Spiral Becomes Latest Victim of Spiraling Hipster Famine, Citing Lease
By Rob Curran
Humans cannot live on woolen cardigans, antique leather boots and owl glasses alone, but the evisceration of Denton’s hipster eateries and drinkeries threatens to bring about that very prospect.
The latest uber-cool joint to evacuate is Spiral Diner, a vegan restaurant that opened 2017, and rode out the pandemic with brown bags of fake-cheese dishes roller-skated to the car by double masked Goth-music fans or Doordashed to the home. Spiral joins the Golden Boy Café, AKA the Never Sleep, in Denton's glittering mythology of slumbering giants.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announced that our lease is up,” the Spiral owners said in a note posted on the door of the Hickory Street location, entitled "Farewell, Denton". The note gave the date of closure as Feb. 16.
At least one employee of the Denton restaurant was reassigned to a fine-dining establishment the owners run in Fort Worth. Spiral Diner started in Fort Worth, where it still operates a restaurant under that brand. There was also a location in Oak Cliff, Dallas that operated for nearly 15 years before closing in 2022.
Spiral Diner used soy, mushrooms and other non-dairy ingredients to make tasty vegan quesadillas, burgers, nachos and other comfort meals. A premium was to be expected for this somewhat experimental fare, and some of the ingredients were notably fresh. But the prices sometimes felt a little, well, spirally, particularly for Denton. Spiral was the kind of place where people in interesting hats came to your pastel-colored booth to walk you through obscure flavors of sodas distilled from Himalayan ice, a snip at six bucks fifty.
The restaurant also experimented with more flexible roles for its staff, with chefs often crossing to the other side of the order-up window to work the till and serve food.
A member of the Hottest Plate staff once lost his bicycle, only to spot it parked in the Spiral Diner store room. It had been mistaken for a delivery vehicle. Reclaiming the bike was quite awkward, but is not thought to be linked to the restaurant’s decision to close.
"While this closing is unfortunate, it will allow us to focus on our thriving vegan village in Fort Worth with Spiral, Dreamboat Donuts and Maiden Fine Plants and Spirits."
Thankfully, there's a range of super-cool restaurants opening up in the near future. More on that anon.