Vida Cafe Says Goodbye, VegFest, and More

Last night, Vida Cafe, an Italian-themed sister restaurant of Belenty’s Love Mexican Restaurant in Fort Worth is saying goodbye to its patrons.

This is yet another hit to the vegan community in that city, with a restaurant falling on hard times staying open due to declined business. Are there just not enough vegans in the city to keep these places afloat? Is Fort Worth “cursed”?

Many Dallasites will find that a 45+ minute commute is too much to ask to visit these places, but are saddened as when they do get a chance, they love the experience of having options in their sister city.

Vida Cafe’s last day will be May 4th, the same day as Fort Worth VegFest, of which it is a sponsor. So if you are going to VegFest, be sure to show love and support to Vida one last time. I, myself, will be ordering some things to-go that I’ve yet to try on their menu and don’t want to miss, like the “Chunk” steak I’ve been hearing so much about.

You can read their farewell post here.

El Palote

El Palote will be on the latest episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri on the Food Network today! The episode, “Specialty Spots,” will air tonight, May 2nd, at 8 PM CT. What amazing exposure for such a loved Pleasant Grove establishment! Their comments on both Facebook and Instagram were flooded with likes and comments.

Bam’s Vegan

Bam’s Vegan is now open for business at PREP Kitchens Dallas off Regal Row, close to the Love Field area. They are now operating as a ghost kitchen with curbside pickup. Be sure to subscribe to his newsletter to get the latest news and follow him on Instagram as he establishes his core schedule and notifies you on his next pop-up schedule there.

Clove Heart Farm Sanctuary

Cloven Heart has had tragedy after tragedy and it breaks my heart. They’ve not had time to breathe, mourn, heal. As you know from last week’s newsletter, their reason for the sanctuary, Charlie, their 20 year old cow, passed away. Then last week, a major storm hit rolled in, which left a lot of damage it its wake: it blew the roof off their pig shelter, and tore down their fences, cages, and chicken coops.

Most people don’t know this but Cloven Heart is a ONE woman show. That’s it. No staff, no employees. Just Davy. And she pleads for help from the community of Waco and those from afar like Dallas and Austin.

This past week, there were pledges from people on the Austin Vegans Facebook group saying they were going to stop by and assist, but they never came.

Davy of Cloven Heart then took it to the news to ask for help. They were on KCEN 6 yesterday at 6 AM to talk about the physical help they need, at the very least, to put the very heavy roof back onto their pig shelter as a major storm was headed for the farm, leaving pigs exposed to hail and harsh winds and rain.

Check their news segment here:

Cloven Heart Farm Sanctuary has volunteer days every Sunday from 10 AM-12 PM. I will be planning a trip very soon! Let me know if you are interested in heading down there as a caravan.

Do you know about Iconic Vegan Cafe inside of Ann’s Health Food Center & Market? Check out my latest Reel recapping my latest visit.

Big news: They’re coming back with their famous ice cream! Iconic Vegan Cafe first started out as a mobile ice cream truck, called Earthy Goodness Vegan Ice Cream, that would make the occasional Dallas pop-up from Houston. From there, I was hooked and followed them through their journey to becoming Iconic. They had over 15+ flavors at the cafe several years back. This was until their ice cream maker broke. But it looks like they’ve finally sourced the equipment to make magic happen once again!

They recently posted their butter pecan, which is a favorite of mine!