Want to see the future of vegan food in Denver? Check out Gladys.

Celery root Reubens, blackened carrot tacos — at Denver’s newest vegan restaurant, you won’t miss the meat on any of your favorite menu items.

“By using something familiar as a jumping-off point, diners can find something delicious and comforting to latch onto, re-envisioned through our perspective,” said Rocky Hunter, co-owner of Gladys at Edgewater Public Market.

Last month, Hunter — and business partner and fellow chef Dave Grant — opened their “entirely animal-free, vegetable-focused concept” at the West Denver food hall. They named it Gladys after Hunter’s grandmother, hoping to “invoke the spirit of grandma-style hospitality,” according to the restaurant’s website.

Before opening their own counter, Hunter was chef at Fruition, while Grant was culinary director for Watercourse Foods and City, O’ City in Denver.

“We’ve both felt that vegetable-focused food has been riding shotgun, or worse, in the back seat entirely at most ‘fine-dining’ restaurants, and we would like that to change,” Hunter said.

“It was important to us to make vegetables the ‘star’ of the cuisine and not just an addition to (it),” Grant added.

And star these veggies do, in dishes such as the Reuben, with savory celery root piled deceptively in place of corned beef, topped with chicory kraut and horseradish dairy-free “crème fraîche.” A complex and hearty Beans and Grains bowl combines pan-roasted squash with Rancho Gordo frijoles charros, freekah grains, “sour cream” and herbs (both dishes cost $12).