When chef Alexi Mandolini and beverage director Taylor Herbert set out to turn their beloved pop-up, The Easy Vegan, into a permanent restaurant, they carried a deeply personal idea with them. Tucked just off South Broadway, Mother Other is both a plant-based destination and a tribute to the women who shaped them.
“Lex and I both learned hospitality from the women in our lives, and we want to honor them through our work here,” Taylor says. “Women are too often expected to run the kitchen at home, yet in professional kitchens, fewer than 20% of chefs and head cooks are women. We hope to inspire more matriarchal leadership in restaurant kitchens and challenge the hyper-masculine norms of kitchen culture.”
That philosophy extends beyond the name. Regulars, friends, and former catering clients helped build the dining room by hand, while Alexi’s menu gives vegetables the starring role. As summer gives way to fall, vegetable grits make way for a hearty fall-vegetable osso buco, while Colorado’s late-season corn finds its way into freshly stuffed pasta shells.
At the bar, Taylor takes a similarly playful approach. The soyboy punch brings plant-based ingredients into cocktail territory, while the rind reader leans on zero-waste techniques and seasonal flavors.
Mother Other is rethinking restaurant culture behind the scenes, too. A four-day workweek gives employees more predictable schedules, a whole-house tip pool helps bridge the traditional front- and back-of-house divide, and cross-training encourages collaboration across roles.
“We can finally have a set schedule and a kitchen that isn’t constantly in motion,” Alexi says. “We want the people who come into Mother Other to feel our gratitude and that renewed sense of creative energy from finally being in one place.”
Here, plant-based cooking is only part of the point. Mother Other is as interested in creating a different kind of kitchen as it is in what comes out of one.
Food
Seasonal vegetables take center stage in Alexi’s playful take on plant-based comfort food, from late-summer corn stuffed into pasta shells to hearty fall vegetable dishes.
Drinks
Taylor’s bar program plays with seasonal botanicals, plant-based ingredients, and zero-waste techniques in cocktails such as the soyboy punch and rind reader.
Decor
Built with help from friends, regulars, and former clients, the tucked-away dining room feels warm, personal, and decidedly lived-in.
Price
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