Vegan fine-dining restaurant Maiden Fine Plants and Spirits is among the most exciting restaurants opening in North Texas in 2023. And now that we’ve seen the food and the dining room, it’s also the most interesting new restaurant opening this year.
Let’s raise a glass to that: A restaurant that is exciting and interesting.
It’s also worth the drive to Fort Worth, from wherever you live, and whether or not you’re vegan.
From the outside, Maiden is an elegant restaurant in Fort Worth’s growing PS1200 development. The building it occupies is a Quonset hut, an arched, corrugated steel structure that is practical and funky at once.
Inside, Maiden’s fixed menu will change seasonally and include eight courses, all meat- and dairy-free.
It’s run by Amy McNutt, one of the pioneers of vegan restaurants in North Texas and the owner of Spiral Diner and Dreamboat Donuts and Scoops, both vegan.
Maiden is North Texas’ first vegan tasting menu restaurant, and it’s doing dinner differently in Fort Worth. So isn’t it time to shrug off the big hair, big steak identity that’s felt tired since Dallas went off the air?
Here are five things to know about Maiden.
1. This vegan restaurant is not just for vegans.
Guests will find a refined menu of consommé and croquettes that could read like a tasting menu in any major metropolitan city. Maiden’s approach is vegan, of course, and it isn’t a secret: Everyone who works there is vegan, and McNutt describes herself and her pals as “loud and proud” animal lovers.
Still, Maiden isn’t intended to be only for the vegan community. The poached cream of cauliflower with zucchini peanut pasta, course five, is an example of the cooking techniques executive chef McNutt will use. The base is a vegan egg pasta — rare at vegan restaurants. The medallions of creamed cauliflower sitting atop the nest of pasta are firm at first, but they become a creamy sauce as the diner digs in.
The restaurant menu will change every quarter. The opening menu includes interesting preparations of grapefruit, beets, parsnip and strawberries.
2. Dinner costs $150 per person.
The pricing at Maiden is comparable to fine-dining tasting menus across North Texas, though the owners are not paying to fly in fresh fish or source local steaks — which can be pricey elsewhere. McNutt acknowledges that at $150 per person, it’s likely to be a special occasion splurge for most diners.
The price “allows us to do some wonderful things,” she says. Servers will give diners a warm towel when they arrive, then a glass of complimentary sparkling wine. She says the price point allows Maiden to keep the dining room pretty, with wild, lovely floral arrangements made by Fort Worth artist Penny Plavidal.
“We’re trying to make people feel pampered — like it’s worth the time they’ve taken out of their week,” McNutt says.
3. Drink pairings can include zero-proof cocktails.
Diners will have several drink options, all priced at $45: a wine pairing with 2-ounce pours at each course; an “eclectic” pairing with a mix of wine, sake, cocktails and nonalcoholic options like hot tea and mocktails; or a zero-proof pairing.
The zero-proof drinks are meant to mimic cocktails, without the buzz.
Customers can also skip the tastings entirely and order glasses of wine, cups of hot tea, cocktails or mocktails a la carte.
4. Wear whatever you want.
Maiden is a fine-dining restaurant in style, so servers and bartenders will look the part. “We’ll dress up for you,” McNutt says. But what should customers put on? Whatever: Shorts. Flip-flops. A tuxedo. A ball gown. It’s all fair game, she says.
McNutt’s restaurant roots are with Spiral Diner, the casual vegan comfort food restaurant that opened 20 years ago in Fort Worth.
“We’re diner folk,” she says. “Maiden is just the adult version of what we’ve been doing.”
5. The tasting menu is not the only dining-and-drinking option.
Maiden has a small bar and patio, and both will be open for walk-ins who want to drink and dine from a smaller menu. Notably, these two areas will be the only spots in the restaurant with the option of a cheese board. (Although the tasting menu does have a cheese course.)
And what’s vegan cheese? It’s nut-based “cheese,” and Maiden gets it from Rebel Cheese in Austin. Vegan cheese is having a big moment nationwide, The New York Times reports.
Restaurants in North Texas have made significant strides in the past five to 10 years to cater to diners with allergies or food preferences. Dallas steakhouse Al Biernat’s, for instance, has a vegan section on its dinner menu with three composed dishes.
Vegan diners like CEO Sam Ofeno and McNutt have grown used to being given a smaller menu — or being offered salads and sides at other restaurants. At Maiden, they can eat every course.
“It’s freedom, to experience dinner,” Ofeno says.
Maiden Fine Plants and Spirits is at 1216 Sixth Ave., Fort Worth. It opens June 1, 2023. Customers can book reservations now via Tock.
