetarian diet" which came in third.
At the same time, a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that beans and legumes are the healthiest source of protein, and recommends we ramp up our bean consumption (predictably, this was protested by the meat folks).
Using this as inspiration, we've compiled these 10 restaurants which range from Mediterranean buffets to vegan places to restaurants with special veg-centric menus.
Banh Mi Station
Vietnamese sandwich shop opened at Sylvan Thirty
in 2019, and persevered not only through a banh mi trend but also the pandemic, remaining a rare consistent presence at Sylvan Thirty, along with Cibo Divino. They do classic banh mi sandwiches, which on their own are prettty healthy, but they also have an entire vegan selection with some really cool items like Tempeh Fries featuring grilled paprika tempeh, peanuts, cilantro, and vegan aioli; Edamame Falafel, piled on sliced avocado; and a Buffalo "Un-Chicken" sandwich. Ingredients are fresh, prices are low, and they even have a vegan chocolate cheese cake.
Beyond the Bun
Cute new sandwich shop just opened inside an antique mall in Lewisville at 1165 S. Stemmons Fwy, where it's serving artisanal sandwiches — roast beef, Buffalo chicken, a BLTA — but all plant-based. Current offerings include an Italian Cuban sandwich with ham, provolone, Dijon, and dill pickles on focaccia bread; Buffalo Chicken with fried chicken, buffalo sauce, bleu cheese, and ranch on a sub-style brioche bun; and a sandwich with turkey, ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickle aioli, lettuce, & tomato on white bread. They are using meats and cheese imported from The Herbivorous Butcher, the acclaimed vegan butcher shop based in Minneapolis, and all breads are made in-house.
Blue Sushi
Small sushi chain with three locations — Uptown, Preston Hollow Village, and Fort Worth — has not only good regular sushi but is also well known for its extensive selection of vegan sushi rolls with ingredients and sauces that seem like they can't possibly be vegan. All locations have vegan offerings but Preston Hollow has the biggest selection with
items such as a tuna tower made with plant-based tuna; tempura asparagus with vegan cream cheese; barbecue eggplant "eel" with avocado; and the eden roll with tempura sweet potato and edamame hummus. Plenty of non-vegans are fans because what they do with these rolls is so creative and decadent.
Banh Mi Station
Banh Mi Station
DiMassi's Mediterranean Buffet
Anything from Houston is good news for Dallas and that includes this chain which has been serving Mediterranean and Lebanese cuisine since 1996. It's a self-serve style buffet with hummus, vegan dolmas, lentil soup, tabouleh salad, fattoush, falafel, chickpea salad, but also some traditional items like an arugula salad in addition to strictly middle Eastern dishes. It was originally founded by the DiMassi family but is currently run by
Sam Khader, a graduate of The Conrad Hilton Hotel & Restaurant Management program at the University of Houston who has expanded across Texas and beyond, including two locations in California. You can find six in DFW: Richardson, Allen, Plano, Fort Worth, Grapevine, and Irving, with another coming soon to Mesquite.
D'Vegan
Vietnamese restaurant located in a shopping center on the border of Lake Highlands and Garland has been a favorite for Dallas' vegan community since it opened in 2015. They have a huge menu that does vegan versions of Vietnamese and Asian food: spring rolls, noodles, lemongrass tofu, pad Thai, pho, pot stickers — but also burgers & fries, a BLT, a vegan chicken sandwich, a BBQ tortilla wrap. It's a trip. There are numerous soups including Bún Riêu, a tomato tofu noodle soup with vermicelli noodles, tomatoes, mushroom, cilantro, and onion. It's all at bargain prices which makes it easier to overlook the food-court setting.
Fadi's
Small Mediterranean chain is named for its wunderkind Houston-based chef Fadi Dimassi, a native of Lebanon whose family first founded the DiMassi's chain before branching off with Fadi's in 1997. Lebanese food is the best and Fadi's has set a standard with its kebabs, wraps, vegetables, sides, and breads, with signature dishes like eggplant with pomegranate molasses. While the restaurant is a buffet, it's not self-serve, which helps keep the riff-raff from messing with the food. They also cook certain items to order. And they also serve wine. Fadi's remains small and dotingly family-run, with seven locations in Houston and two in DFW: in Dallas at Knox and US-75, and a location in Frisco.
Kalachandji's
Kalachandji's is Dallas' longest running vegetarian restaurant and a one-of-a-kind treasure, serving homey dishes from India via a generous buffet with rice, steamed veggies, curry, vegetable fritters, entrées such as lasagna and jambalaya, black bean curry, and the incomparable cinnamon-swirl bread they bake in-house. Their location — at a Krishna temple in East Dallas — adds to the charm, with a courtyard patio in the center of the restaurant that is a true oasis. They diligently post their menu
online every day and they're also a great deal — $15 at lunch, $18 at dinner.
Sister
Italian-ish restaurant on Greenville Avenue from Dallas-based Duro Hospitality (The Charles, Bar Charles, El Carlos Elegante, Café Duro, Casa Duro) is a neighborhood trattoria serving wood-fired meats and fish, house-made pastas, and Mediterranean inspired cuisine. Like all of Duro's concepts, it has a robust selection of vegetarian items, offered in a casual "no big deal" way, just a part of what they do, employing subtly decadent chef touches to spotlight the ingredients to their best advantage. Dishes like shishito peppers & onion, served in big chunks but tender, with tiny pear-shaped tomatoes and roughly-chopped almonds, laid across a base of tzatziki, so you can swipe your fork through for a creamy touch.
TLC Cafe vegan scallops TLC Cafe
TLC Cafe
Most mainstream restaurants now feature vegan dishes on their menu, but it's often a token dish. At TLC Cafe in Richardson, everything is vegan, from chicken pesto lasagna to Buffalo cauliflower to pulled pork mac & cheese. TLC chef Troy Gardner has been doing vegan food in Dallas for nearly 20 years; you don't find this degree of expertise with the cuisine often, and especially in DFW. The restaurant issues seasonal menus, and the winter edition is rich with hearty pastas and stick-to-your-rib comfort foods. Ir's all vegan, so you can indulge away.
Tribal All Day Cafe
Oak Cliff cafe does a modern take on "health food" that makes it cool again. Their menu features avocado toasts, bowls, wraps, tacos, juices, with lots of items that are also secretly vegan and gluten-free. Their loaded nachos with black beans and vegan queso are a standout; you can add vegan sausage made from walnuts and mushroom — two ingredients on trend right now. The owners also own fine-dining restaurant Written By the Seasons in Oak Cliff, which just opened a second location in the Quad in Uptown Dallas.
