CanalSide, the revamped food hall that will replace CambridgeSide’s food court, has announced its final eateries: Far Out Ice Cream, which serves the dessert New Zealand style, and Juicygreens, a plant-based juice bar and cafe.
They complete the slate of restaurants – 11 of which were announced in May and include global offerings from Sapporo Ramen to Lala’s Neapolitan-ish Pizza with stalls in the new food hall. Opening Oct. 25, it’s one of a series of recent redevelopment changes for the East Cambridge mall.
Far Out Ice Cream
In New Zealand, “real fruit ice cream” is made by blending hard ice cream with fresh fruit, resulting in a fruity, soft-serve-esque dessert. August Radbill, Far Out Ice Cream’s president, discovered it while traveling in New Zealand on a recommendation from his co-founder Drew Beja, whose daughter had lived there for a few years.
“I had left a job in tech and was going to New Zealand to travel for a year, and Drew said, ‘You’ve got to try the ice cream there,’” Radbill said.
He did, and he loved it.
“I found it really unique, and while I just didn’t think too much about it at the time, there was a part of me, truthfully, that did think maybe it could turn into something,” Radbill said.
He spoke with Beja when he got home, and they opened their first store in Hull in the summer of 2020. Though it was the early days of the pandemic, they found a place that was on the boardwalk, next to a beer garden and the beach.
“We just wanted to determine if people liked it, and we ended up having an awesome first summer,” Radbill said.
They opened a store in Brookline in 2021, followed by a second location in Boston’s Time Out Market this past March.
“Both of those stores serve a pretty similar area, but this is ostensibly doubling our reach by opening us to Cambridge, and we’re really excited about that,” Radbill said.
Finding success in Time Out, which is also a food hall, instilled in Radbill confidence that Far Out will do well in CanalSide. (He may not be the only one who feels that way. Of CanalSide’s 13 eateries, four had stalls in Time Out first: anoush’ella, InChu, Lala’s Neapolitan-ish Pizza, and now Far Out.)
The menu includes New Zealand style ice cream, of course, in a do-it-yourself format: Choose a base of vanilla or chocolate ice cream (vegan versions of each flavor are also available, as is vanilla frozen yogurt), and select a fruit – blueberry, strawberry, banana, mango, raspberry or cherry – plus mix-ins and toppings. There are also “blendies” (think milkshakes) in flavors such as chocolate chip and matcha mango, as well as floats, coffee and other drinks. Radbill recommends the hot chocolate, especially as the weather gets colder.
“Obviously, ice cream is a highly seasonal business, but we offer what I believe is, bar none, the best hot chocolate in Boston, and we’re going to be expanding that menu even more. I’d love for people to come try it,” Radbill said.
Juicygreens
Juicygreens is a collaboration between Ammy Lowney, a former Boston Public Schools teacher, and her husband Dr. Michael Lowney, a family medicine physician. While teaching a civics course on social impact, she became interested in increasing access to healthy food and creating healthier communities in the Boston area.
“My husband had always seen healthy food as medicine and looked at food as a way to energize and even heal people, and so we decided to start Juicygreens,” Lowney said.
They opened their first store in Jamaica Plain in 2018. Expansion has included a location in Somerville’s Assembly Row, though this will be their first in Cambridge.
“Since we opened in 2018, many friends who live in Cambridge have asked us to open there, and we’re happy to be able to take care of people in Cambridge who are looking for quality food,” Lowney said.
Vegetarian and vegan restaurants can face challenges, including locally – both Kendall Square’s PlantPub, which served plant-based pub fare, and Teele Square’s True Bistro, an upscale vegan spot, closed last year – but so far, Juicygreens seems to have cracked the code.
“I think the key to our success has been working with our communities to create relationships while working efficiently, keeping standards high and reducing food waste,” Lowney said.
The menu at Juicygreens is mostly standard health food fare such as salads and smoothies, but includes arepas in a nod to Lowney’s Latina heritage (“I’m an immigrant from Colombia, and I’m very proud of that,” she said), but at CanalSide, the business is trying something new: a customizable acai bowl bar where customers can choose three fruit toppings and three dry toppings.
“We’re not going to have any warm food items; this location will be focused on the acai bar, with a smoothie bar, cold pressed juices and other bites in a grab-and-go fridge,” Lowney said.
Like the partners behind Far Out, the leaders at Juicygreens are confident in being able to succeed in a food hall because the business already does – it has a location in Hub Hall, a food hall near North Station and TD Garden.
“We’re one of the most popular places in Hub Hall, and we have seen many other businesses open and close, open and close,” Lowney said. “We have figured out what has helped us stay in business and be consistent, and we’re bringing the same formula to our operations in Cambridge.”
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And with that, they’ve taken away any reason I had to visit the mall. Rest in peace, Panda Express.
I’m eager to try Juicy Greens and will probably try the vegan options at Far Out (if I hear they’re amazingly different in some way). Yes vegetarian and vegan restaurants struggle now that there are increasing plant-based options to choose from at many restaurants –some have entire plant-based side menus. But the longer one is plant based or vegetarian, the more likely one skips those places if possible. Plant Pub would have been fine but they made the mistake of getting investment money from Matthew Kenney, who’s empire turned out to be a financial disaster. True Bistro ran for 13 years which is actually defined as success; high-end establishments all had difficulties after the pandemic. But there are plenty Camberville places that have also cracked the code(s): Veggie Galaxy, Ramen O Bowl, Life Alive, Clover, Saus at Bow, Mother Juice, Veggie Crust, Koshari Mama and Taco Party. (Veggie Grill is part of a CA-owned group.)