Chef and restaurateur has opened some of the most popular restaurants in town, including Root Down, and Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, which last year made Open Table’s list of 100 hottest restaurants in America.
Now comes Vital Root on Tennyson Street, a vegetable-focused fast-casual restaurant he’s starting with his business partner and yoga teacher Desiree Springer, who owns Vital Yoga down the street.
It’s one of the most anticipated restaurant openings this year because his name is a brand people trust.
But in a city that loves its bacon and burgers, .
“For sure it’s a risk,” he said on Monday afternoon, standing before the counter at Vital Root, surrounded by workers getting the place ready for its opening on June 15.
“When someone says ‘vegetarian,’ most people think ‘vegan’ and most people say ‘No thanks,'” he said. “When I say (Vital Root) is vegetarian, people say, ‘Oh, bummer.’ I say, ‘What do you mean bummer? It’s going to be amazing.'”
As a chef, he’s tried to evolve his menus as the American palate evolves, and food trends in many of the top restaurants are entrees with proteins just a small portion of the plate with veggies and whole grains making up the rest.
“I don’t want to preach,” said Cucci, who hopes to appeal to flexitarians, people who don’t rigidly categorize themselves into one eating style. “But I think this is the future of food. Meat is getting more and more expensive to ship and to harvest.”
At Root Down, one of the iconic menu items is Devils on Horseback with bacon, smoked almonds, Gournay cheese fondue, Peppadew peppers and sherry gastrique. At Vital Root, there’s Devils on Unicorns with goat cheese, Medjool dates, smoked almonds, coconut “bacon” and walnut-chili oil.
The bacon is made from coconut meat — he said is has the texture of bacon with a taste that’s smoky, sweet and a bit salty.
“I hope people say, ‘I had no idea you could make bacon from coconut meat,'” he said.
Vital Root, located at 3915 Tennyson Street, is in the former space of the Mountain Man Fruit & Nut Co. Cucci is known for repurposing funky spaces — Linger is the former Olinger Mortuary garage, Root Down was a 1950s gas station, and Ophelia’s was once a brothel. Mountain Man Fruit & Nut Co. was housed in a ’70s building with brown shingles and topped with a rainbow. Cucci has updated its image — with black paint and a patio out front — but kept its iconic gingerbread rainbow.
Cucci bought the space three years ago with his yoga teacher, Desiree Springer, who owns Vital Yoga on Tennyson Street. They’re business partners in this venture, which stemmed from conversations they often had about food.
“We always said, ‘If only a place cooked food in a nutritional way that was also delicious and craveable,” he said.
They envision a .
“We’re hoping her fans discover great food and my friends discover great yoga,” said Cucci.
Because the Mountain Man Fruit & Nut Co. building reminded Cucci of a tree house, he’s made the space light and airy, with skylights and an eight-food Japanese maple inside, a towering rebar tree sculpture outside, and two patios — the one out back is lined with gutters filled with organic herb gardens.
Menu items — including burritos, sandwiches and wraps — range from about $6 to $12.
They include Sunflower Seed Risotto with snap peas, trumpet mushrooms, scarlet carrots, almond butter, pepitas and pea pesto; Stir Fry with black “rice,” sprouted mung beans, tofu, veggies, super seeds and crispy shitakes; and Banana Coconut Chia Pudding with raw cacao, black quinoa, pomegranate, and cashews.
“I just hope we are successful,” he said. “We’re a group of passionate people, we know how to keep it real and not try to put on airs.”
