Rebecca Arnold, a chef who has worked at Pain D’Avignon, Alden & Harlow and Sarma, has always wanted to make a healthy fast-food joint. With Whole Heart Provisions in Allston, she’ll do just that.
“The idea is to bring veggies back to the table,” she said of the new restaurant. “I want to provide people with a healthy option that’s mostly vegetables for when they’re on the go.”
Helmed by Arnold and James DiSabatino, the founder of Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, Whole Heart Provisions will be a fruit-and-veggies focused, quick-service restaurant that uses styles and flavors from around the world to make veggies the star of every dish.
Don’t call it vegan, though.
“We’re not just a restaurant for vegans,” Arnold said. “We’re a restaurant for everyone. We’re making vegetables in really bold, flavorful ways.”
The restaurant will function in an assembly line style. Think Chipotle or Subway — there will be featured and suggested flavor combinations and bowls, as well as side dishes, but customers will be free to create their veggie bowl as they see fit.
“Customers will choose between greens or grains for their base,” Arnold said. “We’ll have different options within greens or grains. You chose your style, and then each style comes with a sauce and a crunchy element.”
The grains in question will be jasmine rice or a brown rice and quinoa pilaf, while the greens will be marinated kale or leafy salad greens. However, Arnold and DiSabatino plan to rotate options occasionally. The same goes for Whole Heart Provisions’ signature styles — Korean, Mexican, Vietnamese and more.
“Our focus will be on bold flavors,” Arnold said. “For example, our Korean bowl has bulgogi beets in it. Bulgogi is a marinade usually used for beef … We’re putting that on beets, so they get that meaty, beefy flavor.”
Arnold pointed out that many vegan restaurants make the mistake of trying to imitate meat.
“We’re trying to showcase the vegetables, not make meat,” she said. “We’re aiming for big, bold flavors, not chicken made out of flour.”
Among those restaurants trying to imitate meat, Arnold implies, includes Root, the recently-closed restaurant whose real estate Whole Heart Provisions will be filling.
“People come by and ask if we’ll have the Root burger or the Root fries,” Arnold said, chuckling. “It’s not like that. We’re not trying to replace them.”
Whole Heart Provisions will be next door to Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, whose founder DiSabatino is described by Arnold as having “the brain for business.” He’ll manage the big picture while Arnold is in the kitchen.
Given DiSabatino’s recent success with the Roxy’s food truck and his burgeoning brand, the question of expansion in food truck form arose.
“It’s an option,” Arnold said. “We definitely have a history with them. We’d love to open another location or two as well.”
Along with vegetable bowls, Whole Heart Provisions will serve “small-plate style” sides. So far, Arnold has sesame sushitos, crispy Old Bay Brussels sprouts and seared avocado planned. The restaurant also features beverage fountains serving lemonade, green mint tea, house-made juices, kombucha and floats made with FoMu ice cream.
Arnold is anxious for the restaurant’s opening, which she hopes will be in about two weeks.
“I learned a new word the other day,” she said. “Stress-citing. So it’s stressful, and very exciting.”
When asked whether she thinks Whole Heart Provisions will succeed among the infamous late-night drunken Allston crawlers, she laughed.
“I don’t think the drunk kids are our clientele,” Arnold said. “We won’t be open past 9 p.m. We hope people will be coming out of class or the gym looking for a quick, healthy way to fill up.”
Whole Heart Provisions will open at 487 Cambridge Street in Allston at the end of September.
