Lanny Lancarte grew up in something of a well-known Fort Worth family. After all, his great-grandfather was Joe T. of the celebrated Joe T. Garcia’s. But a passion for the culinary arts combined with a knack for innovation has led Lancarte down a righteous path.

“It has certainly been a journey,” Lancarte says, reflecting on his career. Lancarte graduated from TCU and quickly began working toward his culinary dreams. Following graduation, Lancarte lived in Mexico for a couple months at a time, gave cooking tours and practiced his craft. This led to him meeting chef Rick Bayless and attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York.

Righteous Foods opened in 2014 with a focus on healthful eating and wellness, with Lancarte, owner and tastemaker, at the helm.

“Using the highest quality ingredients has always been very important to me,” Lancarte says. “We’re not a fully organic restaurant or a fully vegan restaurant. We have options for people who have dietary restrictions, but we ultimately want to be able to feed everyone. You have the option to modify if you need to, but we have something for everybody.”

Prior to opening Righteous Foods, Lancarte ran Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana, a regionally and nationally acclaimed ode to authentic Mexican cuisine for 10 years.

When he announced he was shutting Lanny’s down to open Righteous Foods in the same space, critics said the switch from fine dining to health food didn’t make sense. Lancarte’s intuition told him otherwise. He knew that he could still take a fine dining approach with quality ingredients made for everyday life and not just for special occasions.

Lancarte birthed another culinary concept, Eat Fajitas, out of the Righteous Foods kitchen in 2020. Prior to COVID shutdowns, he noticed the restaurant world was trending heavily toward to-go options. This encouraged Lancarte to begin researching to-go models and apps in 2018. When the pandemic hit and forced many a Fort Worth restaurant into obscurity, his establishments were prepared.

Next summer, Righteous Foods will celebrate its 10- year anniversary, and in classic entrepreneur fashion, Lancarte is looking to the future. “I’m constantly looking for what’s next. I can’t sit still, and once a problem is solved, I have to figure out what to work on next.”

Righteous Foods Ahi Tuna Tostadas

This stunner of a dish is a true crowd-pleaser. The combination of briny tuna, herbaceous aioli and green apple checks all the boxes for a heat-of-the-summer appetizer. Lancarte suggests purchasing the ahi tuna from a reputable fish purveyor or supermarket. Make sure to select sushi grade!

Recipe

Makes 8 tostadas

• 1 pound ahi tuna
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fennel pollen
• 1 teaspoon chile powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 tostada chips (whole round 6-inch size)
• 4 tablespoons herbed aioli (see recipe below: minced herbs, avocado mayo, lime, diced jalapeno)
• 1 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, thinly sliced

Ahi tuna mixture:

Remove skin from tuna and cube fish. Add to mixing bowl. Add the extra-virgin olive oil, fennel pollen, chile powder (you may use any chile powder or Mexican spice mixture) and kosher salt. Stir mixture and keep chilled.

Herbed aioli:

In a bowl, add 4 tablespoons avocado mayonnaise or plain version. Mince 1 teaspoon fresh jalapeno (deseeded) and add to mayonnaise. Thoroughly mix in 1 teaspoon fresh or dried parsley, 1 teaspoon cilantro and 1 teaspoon chives, all chopped. Add 1 teaspoon lime juice and mix thoroughly.

Plating:

Slice apple and set aside. Slice avocado. Spread aioli on tostadas right out of the bag. Fan 1/8 of the apple slices on top of the aioli on each tostada. Spoon roughly 2 ounces of the tuna mixture on each tostada. Top each tostada with a slice of avocado.