As a former vegetarian and a loyal fan of the tasty fare at Oak Lawn’s Cosmic Café vegetarian eatery, I felt eager to compare it with Fort Worth-based Spiral Diner & Bakery, a vegan restaurant with a diner food twist. Unfortunately I discovered that my expectations of down-home, comfort food went downhill during appetizers.
The Oak Cliff location maintains an unassuming yet spacious restaurant with a few quirky customers and an equally eccentric wait staff to match. A small shelf of books on vegetarianism and animal cruelty welcomes customers at the door. I’m not opposed to light reading at dinner, however “The Pornography of Meat” didn’t quite complement my appetite.
The inexpensive, self-serve sodas were convenient, but the Blue Sky brand Dr. Becker had a funny after-taste. Instead I went for a soy chai latte, chosen from Spiral’s impressive selection of fair trade coffee and tea. Its large menu was a bit overwhelming, though. How can anyone make a decision if he or she has eight pages of burgers, sandwiches, salads, and blue-plate specials to choose from?
Consisting of both herbivorous and carnivorous students, our group decided to start with hummus, both a college student and vegetarian staple – as well as one of my all-time faves (how pureed chickpeas and sesame paste can taste so good, I’ll never understand).
But his hummus was bland. It lacked the necessary supplement: pita bread or pita chips. Instead the dish was served with either tortilla chips or tortillas. It wasn’t a deal-breaker, but it just wasn’t right. I mean, people don’t serve enchiladas and fajitas with pita or naan.
Spiral Diner’s Lonestar Vegan Chili remained the best part of my dinner. The spicy, chunky chili, topped with a dairy-free sour cream spiral on top (get it?), screamed “comfort food” instead of “weird imitation meat.”
Our server recommended her favorite hot plate, Red Coconut Curry Noodles, but I narrowed my options down to the Patty Melt, Pasta Primavera, or Spiral’s original “Shpadoinkle,” a massive baked potato with veggie taco meat, fresh vegetables, ranch dressing and chives.
I finally decided on the Parmigiana Wrap, comprised of a flour tortilla stuffed with pesto, mozzarella, pine nuts, black olives, marinara sauce and grilled seitan.
For those who aren’t so vegetarian vocabulary savvy, Spiral Diner’s menu provides its customers with a handy glossary of definitions of meat substitutes. Seitan, I learned, is a wheat-gluten food with a shredded chicken texture.
If I never taste seitan again, it won’t be too soon. It most definitely does not “taste like chicken.” I split the Parmigiana Wrap with a six-year vegetarian, and even she found herself picking out the seitan. Similarly, Spiral’s Big Taquito contained vegetables and tofu scramble, a tasteless egg substitute with a radioactively yellow hue.
The staff was friendly, but so laidback that dinner took almost two hours, and the restaurant was almost empty sans our group and two other tables. The chill, carefree atmosphere is fitting, but not worth the drive – or the time wasted waiting for a mediocre meal. For now, I’ll stick to my store-bought hummus and more traditional diners.
