:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66870124/TLC_pizza.0.jpg)
Acclaimed vegan chef Troy Gardner has opened a new restaurant in Lake Highlands that focuses on oyster mushrooms and other vegetarian dishes.
TLC Vegan Kitchen, which stands for “tastes like chicken,” is located at 520 Shepherd Drive in Garland. The restaurant, which opened just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning, operates out of a ghost kitchen, and is delivery and pick-up only. A press release calls it Dallas’s first delivery- and curbside-only craft vegan restaurant. Even before the pandemic hit, delivery and take-out was always the plan.
It’s the latest venture from Gardner, who was previously the executive chef and co-owner of plant-based restaurant V-Eats in Trinity Groves. Before that, he owned Samson’s Gourmet Hot Dogs, where he honed his chops with a menu that included several vegan dishes.
TLC focuses on the use of oyster mushrooms, which many meat-free eaters compare to chicken, as a meat substitute. Dishes include the TLC Pizza, with crispy “chicken fried” oyster mushrooms and house-made cashew mozzarella; a sausage and mushroom pizza with shiitakes and house-seasoned Impossible Italian sausage; and Chicken Fried Impossible Steak with mushroom gravy and garlic mashed potatoes. There are also gluten, nut and soy-free dishes, including a gooey gluten-free chocolate cake served with chocolate buttercream icing.
TLC Vegan Kitchen delivers directly from its kitchen, without any fees, within a seven-mile radius, and is also available through most third-party delivery apps.
