New Fast Casual Grain Bowl Restaurant Heads to Arboretum

Honest Mary’s will become Austin’s latest fast casual grain bowl-focused restaurant found up in the Arboretum in the late summer. The bowls at the counter service spot will be made on-site, where customers can customize their orders for dine-in or to-go.

Honest’s grain bowls are made with what owner Nelson Monteith sees as “honest” ingredients, from rice to vegetables to meats to fish (the exact menu isn’t available yet, but expect signature bowls). Refined sugars aren’t used at all. For drinks, there will be organic tapped wine, beer, as well as agua frescas, Yaupon iced tea, and kombucha.

The Houston native came to Austin to attend UT and then the Acton School of Business. After working for a loan company, he spent some time in kitchens, including Chipotle and Southern fast-casual mini-chain Urban Cookhouse' first location in Birmingham, Alabama. He left to open Honest Mary’s as his own restaurant.

While working on Honest Mary’s (which is named after his wife), Monteith considers Contigo’s Ben Edgerton and Urban Cookhouse co-owner David Snyder as his mentors.

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