Vegan News

Fort Worth just squeaks onto list of top 20 vegan cities in U.S.

Belenty's Love Mexican is one of Fort Worth's top award-winning vegan restaurants.

Photo courtesy of Belenty's

A new survey of the top 20 vegan cities in the U.S. has determined which city is the most vegan of all. Spoiler: It's not Fort Worth. Boo.

But Fort Worth did squeak onto the list, coming in at No. 20, boasting 68 restaurants that are vegan or offer vegan options.

The survey by the team at Meal Delivery Experts set out to determine which cities have the most vegan food options. They compiled the 20 most populous cities in the U.S., then used data from TripAdvisor to count how many restaurants or food venues in each city offers at least one vegan option.

New York comes in at No. 1, blowing everyone else away with 1464 restaurants or food venues offering vegan options — more than double the number than any other city on the list.

No. 2: Los Angeles is in second place, with 705 restaurants or food venues offering vegan options. Los Angeles has among the widest variety of cuisines including vegan Korean, Ethiopian, and Thai food.

No. 3: Chicago, with 489 restaurants or food venues offering vegan options, which is a surprise since Chicago is such a big meat town, although the city is best known for deep-dish pizza, and many Chicago restaurants now offer a vegan alternative.

Houston and Austin both make the top 10. Houston comes in at No. 6, with 312 restaurants — snatching the surprise win for top vegan city in Texas away from Austin, which has a bigger reputation for being veg-friendly; Austin is No. 8 on the list with 286 restaurants.

Dallas was No. 12, with 209 vegan- or vegan-friendly establishments, just nosing out San Antonio which has 202 restaurants.

Fort Worth's last place ranking is misleading. Despite what the numbers may say, Fort Worth has the buzziest vegan scene in Texas right now with trailblazing places like Pizza Verde, Zonk Burger, Mariachi's Dine-In, and Belenty's Love Vegan Mexican Resteaurant, so good that it won 2022 Restaurant of the Year in CultureMap's annual Tastemaker Awards. Fort Worth is also home to Texas' most famous vegan restaurant, Spiral Diner.

Whether motivated by health, environmental, or ethical reasons, the number of vegans in the US is rapidly increasing, reaching new heights in 2022. One in ten, or 10 percent, of Americans now consider themselves vegan or vegetarian.

The dollars are also there, with the plant-based industry worth over $7 billion in the US in 2022.

The milk substitute market is valued at over $3 billion in 2022.

The meat substitute market is valued over $1 billion in 2022.

The full list, by ranking:

New York - 1464
Los Angeles - 705
Chicago - 489
San Francisco - 467
San Diego - 385
Houston - 312
Seattle - 309
Austin - 286
Denver - 261
Philadelphia - 258
Phoenix - 234
Dallas - 209
San Antonio - 202
Charlotte, NC - 176
Jacksonville, FL - 140
Indianapolis - 140
Columbus, Ohio - 137
San Jose - 80
Oklahoma City - 80
Fort Worth - 68

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Bye-bye to BB

Boisterous bar-restaurant Bottled Blonde closes in Fort Worth

Facebook/Bottled Blonde

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A boisterous bar and restaurant in Fort Worth has closed: Bottled Blonde Pizzeria + Beer Garden shuttered its location in the West 7th entertainment district in mid-December, along with its adjacent sibling outdoor concept Backyard, which closed as well.

According to a spokesperson, the Fort Worth location has closed "indefinitely," which seems to be another word for "permanently," as the venue's social media pages have been shut down, along with the phone and presence on Bottled Blonde's website.

The Arizona-based concept combining bar-restaurant and outdoor space had been there for nearly three years, opening in March 2022 in a former commercial office space and parking lot at 2821 Morton St.

Bottled Blonde Fort Worth was part of Evening Entertainment Group (EEG), the Arizona company that once owned a portfolio of restaurants and bars in cities such as Scottsdale, Phoenix, Tucscon, Miami, and Dallas, where the first Texas location of Bottled Blonde opened in 2017.

Its combination of pizza, drinks, brunch, TVs & entertainment options, plus expansive outdoor space proved to be an irresistible formula, especially post-pandemic when outdoor spaces became increasingly important.

The concept was created by EEG founders Les and Diane Corieri, and was for many years a windfall wherever it went. In Dallas, its success proved to be a juggernaut, single-handedly spawning an entertainment zone near Deep Ellum, attracting half a dozen mostly copycat bars that opened in its wake.

The Dallas Bottled Blonde is still open, along with its Backyard concept next door. However, those same copycat bars seem to have eaten away at BB's success: For most of the seven years Bottled Blonde has been open in Dallas, it was famously the city's most successful establishment, No. 1 on the list of liquor sales as compiled by TABSreport.com, surpassing $1 million every month and beating out big sellers like Nick & Sam's, Cowboys Red River, and American Airlines Center.

But sales have slacked and in recent months, the Dallas location hasn't even made the top 25.

When the Fort Worth location opened, it was the fifth Bottled Blonde, joining Dallas, Miami, Scottsdale, and Houston. But there are now just two locations: Dallas, and the original in Scottsdale.

Neither Les nor Diane Corieri would respond to emails.

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