EDIBLE DFW, WINTER 2021

Greens With A Side of Wagyu 

Grayson County is meat and potatoes country. It’s not the birthplace of chicken fried steak (food folklore points to Lamesa, Texas for that honor) but it could have been. This Oklahoma border county is where Friday night lights shine bright and if greens happen to hop on your plate, they are breaded and fried (okra) or covered in ranch and topped with a scant few tomatoes (the ‘ole ice-burg side-salad). 

But a sick child and a series of “what ifs” led Aimee Atkinson-Dennis and her family to become lettuce farmers here, and then to open a food truck, and then a restaurant, where leafy greens take center stage. A play on words, Lettuce Indulge is a salad centric eatery and juice bar located in Denison, Texas.  The greens, vegetables and wagyu beef (yes, they serve meat) are supplied by the family farm and homestead, Gentlesoll Farm. 

Aimee’s “what ifs” are a family colloquialism. Even casually spoken, everyone knows it’s time to pull up their boot straps and get to work; a new adventure, usually a business or expansion is just around the corner. 

The prelude to the first “what if'' was 7 years ago when Aimee’s then 10-year old daughter, Gysleine, was diagnosed with PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome. A conventional doctor recommended surgery, but a naturopath suggested nutritional testing. Working together, they discovered that severe food allergies were the driving force behind the disease. Overnight everything changed for the family. 

“My daughter learned how to read food labels at the age of 10. We were making bi-weekly trips to  Whole Foods in Dallas to feed her. There’s a misconception that in Grayson County we have access to a large network of farmers. The truth is that our farmer’s markets are almost entirely seasonal.” 

Then came the “what if”. What if they built a small greenhouse to grow enough vegetables so they could cut down on the number of trips to Dallas?  Focused on providing year round nutrition for her family, Aimee signed up for a 5-day immersive aquaponics course with Friendly Aquaponics. Fun Fact: Her classmate was Profound Foods owner, Jeff Bednar, who also started growing aquaponically but then switched to hydroponic methods.

Aquaponics is a farming method that involves fish and plants being grown together, no soil required. The waste from the fish is converted directly into nitrates by surrounding bacteria. These nitrates are then used as food for the plants, referred to as the nitrogen cycle. 

The nutritional value of vegetables grown in aquaponics tends to be higher than vegetables grown in the ground as well, and since the water is cycled through the system, it’s an environmentally friendly process.  Minus a few nights of nursing sick fish back to health (or not), success came easily. In fact, a few fish from that initial stock are living their best lives in a display tank in the Lettuce Indulge dining room. 

Soon, Gentlesoll Farms was producing more greens and tomatoes than they could eat. “What if” they opened a food truck, so that others with allergies, like her daughter, had at least one option for eating out? What Aimee calls a hobby business inadvertently filled a gap in the marketplace.

And when an opportunity to lease a brick n mortar space presented itself, another “what if” was proposed to her family, with again, everyone jumping on board.  December will mark their one year anniversary in Denison, co-operating with a local coffee shop. A second Lettuce Indulge location will open early 2022 in the historic Katy Depot on downtown Denison’s historic Main Street.

Similar to the symbiotic relationship between fish and plants in the aquaponic cycle, Lettuce Indulge and Gentlesoll Farm are intrinsically linked. As the restaurant grows, Gentlesoll ramps up production. Aimme’s husband, Tony, and Dad, Tim, work full time on the 200 acres, managing the 3 aquaponic greenhouses (soon to be 4)  and a large head of Wagyu cattle. They also sell beef directly to customers and at the Denison Farmers Market. 

Hobby ranching was Tim’s original plan for the land, but with his retirement properly hijacked, he happily puts his whole heart into producing high quality wagyu beef. His hobby now? At least twice a week, you can find him cast iron cooking for his family on an open fire, just outside the cattle fence.

Almost every family member has a hand in the business. Aimee's son Hunter manages the daily operations at Lettuce Indulge and Gysleine, who the family says was “the reason for it all”, spends her time in the kitchen, creating new recipes. She’s heading off to college next year to study nutrition. Aimee jokes that all relatives have their food handler’s permit so she can call them up at a moment’s notice. The littles, too young for an official job, are learning farm stewardship alongside Tim. 

Education and outreach are central to the Lettuce Indulge and Gentlesoll Farm mission. Doctors from the local hospital refer patients, and Aimme serves as a board member for a mental health initiative non-profit. At the restaurant, when asked why an ice-burg salad isn’t on the menu, Hunter takes the opportunity to explain the abundant nutrients found in the dark, leafy greens they serve, and then encourages customers to do their own research. 

“Usually an entire family will come in together to accommodate one person with an allergy. The other members are skeptical, but then the skeptical ones end up becoming regulars.”

Same goes for explaining the health benefits associated with grass fed and wagyu beef. But it doesn’t take much convincing. One bite and they’ve added another convert story to the perpetually growing list that are happily trading in their side salad for a leafy green main course meal. 

Lettuce Indulge, located at 5101 Gateway Blvd in Denison, Texas is open Monday-Saturday 5:30am-9pm. Signature salads are also offered as wraps or served with zucchini noodles. You can order Gentlesoll Farm Wagyu beef and aquaponic lettuce from their website www.gentlesollfarm.com, by calling Lettuce Indulge or purchasing at the Denison Farmers Market.  

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