Local Flavor: The Garden Bar serves up healthy options in Biddeford

BIDDEFORD — There are plenty of places for quick to-go lunch options, and there are several places for healthy lunch options, but The Garden Bar is offering the best of both worlds with meal options that are both quick and healthy.

The Garden Bar opened last week with a soft opening at 40 Main St., Biddeford, at the former Sweet Cream Dairy location in the Pepperell Mill building.

The restaurant is “a fast-casual food concept,” said Lanai Monahan, who owns the restaurant with her husband Keith Castro. The menu features build-your-own bowls.

“The combinations are endless,” said Monahan.

Customers choose a base, such as rice or greens, four toppings, a protein, a crunchy topping and a dressing. Bowls can be made vegan or gluten free. The Garden Bar will offer seasonal selections, and Monahan and Castro plan to offer lobster this summer as one of the protein choices.            

There are also signature bowls, like the popular Santa Fe, with green leaf lettuce, jasmine rice, roasted corn, tomato, pickled onions, cilantro, southwest chicken, tortilla strips and jalapeno lime vinaigrette; and the Khao San Noodle bowl with rice noodles, romaine lettuce, sweet potato, kung pao vegetables, vegan “meatballs,” radish, cilantro and toasted sesame dressing.

“It’s a great solution for that office lunch,” said Monahan. She said they’ve already seen repeat customers, and it takes about three and a half minutes for customers to get their meal from the time they begin ordering. The Garden Bar also offers cold-pressed juice from Everyday Boost in South Berwick.

Monahan and Castro are veteran restaurateurs and came to Maine after running a 400-seat establishment in Florida. The couple opened Pepperell Provisions in late 2020 in Building 18 in the Pepperell Mill campus, serving sandwiches, salads and baked goods.

The two food businesses, each with a small footprint in the mill complex, fill in gaps in the local food scene.

“It’s kind of like our own food court,” said Monahan.

She and her husband travel from their home in Portland to work in Biddeford. She said they love Biddeford where they have found businesses to be very supportive of one another.

“It’s definitely a town of working owner/operators,” she said.

The Garden Bar is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week, not only making it a lunch destination, but also a place to grab dinner including Monday and Tuesday nights, when many local restaurants are closed. There is indoor seating for 20, and Monahan said she and Castro plan to set up six picnic tables this weekend for outdoor seating.  

Liz Gotthelf is the publisher of Saco Bay News. She also loves to eat – and support local businesses. If you have any local restaurant or food news, she’d love to hear from you. Send her an email at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.