Organic cuisine finds full-bodied flavor at Kozy Kitchen and Spiral Diner

SOMEONE’S IN THE KITCHEN: Kozy owners Jeff Wells and Nick Pavageaux display their best-selling dish: buffalo tacos. - ARNOLD WAYNE JONES/Dallas Voice

With fresh, non-toxic tomatoes scarcer than $2 gasoline and Dallas’ Farmers Market coming into its own, diners are beginning to take note of the benefits of locally grown and organic produce. Could it be the hippies are finally mainstream?

It might seem that way if you’ve made your way to Spiral Diner recently. The newly-opened Oak Cliff branch of the Fort Worth institution is a pure vegan restaurant: no animals or by-products of animals (dairy and honey included).

As someone who would choose as his last meal foie gras with a side of veal, the idea of “suffering free food” isn’t especially a selling point. I want my meal to have taste.

And Spiral Diner didn’t disappoint — or at least, came as a pleasant surprise.

Like many vegan restaurants, it sells its flesh-and-milk-less items with terminology appealing to omnivores. There’s no meat in the meatballs, but they use the term anyway; items are “cheezy” or served with “bacun” or come with a scoop of “i-scream.” (Steve Jobs and Apple might have a trademark infringement lawsuit there, but I’m not telling.) In other words, they make it easy to get caught up in the spiritual attraction of veganism without feeling like you’re missing out. Going vegan and not even knowing it? That’s a coup.

Take the spiral burger ($6.95), a soy-based patty served on a bun with all the traditional fixins. If you’ve ever eaten a “garden burger” that has the texture and juiciness of wood pulp, you wouldn’t recognize Spiral’s version, which is awash in flavor.

The kitchen gussies up dishes with lots of happy extras: a leaf of colorful, fresh lettuce, thick slices of tomato, a shmear of avocado on the burger. Each item stands well enough on its own that the confluence of them makes for a hearty, tasty entrée.

And once you allow yourself to fall for one thing, it’s difficult not to put your faith in the entire menu, even if there are compromises. A side organic potato salad tastes fine, but has a peculiar green tint. The spaghetti tropica ($8.95) sounded good but looked about as appetizing as surgery: over a tangle of noodles, separate strips of red marinara sauce and brilliant hunter green pesto, covered generously with white pine nuts — it could have been an artist’s sloppy, abstract rendering of the Mexican flag in foodstuffs.

If the appearance was slightly off-putting, the taste was not. The sweet-tart flavor of pineapple chunks dovetailed into the salty bite of black olives. The two sauces don’t compete for dominance on the dish so much as complement one another, and the meat-less meatballs were just as good as the burger.

aThe addition of pineapple sells the Jamaican jerk BBQ “san’ich” ($7.95), a tempeh patty marinated in a fiery (though not wildly so) sauce topped with grilled lettuce and mayo (which is written on the bread to spell “jerk” —one of several cheeky touches).

My dining companion felt the hummus (crushed chickpeas accented with tahini) would benefit from more salt and he was right, but that didn’t stop us from scouring the bottom of the bowl with tortillas to finish off every morsel.

Desserts are a point of pride here, and deservedly so: cakes made without eggs and ice cream without milk must be a challenge, but execution can be deft. Cookies are thick, cakey and moist, dotted with carob instead of chocolate; the smallness of the cupcakes belie the tart lemon frosting.

Not all quite succeed. The Deathstar sundae comes with a shot of coffee (it’s supposed to be espresso, but that machine’s not there yet) and scoop of “i-scream,” but despite the name it’s hardly world-shattering, and the sweet potato pie ($3.50) tasted more like the side dish than the great Southern dessert (proving that foregoing condensed milk comes with a price).

aA HAPPY MEAL: The vegan burger at Spiral Diner contains no meat — and not even any egg in the mayo — but tastes juicy (especially if you add a dollop of avocado). - ARNOLD WAYNE JONES/Dallas Voice

Spiral Diner isn’t fussy by any measure. Apparently prompt service isn’t a vegan principle (drinks and flatware are all self-serve, and waiters can disappear for long stretches — they all cook the food as well); an antique tin ceiling can’t compete with the lime green walls, exposed concrete floors and blah black-and-white accents for banal styling.

Still, that didn’t prevent our sleep-eyed waiter from greeting us by saying, “Welcome to Spiral Diner, the happiest place in the world.” It may not look like Disneyland, but the food may be a sign of what to expect from the World of Tomorrow: healthy, tasty and eco-sensitive.

REPORT CARD Spiral Diner, 1101 N. Beckley Ave. Open Tuesdays–Sundays (11 a.m.–10 p.m.,; Sundays until 5 p.m.). 214-948-4747.   Vegan food with a savvy sense for flavor, the vibe is more Austin than Dallas but a great addition to Oak Cliff’s burgeoning food scene. Overall: 2.5 Stars Food: 3 stars Atmosphere: 2  Stars Service: 2.5 Stars Price: Moderate.

Uptown’s Kozy Kitchen also serves organic grub, but unlike Spiral Diner, Kozy is a carnivore’s friends. Co-owner and executive chef Nick Pavageaux strives for a menu with gluten-free breads and wholesome, locally-grown produce, but he’s a meat eater and shares that passion with his customers.

Kozy Kitchen may be the best evidence in Dallas that organic cuisine need not be bland, but in fact can be loaded with flavor. The seafood is all wild (not farm-raised), the buffalo meat grass-fed Colorado stock, the lamb New Zealand raised and fresh as a sailor on leave. Forget for a moment that it’s all good for you — it tastes great.

Of course, it’s possible that the sandwiches work so well because of the homemade gluten-free challah bread: you could probably slap a piece of shoe leather between two slices and still get lost in its flavor. Rather than risk that, try instead the Caribbean queen ($7), a curry chicken salad chock with large, tender chunks of meat — it’s spicy without the chicken seeming disguised under a mask of curry. Equally good is the Thai tuna salad sandwich ($7), a kicky little number so well-seasoned that we devoured it without coming up for air.

Sandwiches come with a side salad (also available as an entrée) that’s as good as you’ll find: organic greens, Granny Smith apples, English cucumbers, strawberries and double-cream blue cheese, doused with a tangy homemade honey vinaigrette.

There’s some beef to be had — notably a petit grass-fed Aussie filet mignon (available at lunch for a bargain $16) — but the star of the menu is probably the buffalo. The bison burger ($10) comes topped with goat cheese, which probably more than makes up for the leanness of the meat in terms of calories, but who’s counting?

The tacos ($12) are justly popular: Two soft flour tortillas piled high with ground buffalo, finished with a crown of guacamole and a side of rich salsa, it’s both unusual and familiar — part Tex-Mex, part New American cuisine.

Such diversity reflects the selections overall. Aside from its organic mission, Kozy Kitchen defies pigeonholing. From espresso drinks (one, called “the words,” may be the sweetest shot of caffeine you’ve ever tried) to venison steaks to its desserts, the restaurant resists being labeled any one thing.

Speaking of desserts, the homemade cakes (with most, one slice serves two easily) exude a devilish insensitivity to dieters. The justly named omigod cake nearly put me into a sugar coma; the carrot cake’s rich frosting should be regulated by the ATF as a deadly weapon — it made my heart stop. (Selections vary daily, so take what you can get when you can get ‘em.)

Décor is minimal (a leopard-print banquette is about as close to artwork as you’ll come) and service exceedingly casual (on separate visits, my entrée has also arrived several minutes before my dining companion’s), none of which shouts “cozy” — welcoming, perhaps, but where’s the hearth and home?

Then again, Pavageaux and co-owner Jeff Wells have spelled “cozy” with a K — that is, their approach is slightly askew, but you get the idea. More a haven for hipsters than hippies (free wi-fi! newspapers everywhere!), there’s undeniably a friendly, neighborhood-y vibe, but it’s just a bonus to the real draw: unexpectedly delectable dishes. Who needs paintings when the food is this damn wonderful?

REPORT CARD Kozy Kitchen, 4433 McKinney Ave. Open daily  for breakfast and lunch (7 a.m.–3 p.m.) and Tuesdays–Saturdays for dinner (6–9 p.m.; 10 p.m. weekends). 214-219-5044.  Proving the bona fides of organic food, this casual cafe offers approachably delicious dishes that defy categorization. Overall: 3 Stars Food: 4 stars Atmosphere: 2.5  Stars Service: 2.5 Stars Price: Moderate.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 13, 2008.