Vegan News

Fort Worth vegan restaurant scene flowers with new Healthy Hippie Cafe

Vegan dining comes to Watauga. Photo courtesy of Healthy Hippie Cafe

Watauga is home to a sweet new vegetarian cafe called The Healthy Hippie Cafe, serving vegetarian and vegan eats, at 6600 Denton Hwy. Owner Kelli Myatt is putting out a limited menu, but they make everything in house and supply a lot of their own organic produce.

Their specialty consists of veggie patties available in a quartet of flavors: spicy black bean, savory green pea, cashew quinoa, and red lentil curry. You can get them in a bowl, a pita pocket, or on a sprouted grain bun. You load it up with greens and garden items, then add sliced avocado, boiled egg, or cheese, and top it with your choice of seeds.

A certified Pilates instructor, group fitness instructor, personal trainer, and dance teacher, Myatt says she was feeling sluggish after a holiday and researched ways to detox. She found relief by following a plant-based diet with little to no dairy. She loves to cook and garden, and has put them both to good use. She began selling her wares at the Keller Farmers Market, where she developed a following, before expanding to this location.

There are frequent specials such as one day's creamy vegan leek and fennel soup, with almond milk and red potatoes. There are also smaller bites such as chips and salsa, hummus and dips in numerous varieties which you can order as sampler, and smoothies. Dessert include yogurt parfraits and chia seed pudding. Prices are cheap.

While customers can dine at the cafe, a big part of the business is to go, with lots of take-out options and products such as seasonal kombucha from Holy Kombucha in apple cinnamon spice and pumpkin spice flavors.

She also hosts cooking classes such as the one on soups she's offering on October 14. Attendees learn how to take a basic soup starter and turn it into seven different soups, then get a bowl of soup and crackers, and all the recipes.

They're open Monday through Saturday 11 am-9 pm. They started out Monday-Friday, but Myatt added Saturdays in response to customer demand.

vegan openings

Craft Beer News

Our Taphouse to fill craft beer niche in Fort Worth's Near Southside

Craft beer on tap Out Taphouse

There’s a new spot for beer filling the void left by a craft beer growler station coming to Fort Worth’s Near Southside: Called Our Taphouse, it’s located in the former Pouring Glory space, which closed in January after nine years, at 1001 Bryan Ave.

It's opening by summer 2025.

Our Taphouse is from Maria Castillo and her partner Kevin Hudson. Castillo had been a volunteer of Pouring Glory and Hudson was a bartender. This will also be Castillo's first business, but she's no stranger to Pouring Glory— she started the street markets, called PG Southside Street Market, held monthly at the bar since 2023.

Prior to that, she'd hosted markets around Dallas-Fort Worth since 2022 at Turning Point Brewery, Pegasus Brewery, and the Stockyards. They've always enjoyed the ambiance and crowd of the pub, so they wanted to pick this pub back up from where it left off.

"It's pretty much the same concept as the previous business, specializing in craft beer and craft food," Castillo says. "It's mostly going to be a neighborhood bar concentrated on community."

According to Castillo, they'll still have a variety of more than 20 local beers on tap and imported, including Panther Island, Community Beer, and Peticolas.

The menu will have the same daily gastropub menu, with dishes such as burgers and fries, tacos, wings, quesadillas, chicken tenders and salads. However, they'll also bring in some specials with a Latin twist, like birria tacos and a burger with a flair, either weekly or every other week.

The Latin specials will come from a cook Castillo and Hudson know who's currently honing her craft.

"Her name is Adriana, she's actually going to culinary school and food is her passion," Castillo says. "I told her I thought it's a good opportunity for her because it's a small kitchen and we're all there to support and cheer her on."

They'll also make themselves a destination for viewing sports and games with six TVs inside.

Though the space will remain mostly the same inside, the patio will undergo some updates. According to Castillo, they'll turn it into a space customers will be excited to spend time on with more seating and decor.

"It will be more inviting and we started updating with the previous concept," Castillo says. "But it'll just be a space where I can't even explain it— where you'll want to hang out."

Castillo will be continuing the street markets at the pub and hold them every once in a while, though someone else will be in charge of organizing, and there will be live music on Fridays and Saturdays.