SUDDEN SHUTTERS
Green Vegetarian Cuisine to close after 19 years in San Antonio
Green Vegetarian Cuisine made a name serving plant-based comfort fare.
One of San Antonio’s few restaurants dedicated to plant-based cuisine is going dark. Green Vegetarian Cuisine says it will close its last remaining location at the Alamo Quarry Market on April 17.
Chef and co-owner Mike Behrend announced the closure in a frank social media statement, saying that the last few years have been brutal to the restaurant. Rising costs and shifting customer habits forced his hand, despite every attempt to keep the business running.
“It’s been a great run,” Behrend wrote. “We’ve introduced a lot of people to great-tasting plant-based food. My business partners and I have raised our children in and around Green, supporting the community with food and help over the years. Our hope is [that] we made a positive impact on San Antonio.”
Behrend, the former owner of Lulu’s Bakery & Cafe, first got the idea for the restaurant after losing more than 70 pounds on a vegetarian diet. Two years later, in 2007, he debuted the first Green in Five Points, then an anomaly in San Antonio’s dining scene.
Since then, the restaurant has made a few moves. In 2013, it moved to Pearl, later relocating to its current Quarry home in 2021. It opened a second location in Alon Town Centre in 2011, running it for a decade before its 2023 shutter.
At every location, the food remained largely the same. Billing itself as a diner, Green serves comfort food favorites like fried pickles, nachos, cauliflower wings, and veggie burgers alongside salads and grain bowls. The fare often vaulted it to the top of local best-of lists.
Until April 17, Green will operate at its regular daily hours of 10 am-9 pm. Earth Burger, the vegetarian fast food joint owned by the same group, will remain open.
