Fort Worth restaurateur Belen Hernandez has already won awards for her Mexican vegan concept Belenty's Love Mexican Vegan Restaurant, and now she is expanding into a new cuisine: Italian.

Belen and her son Sammy Garcia just opened Vida Cafe, at 3522 Bluebonnet Cir., in the former Lettuce Cook, which closed in June (and before that was Hong Kong Restaurant for many years), where they're doing vegan versions of Italian food.

This is entirely new in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Hernandez hails from Tamaulipas, Mexico and has been in the restaurant industry for 17 years. She's a plucky entrepreneur who once owned 10 Mexican restaurants across Hillsboro, Whitney, Godley, and Granbury. She closed them when she made the decision to go vegan 13 years ago.

"Going vegan changed my life, my soul, and spirit," Hernandez says.

In 2018, she debuted Belenty's Love in Granbury, part of a Mexican vegan trend that began in DFW and draws both vegans and nonvegans alike. In 2020, she expanded with a second location of Belenty's in Fort Worth, at 3516 Bluebonnet Cir., a space that has been home over the years to Rusty Taco, Pegaso Mexican Diner, and a dive bar named Tiff & Andi's.

She stole the show at CultureMap's 2022 Tastemaker Awards when Belentys Love won the award for Best Restaurant — not "best vegan restaurant" but Best Restaurant — beating noteworthy fellow nominees such as Wicked Butcher and Provender Hall.

While Hernandez and Garcia love Mexican food, their second favorite cuisine has always been Italian and when the location two doors down from Belenty's became available, they felt it was time.

Like Belenty's, Vida Cafe is 100 percent vegan with a plant-based spin on traditional Italian items such as spaghetti, alfredo pasta, and a chickenless marsala.

Appetizers include mozzarella sticks, bruschetta, meatballs, and minestrone soup. Salads include a Caesar and an arugula pasta salad, and there's a big assortment of panini including chicken, pesto grilled cheese, crabcake, sausage, and a classic Monte Cristo which is fried and topped with powdered sugar.

They're open for breakfast with pancakes in options such as chocolate chip and pistachio; plus omelets and French toast. A refrigerated case is filled with enticing vegan pastries including cheesecake, muffins, panna cotta, tiramisu, fruit-topped tarts, and fruit-filled Danish. There are also coffee and espresso drinks, tea, and an AF virgin Bellini.

They've warmed up the space with deep pink walls and lots of floral touches including a row of adorable floral-rimmed lounging booths where you can sprawl out on pillow cushions.

“The idea [of] Vida Cafe has been in our hearts for years,” Hernandez says. “Vida is this place where you can come relax and feel like you are at home, enjoy conversations with friends, drink a tea or coffee, read a book, enjoy delicious food…drink a Bellini and just enjoy yourself and have a good time."

There's an opening date for Fort Worth's first fine-dining vegan restaurant. Called Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits, the eatery is from the founders of the acclaimed vegan restaurant Spiral Diner & Bakery, and will open on June 1 at 1216 6th Ave., in the PS1200 complex.

Maiden will reside near its two siblings: in the same block as Spiral Diner, and a few doors down from Dreamboat Vegan Donuts & Scoops, which opened in mid-May at 1204 6th Ave. — creating a voodoo vegan triangle within Fort Worth's Near Southside District.

Maiden will offer a $150 seasonal tasting menu consisting entirely of plant-based food, with eight courses designed to be consumed over a two- to three-hour timespan. The restaurant will host two seatings per night, with room for 50 diners per seating.

Opening dishes include:

• Lemongrass Grapefruit Consommé
• Roasted Parsnip filled with confit zucchini and walnut, served with sourdough bread and shallot jam
• a play on potato-leek soup that will have surprises

Patrons can add wine or mixed-drink pairings from choices that include sake, cocktails, beer, zero-proof cocktails, teas, and a zero-proof drink pairing. A-la-carte drink options will be available as well.

Prepaid reservations will be required and can be made via Tock starting in mid May.

For those who don't want to do the tasting, the restaurant will also offer first-come, first-serve seating at the bar, plus an outdoor lounge with limited service and dishes such as a vegan cheese board.

Maiden is from husband-and-wife James Johnston and Amy McNutt who, according to a release, will present emotive courses that evoke a cinematic experience. Johnston is a filmmaker ( The Green Knight, Ghost Story, Ain't Them Body Saints); as the release notes, the couple's passion for film and food are interwoven.

From the release:

"Every menu change will seek to tell a new story, full of twists and turns, asking: what does winter feel like; what surprises does spring bring; what stories does summer tell; what emotions does fall induce?"

In a statement, McNutt says that "Maiden is all about time," stating "The time devoted to forging our beautiful space. The time to thoughtfully compose each course. The time you grant yourself as a guest to relax and relish the experience. And now, finally, it is time to present Maiden to the great state of Texas."

Time is on your side. Time waits for no one. Does anybody really know what time it is? It's time to end this story. Time out.