Tree Hugger: Plant-Based Kitchen

Tree Hugger: Plant-Based Kitchen is a 100 percent vegan “greasy bar favorites” restaurant in Eastbrook Plaza on NW Vivion Road in Riverside — jackfruit Reubens and KC BBQ sandwiches, walnut-chorizo tacos, hearts-of-palm “Baja phish” tacos, loaded tots, Impossible chili-cheez burgers, a deep-fried Monte Cristo — run by husband-and-wife Kansas City natives Phil Newman and Mandy Morris-Newman (“Phandy”). They came home from Los Angeles with a shave-ice truck, lost their event business to the pandemic, traded up to a food truck parked outside the Black Box Theatre in the West Bottoms for a year and a half, and opened the Riverside storefront in 2022. “Just because it’s vegan, doesn’t mean it’s salad.”

Description

“We strive to create an approachable menu full of greasy bar favorites such as reuben sandwiches, buffalo mac n’ chz wraps, fish tacos, and BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. All of the flavor. None of the guilt,” the site says; “Not only is our food dairy and egg free, we also provide gluten-free, nut-free, and soy-free options,” and every item carries an allergen line.¹² The Pitch’s Lauren Textor found “a super-zen hangout with fairy lights, patterned throw pillows, gender-neutral bathrooms, and artist residencies,” a shelf of board games, mason jars, lemon water in the cooler and floor-to-ceiling windows.³ IN Kansas City expected “the same rustic-chic aesthetic as the truck, since wood slats, corrugated steel walls, and a giant chalkboard menu are prominently featured.”⁴

The menu is organized as shareables, tacos and burritos, sandwiches and wraps, burgers, extras and a weekly dessert. Shareables: Ultimate Nachos with chili, BBQ-marinated jackfruit or walnut chorizo; Loaded Tater Tots with nacho chz and bac’n bits; Reuben Fries; buffalo cauliflower; chili-cheez fries. Tacos/burritos: the Baja Fish Tacos — marinated hearts of palm, cilantro-lime slaw, sweet corn, guac and Baja sauce with chips and Margarita’s salsa — which Textor called “more than a great stand-in — it’s able to stand on its own”; Double Trouble Tacos of walnut chorizo; a Frito Burrito; a taco salad in a baked shell. Sandwiches: a deep-fried Monte Cristo of Tofurkey and Follow Your Heart cheeses with raspberry jam; a KC BBQ Sammy of jackfruit in KC Masterpiece sauce with slaw and fried onion strings; a corned-jackfruit Reuben on marble rye; the Buffalo Mac Wrap (mac n’ chz, tots, bac’n bits, jalapeños, buffalo sauce); a chickpea Meatloaf Sammy on grilled sourdough — the dish Phil Newman was “particularly excited about” at opening; a soy-curl Chick’n Caesar wrap and a hunny-mustard chick’n sandwich. Burgers on Impossible patties: Classic Cheez, Buffalo Ranch, Backyard Chili-Cheez. Sides of chili, tots, cornbread, fries, mac n’ chz and chips; desserts “revolve weekly.”²³⁴

Ownership and history

Phil and Mandy — the site signs them “Phandy” — are “originally from Kansas City.”⁵ They got into food trucks with a Hawaiian shave-ice truck in Los Angeles, “fell in love with the food truck life and all its crazy, spontaneous, fly by the seat of your pants energy,” and, wanting to buy a house “and not drop half a million dollars to do it,” loaded their cats and belongings into the truck and drove back to Kansas City.⁵ About five years before the site’s telling, “our compassion for animals drove us to give veganism a try.”⁵ When COVID-19 wiped out the shave-ice truck’s events, they sold it and bought a full food truck — “in classic ‘dive in and figure it out later’ fashion” — and ran The Tree Hugger Truck for a year and a half outside the Black Box Theatre in the West Bottoms, “an 10’ x 20’ steel box on wheels,” before selling the truck to open their first brick-and-mortar: “We continue our mission to change the world, one plate of jackfruit nachos at a time!”⁵ IN Kansas City announced the Northland restaurant on June 1, 2022, naming the owners as Phil Newman and Mandy Morris-Newman and quoting Phil: “It’s just down-home cooking that happens to not use any animal products.”⁴ The Pitch reviewed the restaurant in October 2023.³

The brief for this page cited The Pitch’s Best of KC vegan-restaurant finalist listings for 2024 and 2025; the 2025 results portal’s category page could not be retrieved, so the award is unconfirmed.

Links

• Website: https://treehuggerkitchen.com/ · Our Story: https://treehuggerkitchen.com/our-story · Menu: https://treehuggerkitchen.com/menu
• Order online (Square): https://treehuggerkitchen.square.site/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treehuggerkitchen/

Menu

Last verified: 2026-08-28 · Source: the restaurant’s own menu page (items and allergen notes without prices); two prices from The Pitch, 2023 · Confidence: Medium — complete item list, prices mostly absent.²³

• Shareables: Ultimate Nachos (GF) · Loaded Tater Tots (GF) · Reuben Fries (GF) · Buffalo Cauliflower Bites · Chili Cheez Fries (GF)
• Tacos / Burritos: Baja Fish Tacos w/ chips and salsa ($15, 2023) · Double Trouble Tacos · Frito Burrito · Taco Salad
• Sandwiches / Wraps: Monte Cristo · KC BBQ Sammy · Reuben · Buffalo Mac Wrap ($13, 2023) · Meatloaf Sammy · Chick’n Caesar Wrap · Hunny Mustard Chick’n Sammy
• Burgers (Impossible): Classic Cheez Burger · Buffalo Ranch Burger · Backyard Chili-Cheez Burger
• Extras: chili (cup/bowl, GF) · tater tots (GF) · cornbread · fries (GF) · mac n’ chz · potato chips (GF)
• Dessert: rotates weekly

Sources

Footnotes

1. Tree Hugger: Plant-Based Kitchen — official website, home page. Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: name; “Plant-Based Restaurant located in Riverside, MO”; “Just because it’s vegan, doesn’t mean it’s salad”; concept statement; dietary options; “Eastbrook Plaza at 1841 NW Vivion Rd. Riverside, MO 64150”; hours Thu–Mon 11–8; Square ordering and gift-card links. ↩

2. Tree Hugger — official website, “Menu.” Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: every item in the Menu section with ingredient and allergen notes; rotating desserts; cross-contamination warning. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Lauren Textor, “Dish & Drink KC: Tree Hugger Kitchen’s Baja Phish Tacos and Headrush Roasters delightful Harvest Moon Matcha,” The Pitch, 2023-10-04 — Confirms: husband-and-wife owners Phil and Mandy; truck-to-storefront in Riverside; interior (fairy lights, throw pillows, gender-neutral bathrooms, artist residencies, board games, mason jars, lemon water, floor-to-ceiling windows); Baja Phish Tacos $15 and description; Buffalo Mac Wrap $13; address. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. “Vegan Restaurant Tree Hugger Come to the Northland,” IN Kansas City, 2022-06-01 — Confirms: owners Phil Newman and Mandy Morris-Newman; shave-ice truck pivot during Covid-19; truck to brick-and-mortar in the Northland; menu highlights; chickpea meatloaf sammy; quote; décor. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Tree Hugger — official website, “Our Story.” Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: owners Phil and Mandy (“Phandy”), husband and wife, originally from Kansas City; Hawaiian shave-ice truck in Los Angeles; move back to KC; veganism about five years earlier; pandemic loss of events; sale of the shave-ice truck and purchase of a food truck; a year and a half outside the Black Box Theatre in the West Bottoms; sale of the truck and opening of the brick-and-mortar; quotes. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴