Lyfe Kitchen Is Bringing its Fancy Fast Food to Fancy Dallas

Not your everyday Filet-O-Fish

The last time I heard about Lyfe Kitchen it was mentioned in an article in the New York Times Magazine a little more than a year ago. Mark Bittman was lamenting the options for affordable, healthy dining on the quick in America, and was resigned to bean burritos from Taco Bell and veggie sandwiches from Subway, it seemed.

The available of healthier fast food has been changing, though. Bittman mentioned a few businesses he recently found in L.A., including Lyfe Kitchen, which he endorsed as a good (albeit expensive) fast food restaurant. Maybe the endorsement helped the chain, because they're about to drop three location in the Dallas area soon.

With locations planned for in Plano (opening June 13), Preston Center (opening June 27) and West Village (opening July 25), it's not hard to figure out Lyfe's demographic. The average meal price, by Bittman's calculation, is about $15 -- not exactly a replacement for a Big Mac with fries and a milkshake.

Instead they'll have a stuffed sandwich with melted cheese, roasted vegetables and basil, served alongside hot tomato sauce for dipping called the Pizzadillawich. There's also sweet potato fries, and buffalo chicken wraps made with Greek yogurt and kale. A news release about the restaurant makes claims that ingredients will be sourced locally but a spokesperson said a list of suppliers for the Dallas locations was not available yet.

It's going to be nice to have another option for food that doesn't sit in your stomach like a 7-layer burrito, and based on the performance of True Food Kitchen, which opened in the Preston Center last year and has been mobbed ever since, I'm guessing these places are going to kill it. Still, it would be nice to see a more affordable version of convenient and more healthful food offered in other neighborhoods that could use a few more choices. Southern Dallasites need more than Rudy's Chicken.