A new local restaurant is paying tribute to a recently closed vegan staple while celebrating the next chapter of plant-based cuisine in Fairfield County.

Chef Jenna McPartland opened Joylark Kitchen on the Post Road in Fairfield four months ago.

“I started Joylark Kitchen because I've been vegan for a long time, and there are very few places where I feel really welcome,” McPartland explained. “The idea is basically that everybody eats vegetables and fruits and grains, and so, it really is a place for everyone.”

She told News 12 most of her customers aren’t vegan.

“Good food is good food, so if you're cooking with excellent ingredients and excellent technique, you're going to come out with excellent food, which is what we do,” McPartland said.

Joylark Kitchen is a short distance from the location of another female-run vegan eatery that was a staple in Black Rock for almost 50 years, Bloodroot.

“Everybody who's local to this area and anyone who's vegan or vegetarian or a feminist or any part of those worlds is going to know Bloodroot. They’re an institution,” McPartland stated.

Owner Noel Furie closed Bloodroot in December after the death of her longtime friend and business partner Selma Miriam earlier in the year.

“I think there is a bit of a passing of the torch. I don't think it's intentional. I think that's just how the timing worked out,” said McPartland. “I think Joylark represents the next generation of modern vegan cooking, you know, without dismissing the past—the very, very recent past.”

Next week, Joylark Kitchen will host a special dinner that includes a screening of the documentary, "A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot," followed by a panel with Furie and the filmmaker.

“We sold out in a matter of hours, had to add a second night,” McPartland told News 12.

Furie and Miriam started the all-women feminist restaurant and bookstore in 1977 with a vegetarian menu that evolved to vegan. Over the years, Bloodroot was a home and haven to activists and self-proclaimed outsiders—a community meant to expand diversity and welcome everyone, regardless of lifestyle.

The event at Joylark Kitchen honors Bloodroot's legacy while also highlighting the evolution of vegan dining in the region.

“It's full of flavor and depth and texture and all the things that anybody would go to any restaurant for. That’s now available in vegan cuisine if you know the right vegan place to go,” McPartland said. “However you eat, you are welcome here. There is no judgement. This is just about serving people really great food in a fun, vibrant environment with great hospitality and a full bar, and everything you want when you go out to eat.”