Any Houstonian who’s driven around Montrose in recent months has probably wondered what is becoming of the McGowen Cleaners building at 1931 Fairview?
Next week, there’s finally an answer: Mom and newly minted restaurateur Kelly Barnhart opens Vibrant, blending, as she says, health with pleasure. She teamed up with consulting chef Alison Wu to develop a menu of breakfast (all-day!) and lunch dishes made with ingredients that are free of gluten, dairy, refined sugar and non-GMO products.
Expect sustainably harvested meats and pasture-raised eggs, as in the Breakfast socca — chickpea flour flatbread, arugula-hemp pesto, oven-roasted tomato and watermelon radish. Plenty of housemade pastries and yogurt are also available. Lunch brings inventive, layered salads and power bowls.
In addition to creating food that’s delicious and interesting, Barnhart — a former art curator who’s also responsible for the interior design of the light-filled, wood-wrapped space — simply wants folks to feel comfortable knowing that everything at Vibrant is truly good for you.
Here’s a bonus: The wine program adopts the same theory, with all-natural and biodynamic wines.
Shavon Morris's 'Transfiguration,' collage on canvas, 2024