Viridescent Kitchen, which opens July 27 in Plano, is a restaurant and event space where vegan businesses can create and thrive, says co-owner Gabrielle Reyes. Co-owner Laura Thornthwaite approached Reyes with the idea to open a restaurant after securing the space of a former Zoe's Kitchen in Plano's Granite Park. The cafeteria will be open during lunch hours, with the space open for events in the evenings.
“We are creating an incubator and community center for going green, eating healthy, and ultimately giving back to the earth,” Reyes says.
Vegan chefs will rotate Monday through Friday every week and cook and serve different cuisines. From African and Asian foods to Caribbean and Spanish, there will be no shortage of cultural favorites made for a vegan diet.
“The good news is that a lot of traditional Jamaican and soul food can easily be transitioned into vegan, and you aren’t losing any of the flavor,” Reyes says.
She says the goal was to cater to different groups within veganism. There’s the super granola, healthy, raw vegan, and then there’s the soul food, fried bacon and shrimp, Beyond Meat burger vegan, she says.
Both Reyes and Thornthwaite have practiced veganism for the past few years and made it part of their respective careers. Reyes, 27, is an actress and owner of One Great Vegan, a catering and cooking video company. Thornthwaite, 35, co-owns The Simple Sprout, a vegan fruit and nut butter business out of McKinney.
As businesswomen, Reyes says it was important for them to cultivate a space of true equality. Eighty percent of the people the team works with are people of color, and most of them are women, Reyes says. While Reyes is of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, Thornthwaite is a white woman who Reyes says curated the space for a diverse group of people without even realizing it.
“We are literally manifesting the restaurant, the space that we want,” Reyes says.
Viridescent Kitchen will also offer nutrition and fitness courses, wine and cheese Wednesdays, earth-conscious painting classes with artist Nikki Cade, and live cooking demonstrations. 5 AM Drip, a Dallas vegan coffee roaster, will serve vegan drinks and doughnuts.
Plant Based Grocery is a vegan pop-up grocery store in D-FW, and it will now have a home at Viridescent Kitchen. They will curate the shelves with snacks and sustainable products, Reyes says.
The grand opening event is from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27, in front of the store. V-Market, a local vegan pop-up market, partnered with Viridescent Kitchen to host a mini vegan festival for day, Reyes says. She says everyone should come dressed in green to celebrate sustainability, eating healthier and feeling better.
5760 State Highway 121, Suite 140, Plano. viridescentkitchen.com.