As the battle for Texas’ open U.S. Senate seat continues, James Talarico’s latest campaign stop has voters convinced one of the race’s strangest attack lines—that he’s “secretly” vegan—may not hold up after all.
On Thursday, Talarico’s campaign team shared a Facebook video highlighting the state representative’s visit to Mikki’s Soul Food Cafe, describing it as “an ICONIC soul food cafe in Houston.”
The post quickly racked up hundreds of comments, with many users saying the visit put to rest claims that Democratic candidate Talarico is vegan—a narrative fueled by Talarico’s general election opponent for the Senate seat, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“So he’s not vegan after all,” one of the most-liked comments read, while another jokingly wrote, “There’s my favorite vegan.”
The debate over Talarico’s diet has become a surprising subplot for weeks in the Senate race. As Chron previously reported, Paxton and other conservative commentators have portrayed the Democrat as a vegan in an effort to question his Texas credentials, mocking him as “Tofu Talarico” and even challenging him to a barbecue showdown—despite Talarico saying otherwise.
But after Talarico’s visit to Mikki’s, many commenters were less interested in the campaign chatter and more curious about what he ordered from the soul food restaurant, like one who wrote: “What was on the plate lol that’s the real test.”
The local soul food restaurant, which opened in 1999, has three Houston locations, but it appears Talarico visited its Third Ward outpost at 2712 Blodgett St. The restaurant took over the former home of This Is It Soul Food after the iconic Houston institution closed there in 2025 following a 66-year run.
As seen in Talarico’s video, Mikki’s is a cafeteria-style restaurant with an open serving line featuring Southern soul food staples like oxtails, baked chicken, turkey wings, fried pork chops and sides including collard greens, mac and cheese and cornbread dressing, which diners can order as platters or in the restaurant’s signature soul food bowl.
Chron has reached out to both Talarico’s campaign team and Mikki’s to ask what the candidate ordered during the visit, and why he chose Mikki’s as a stop. This story will be updated if a response is received.