Rotating menus are par for the course at Mother Other, a plant-based Denver restaurant that opened this summer from the couple behind the food truck.
So the vegetables that propped up dishes all summer at their truck and in the restaurant, 675 S. Broadway Ste. 300, turned over just this week for the fall season. The carrot-ginger bisque is now made from apple and kuri squash, the potato-and-chive pierogi is now a French onion-and-sunchoke pierogi and the dessert beignets were replaced by caramel apple donuts.
But there’s one thing that Alexi Mandolini and Taylor Herbert haven’t taken off the menu since the early days of the Easy Vegan in 2020: their Japanese sweet potato, baked and loaded with truffled taro chips, a tempura-fried sweet onion ring and even more potato (whipped with miso and black garlic) and paired with a Szechuan sesame chili oil.
“I would even say that potato put us on the map,” said Herbert, 37, seated next to Mandolini at their restaurant.
Placed on the table, it resembles a modern organic sculpture more than it does anyone’s idea of a baked potato wrapped in tinfoil and sprinkled with cheddar, bacon and sour cream. It’s the kind of fantastical treatment and presentation Mandolini, the executive chef, is now able to give all her vegetable and pasta dishes at Mother Other.
“Having a permanent home instead of just carrying a tent kitchen around town has just been such a game changer, because things like the potato and pierogi we can make fresh,” she said.
As a “Covid-born business,” the 37-year-old Herbert said, “we’ve just been pivoting from day one.”
What started as a pop-up, also called The Easy Vegan, grew a following through the couple’s residencies at the South Pearl and City Park farmers markets. Their winning appearance on the Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race in 2023 led them to national acclaim.
For years, Herbert and Mandolini prepped from inside a commissary kitchen in the Denver Design District off South Broadway. Though investors had approached them in the past to open a full-service restaurant, Herbert said they didn’t want to cede control or focus too much on returning a profit.
Instead, they moved inside of the same plaza complex, swapping kitchens with a catering company that was using the storefront and dining room as storage, she said.
Some of the customers who picked up their food at farmers markets helped design the new restaurant, the couple said. They showed up with tools, installed wall furnishings and light fixtures.
“I’m really glad that we were able to naturally land in a space where we didn’t have to give up control of the business or the vision,” Herbert said. “It just took a little patience.”
The vegan label is one Mandolini and Herbert wear proudly. But it was important they market to non-vegans as well, Mandolini said, by making approachable dishes based around pasta or vegetables rather than disguising alternative proteins.
“It’s not just vegans coming to see us. It’s people walking by and seeing our loaded potato or seeing a plate of pierogi and being like, ‘That looks amazing,'” she said. “It’s just a plate of beautiful food.”
The Japanese sweet potato in particular gains another dimension at Mother Other, the coaster-sized taro chips and fried onion slice sticking out as tall and colorful as peacock feathers.
“We try and really nail the marks with all the textures and the flavors,” Herbert said.
Mandolini’s plating was equally impressive in other dishes over the summer, including her carrot and ginger bisque and charred cabbage, the latter standing as tall as the sweet-potato sculpture.
Running a full-service restaurant means Herbert can finally return behind the bar, something she said she hasn’t done since 2020. As Mother Other’s beverage director, she has designed a list of cocktails, zero-proof included, natural wines and beers.
Like the Japanese sweet potato, one drink has also survived the hop from The Easy Vegan into Mother Other and beyond: their farmers market lemonade. The refreshing strawberry, red bell pepper and basil lemonade is a fan favorite, Herbert said.
Some customers admitted to her they would mix some vodka into the lemonade. Now they are able to do the same for them at Mother Other.
Mother Other is open Thursday through Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. and Sunday until 9 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome.
