First bite: Unleavened Fresh Kitchen sprouts in Southlake

Thursday morning, Dallas-based Unleavened Fresh Kitchen opened its first Tarrant location in Southlake Town Square, not far from similarly “health conscious” restaurants such as Pure Cafe, Protein Fit Kitchen and Modern Market.

And that, Unleavened owners Tom Dynan and Scott Piland say, should work out just fine.

The original location, on Abrams Parkway in Dallas’ Lakewood area, is also near many other “health conscious” restaurants and has thrived, they say. And there are other reasons they expect their Southlake location to do well.

On the surface, “Unleavened” may sound like a “grab-and-go” kind of place that might be best for apartment-dwellers on the run — except that there are no apartments in Southlake. Condos and townhouses, yes; apartments, no. Unleavened sounds like a youth-driven restaurant in a family-driven community.

But Dynan and Piland, longtime friends who launched Stock in Trade Restaurant Group in 2015, are both family guys and emphasize the restaurant’s family-friendliness. Unleavened is a fast-casual place; sure, you can get stuff to go, but it’s the kind of place that invites you to sit down.

Dynan and Piland have plans for expansion: Another Dallas location is opening soon, and they have their eyes on Fort Worth as well.

Here’s a first look at the Southlake location from a soft-opening service Wednesday.

The vibe: At first, it was mellow. Then it was bustling — and a bit awkward. As usual with a fast-casual restaurant, you order at the registers, which are right inside the front door, so a line can form quickly.

When we entered, only two people were in front of us, but as we dined, the line got longer and started snaking through the restaurant, which isn’t that big. So when we got up from the table, we had to excuse ourselves to the people standing in line. Perhaps a stanchion system directing people away from the main dining room would be a good idea.

That aside, it was a welcoming, friendly spot. Place your order, get a number to take to the table, get your self-serve drink, wait for a server to bring you your food.

Decor leaned modern without being too flashy or pretentious, and there are nice, wide windows that add some natural light and a few outside tables for sidewalk dining.

Music was all but inaudible — I was able to detect a song from Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and an Adele ballad — but that’s a good thing, and it mostly sounded like the kind of stuff you’d hear on KKXT/91.7 FM.

The food: The bulk of the menu consists of “Wraps or Greens,” a dozen offerings that can be served as wraps (in a tortilla or in spinach) or on a bed of greens. At breakfast, available till 11 a.m. (1 p.m. on weekends), it’s “Wraps or Hash.”

There’s a selection of dips, and a section for “complements,” aka sides, broken down into hot and cold. If you order a wrap or green, you get a complimentary complement; or you can get the complements a la carte for a range of $2.50 to $6 (all but a couple are $4). Breakfast also has several a la carte offerings, including steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa porridge, granola and a really good-sounding acai bowl.

There is also a “kiddos” menu with, we’re told, dishes named for Dynan and Piland’s children. Almost everything is gluten-free, and there are several vegetarian- and vegan-friendly items.

We ordered from the “Wraps or Greens” side of the menu, with a Havana ($12.50) — a variation on a Cuban sandwich — for me and a vegetarian Farmstand ($11.75) for my wife. We both went for wraps with wheat tortillas, and if you do this, you’re not going to go away hungry. Both were as thick as any Chipotle burrito, they’re cut in half, and my wife found one half to be enough.

The Farmstand consisted of (deep breath), portobello mushrooms, arugula, hot cherry peppers, grilled zucchini, pickled onion, feta, roasted eggplant and Green Goddess dressing.

Piland says it’s one of the most popular items, and with that lineup, it’s easy to see why, although on ours the hot cherry peppers seemed to have migrated to only one of the halves. And they were what gave the wrap its special kick.

Cubans are tricky things around here, and the Havana did a mostly good job with the well-seasoned ham and the guava-glazed pulled pork, with some nice bite from horseradish pickles and honey mustard. The other key Cuban element — Swiss cheese — underperformed, but overall, this was a pretty satisfying sandwich.

Both sandwiches came with sides — er, complements: I chose the “Hoppin’ Juan” for the Havana and my wife had quinoa-and-farro salad for the Farmstand.

The Hoppin’ Juan had the expected black-eyed peas, along with Mexican chorizo, cotija and shaved kale; it was good, but I would’ve liked a little more spice from the chorizo.

Besides quinoa and farro, the salad features shaved golden beets, smoked pecans, lemon and dried cranberries, the latter of which gave the salad a boost with their not-too-tart sweetness.

Although this is a “health-conscious” restaurant, that’s a relative term: If you get the “Weekender” — featuring buttermilk fried chicken and pepper bacon — as a wrap, you’re skewing toward the less health-conscious side of the menu. Although it does have vegetables on it. Wraps/greens are $11.75-$13.75.

Also of note: Several local-brewery beers are available, as is cold-brew coffee (including self-serve on tap).

The verdict: Yeah, there are a lot similar places nearby, and they’re all worthwhile. But if you happen to be on this side of Southlake Town Square, this is a good place to drop in for a quick bite, and there’s enough on the menu to keep us coming back.

250 State St., Suite 627, Southlake (Southlake Town Square), 817-410-7444, http://unleavened.com. Hours: 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 4:29 PM with the headline "First bite: Unleavened Fresh Kitchen sprouts in Southlake."