Chef Domini Bridges and 2016 LSU environmental engineering graduate Jessica Kisling, the crafty creators of The Dish, serve plant based dishes and vegan options as the White Star Market’s Newest Booth.
The pair met while working together at Sukha Café in Baton Rouge. Domini had been a vegan chef for 30 years and even cooked macrobiotic. They worked together so well people took notice, including the owners of White Star Market who offered the women the opportunity to develop their own concept for the market. It was a unique chance for the vegan women to bring something special to life.
“It was just such an amazing opportunity that we couldn’t say no even though neither one of us had ever started our own business before,” Kisling said. “We had just the right amount of help and determination and we just did it.”
The eatery opened on Sept. 6 and has had a steady overflow of business, Kisling said. They do not have a fryer or microwave and everything is made daily with many ingredients locally sourced, such as Westdome Nursery microgreens, Bellegarde sandwich bread and Fullness Organic Farm kale.
The Dish offers a new plant-based dish daily as well as a different daily soup. The grab-and-go section features salads and a rotating selection of cakes. As their website is currently under development, the only way to keep up with the Dish’s schedule is on Instagram, where Kisling posts the daily dish and soup every morning.
The Monday dish is usually Lasagna with beyond the meat burger crumbles, spinach and Domini’s bechamel sauce served with Bellegarde garlic toast and an Italian side salad. Tuesday’s dish is usually eggplant almond enchiladas with refried beans and quinoa pilaf. Wednesday has a harmony plate with housemade hummus, steamed kale, quinoa, walnuts, maple pecan vinaigrette, steamed sweet potatoes and microgreens.
For Thursday, a hibiscus quesadilla with hibiscus, black beans, smoked onions and a slice of the “Follow Your Heart Smoked Gouda” and queso and guacamole. A popular dish, Friday’s BBQ plate is made of hickory smoked pulled jack fruit on a slice of the Bellegarde bread with coleslaw, macaroni and cheese and lima beans.
Another popular dish for the booth is their tandoori cauliflower wrap with tandoori, portobello mushrooms, curried cauliflower, and romaine slaw accompanied with lime dressing. The dish is served with the soup of the day.
For the sweet tooth, there are vegan, gluten free cakes available by the slice. Interested parties can message Kisling on Instagram about special order occasion cakes while the website is under development.
“We have queso and chips, which is huge, and then we have hummus and pita and any of our salads can be made into a wrap,” Kisling said.
Kisling said they are focused on high protein options like their apple smoked gouda salad, overnight chia parfaits, both with 10 grams of protein a piece, and rotating flavors of the parfaits, out of which the most popular flavors have been the cherry chocolate almond and the carrot cake. They’ve also started selling Emerge juices, cold-pressed organic juices in glass containers.
“I’m trying to dream big,” Kisling said. “I hope that we get multiple locations, maybe franchise, so I’m trying to make early decisions with that thought process. We’re going to be open to any opportunities. We’re going to be trying to start some meal prepping and some catering opportunities have popped up that we’re very excited about.”
Kisling said she is disappointed there aren’t more vegan options in Baton Rouge and that many of former all-vegan eateries have started selling non-vegan food. They recently celebrated World Heart Day and the benefits of an all-vegan diet in reducing heart disease. Kisling shares that she’s had customers that were so surprised by the all-vegan food they serve.
“I had a customer yesterday eat the jack fruit plate and then come back to me and be like ‘I don’t normally take pictures of my food but I’ve just had heart surgery like three weeks ago,’” Kisling said. “He showed me his scar and he was like ‘I just texted this picture of my food to like five of my friends’ so that was super exciting. We’re really trying to make healthy choices taste good.”
The Dish will be giving out free samples at the Holidays Gala on Oct. 16 and will also be a vendor at White Light Night on Nov. 22 selling a Carrot Not Dog, a Coney Island chilly cheese dog made with carrots.  

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@thedishbr via Instagram