For An Organic Cafe, Drive to Kirkwood

An organic restaurant got the green light to open in May. It's one of the few in the area that would offer a vegan menu. It's in Kirkwood.

Gregory Owens, of Des Peres, said he will open HotPot Smoothie Shop, a cafe that will offer organic, vegan and vegetarian options, sometime in May. The eatery will be located at 11215 Manchester Rd., which used to house a pottery studio.

Owens, however, said he said he doesn’t hope to convert anyone to eating only organic, healthy or vegetarian food. He wanted his restaurant to serve everybody.

“I just want us to be another option,” said Owens, who worked as a chef in Florida and specialized in healthy food. 

“I’ve always wanted to have a place where my family, my children, could go and eat good quality, healthy food that was also tasty,” Owens said. 

Learn how to garden organically.

“Most importantly, you have to enjoy food. Any diet you go into, if you don’t enjoy it, it’s not working. I don’t expect for everyone to eat all natural and all organic, but every little bit helps.”

Owens said he will offer food for all tastes, including Asian street food, vegetarian and vegan options, coffee, tea, smoothies and more. He said one of his priorities will be the ingredients used in the food.

“We want to strive to use only local and organic as much as we can,” said Owens, a parent of three children in the Kirkwood School District.

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Owens said he thought there were not many healthy alternatives to the food of other restaurants in Kirkwood. He said HotPot smoothie will be a place for everyone.

“Kirkwood doesn’t really have an artistic coffee house cafe that offers healthy options. We thought this was the perfect place to have it,” Owens said.

student Kelly Glueck, who is a vegetarian, said she was excited to hear about the cafe opening. Glueck said many vegan and vegetarian students she knows at Meramec wish they had more places where they could find the food they want.

“In my two years at Meramec, I have seen a bare minimum of vegetarian options around,” Glueck said.