Vegetarians should now have no beef with Bentley’s

With all the bug-eyed obsession with burgers, another all-American sandwich has been relatively neglected by the foodie hordes: the hot dog.

Until recently, most of us were happy enough with a place like Dallas’ Wild About Harry’s, whose three varieties of dogs, including veggie, haven’t changed in years (and where I’ve long enjoyed getting a veggie dog dressed Chicago-style, with sport peppers, tomatoes and celery salt).

As hot-dog offerings have gotten a little more interesting, the meatless options haven’t kept up. In Fort Worth, the food truck Sassy Hot Dogs, the ambitious dog-of-the-month specials at Fred’s Texas Cafe and deluxe dogs at restaurants including Little Red Wasp have touted all-beef or pork dogs and often even add meaty toppings. Which, in fairness, is what most people want.

At first glance, this summer’s big hot-dog news, the debut of Bentley’s in Fort Worth, seemed to be more of the same.

Bentley’s, which opened last month along Magnolia Avenue next to Ellerbe Fine Foods, serves crepes and single-origin coffee in the mornings and tricked-out gourmet hot dogs the rest of the day. The posted menu lists exactly zero veggie options (among the hot dogs, anyway — crepes and fries are another story).

But being on Magnolia and all, Bentley’s says it gets a lot of requests from vegetarians, so it has come up with two off-the-menu options. Instead of a frankfurter-type thing, you can get a bun filled with marinated and grilled mushroom strips, or a similar treatment of eggplant.

This is something I’ve never encountered before, but I liked it — they’re long strips, roughly hot-dog shaped, and you can get them topped with any of the toppings the regular dogs come with.

I decided I had to try both, starting with the Tex-Mex, substituting mushrooms for the all-beef hot link. This came on a nicely crisped “honey’d bun” with pico de gallo, Sriracha-infused cheddar and avocado ranch dressing.

My other choice was the Bent-Mi, hold the all-beef farm dog, hold the pulled-pork topping. I was left with seasoned eggplant topped banh mi-style with pickled onion, cucumber, cilantro and a red curry mayo.

I loved them both — Bentley’s uses a heavy hand with seasonings and toppings, and really pours on the sauces, which is where most of the flavor is coming from, maybe even when you order the meat.

Other options to try include a pizza-flavored creation with marinara and pesto and one with barbecue sauce, mustard, cabbage and onion rings.

Bentley’s staffers tell me they hope to add a more conventional vegetarian frankfurter substitute in the future (you know, fake meat in a tube), but haven’t found one they think is good. Even when they do, I may keep asking for these simple vegetable fillings.

Bentley’s, 1515 W. Magnolia Ave., Fort Worth. 682-715-4530; www.facebook.com/bentleysdogs.

More avocado toast

An update on avocado toast, that most veggie-friendly (and late-July-friendly) of current food trends. Woodshed Smokehouse has a strong version on its summer menu: olive-oil bread topped with mashed avocado, grilled corn and cotija cheese ($9). 3201 Riverfront Drive, Fort Worth. 817-877-4545; woodshedsmokehouse.com.

But my favorite version so far might be the simple one at Houlihan’s, a chain restaurant with an outlet in Alliance Town Center. It’s a huge portion (big enough for your meal) of toasted rustic bread spread with avocado mixed with jalapeño, garlic and cilantro, then topped with big dollops of burrata cheese, plus an olive-oil drizzle and cracked black pepper ($10.95). I’m just sorry it’s available only through the summer. 9365 Rain Lily Trail, Fort Worth. 817-750-2190; www.houlihans.com.

This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Vegetarians should now have no beef with Bentley’s."