Almost vegan in Wichita and Dallas
We’re still back at Memorial Day weekend with this post. Like I said, I’m behind! But I’m finally home for two straight weeks…whew. Please bear with me as I get caught up on a month’s worth of emails and blogging!
On our way south (before our meal at Matthew Kenney OKC), we stopped in Wichita, Kansas for a meal. We’d visited their one vegetarian restaurant, Zen, twice before, and really enjoyed it, so we were sad to discover that Zen is no more. I mean, it’s still there, and it’s still a Chinese restaurant, and they even have the same staff, but the name and menu have changed. (I can’t for the life of me recall the new name!) Luckily, though, they still kept many of their vegan items on the menu.
I got some hot tea to drink and sesame “chicken” with broccoli to eat.
Matt had “multigrain fried rice” with tofu and veggies.
We shared some red bean ice cream for dessert.
A day later, when we made it down to Dallas, we wanted a quick dinner, which we found at ZPizza in Flower Mound, Texas.
I’d seen a ZPizza before in L.A., but hadn’t eaten at one. Matt and I split a pie with Daiya vegan cheese; his half had soy crumbles, mushrooms, and onions, while my half had green peppers, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives.
I hardly ever eat pizza, it seems, so it was a treat! (Although you’ll see another pizza on here in just a few days…)
On Sunday, we brunched at one of our very favorite Dallas establishments: Spiral Diner! It’s been awhile since we’d eaten there, so we were eager for some delicious vegan comfort food.
Here’s a photo to melt any vegan woman’s heart: Matt, drinking a smoothie of almond milk, apple juice, and mixed berries, while paging through the book Eating Animals
For his meal, Matt ate a Lumberjack Slam again: biscuits and gravy, vegan sausage, and tofu scramble.
I also repeated a previous order of mine: the Nachos Supremos, hold the TVP taco bits, add marinated Mexican seitan. Everything in this meal is to-die-for, from the dreamy cashew cheese to the black bean-quinoa topping to the spicy, chewy seitan. HEAVEN!
I left with enough leftovers to have for dinner later that day, but we still shared this excellent brownie for dessert.
That night, while I ate my cold leftover nachos (YUM!), Matt picked up a pasta primavera dinner for himself from Café Brazil. He specified “vegan,” but even though they took care not to put parmesan cheese on his spaghetti, they still put it on the garlic bread. ::sigh:: Fail.
On the drive back home on Memorial Day, we ate at the Moe’s Southwest Grill, a Chipotle-type fast-casual chain restaurant, in Oklahoma City. Matt got a vegan burrito, and I had this tofu rice bowl.
Oh, and we picked up a couple smoothies at Matthew Kenney OKC before leaving town. My two favorites: the Blueberry Bee and the Raspberry Rhapsody.
Next up: MORE meals at MK-OKC and in Dallas!
I lived in Wichita for 9 months and loved Zen. Too bad it closed.It was open still last november when we were still living there…And we are off to Fort worth in a few months to live, so thanks for the restaurant suggestions!
Agreed, very sad about Zen. We were just there in March; had no idea it was about to close!
And Dallas is just a short drive away!
I haven’t done much exploring in Fort Worth, but I know there’s a Spiral Diner over there too
Fort Worth is home of the original Spiral Diner and my favorite!
Nice! Maybe I should hop over to Ft. Worth sometime to eat at the original
definitely head to Fort Worth – even if we are nicknamed “Cowtown” – the Spiral Diner is always busy and everyone is always happy. Fort Worth is also a very friendly place, cool museums and more vegetarian friendly than the nickname implies
welcome
Mmmm your so lucky to have so many veg friendly places so close! I’m jealous!!!!!!!!!!
Well, if you call 8-9 hours from home “close”… ;P Hehe. I WISH these were closer to KC!
When I went I was unhappy to find they have no truly gluten free bread, the closest they got was spelt, which is ok for some but not all.
You should go to kalichanjis while you are here tho most of the entrees include dairy, they do have some vegan fare and the best salad bar ever.
I love Kalachandji’s! Been there a couple times
Good lookin’ stuff! I can never get enough red bean ice cream.
Never had red bean ice cream….sounds interesting!!!
I love red bean desserts! Not quite as much as black sesame desserts, but close enough. It would probably be easier to make raw black sesame creations than raw red bean, too…
Hope you have a wonderful, relaxing, staying-put two weeks my dear!
ooh, the pizza and tofu scramble look yum! thanks for sharing, I find it so interesting to see what the different ‘take’ is on vegan food around the US. I also just looked at your blog about Mathew K’s place in Oklahoma. Gosh, the food looks amazing. I could almost taste it!
Looks like you are having a real fun foodie journey.
I love your blog Amber! It makes me want to be back in the USA to try all these great vegan and vegetarian restaurants, we have none in the small town I live in Switzerland!
Thanks, Kelly! Where in Switzerland do you live? I had fun in Lucerne when I visited there
Red Bean Ice Cream sounds so nom!
Wow that sounds like a fun adventure. I should do a road trip like that one of these days. I would have to travel with the kiddo’s thought. I have not had red bean ice cream for a long time. Thanks for sharing.
I had a just so-so experience with Z pizza, but sometimes these places tend to vary even if they are a chain. I ordered to get it delivered and it was cold, maybe next time I’ll go there in person.
Curious to hear if MK is changing all the names or just that one?
Everything’s changed – so now, retroactively, I graduated from the “Matthew Kenney Academy”!
That pizza looks amazing, and so do the nachos! My mouth literally waters at all your posts- I love all the photos!
Another Ft Worth girl chiming in!! I absolutely love Alyce, Spiral Dinner, & Kalachandji’s!! There are a lot of great places on Magnolia St in FtW (like Spiral). There’s also a vegan meet-up potluck once a month. I’ll be back with that info later… I’d love for either of you to come out to our 20 acre retreat center / alpaca ranch anytime you’re in the area (A Day Away Retreat) just 35-40 minutes northwest of FtW. We’ve been vegan (and now Almost Vegan, love that
for 4 months now. Let’s do lunch!!
Wow, thanks for the invite, Ruby! What a neat-looking retreat and ranch! Hopefully I can take you up on that sometime when we’re down south again.
Hola Amber, I am really interested in knowing more about the dreamy cashew cheese in the Nacho supremos you had? is it the melted yellow I see in the photo?
Merci,khaled
Hi Khaled! Yes, it’s the yellow substance. It’s probably a blend of soaked cashews, tomatoes or bell pepper, and various spices like chili powder. I’ll have a nacho cheese sauce recipe in my cookbook!
FYI about Wichita – D’Sozzo is on Seneca and Harry (I think) just off of Kellogg. They are completely VEGAN. Only open for lunch though. I think 11 – 3.
On Wednesday and some other random days of the week The Doughnut Whole sells a few varieties of Vegan Doughnuts. They are located off of Douglas just East of downtown/oldtown.
Thanks Melissa! I’ve gotten a lot of recommendations for d’Sozo, so I’m definitely going to hit them up next time I’m in Wichita.