Carrot Flower Opens This Week in Jamaica Plain

The newest Centre Street dining option offers vegan smoothies and juices, gluten-free soups, salads, and more healthy fare.

By Jacqueline Cain· 8/13/2018, 3:28 p.m.

Carrot Flower opens Tuesday in Jamaica Plain. / Photos provided

A longtime Jamaica Plain resident has created the low-carb dining option she wished to see in her neighborhood. Carrot Flower opens this week on Centre Street, bringing with it an all-day menu of fresh juices and smoothies, vegan soups, toasts, salads, and more fast-casual fare.

Carrot Flower is the ownership debut for cofounders Audrey White and restaurant industry veteran Cheri Clarkin. White has lived with and managed Type 1 diabetes since childhood, and was inspired by her own need for more plant-based, low-carbohydrate, quick-service dining choices, per Carrot Flower’s website. Clarkin brings two decades of restaurant industry experience to the table; she was opening general manager at Myers + Chang, a manager at 75 Chestnut, KO Pies at the Shipyard, Cunard Tavern, and more.

The café, which was formerly the antique shop Cobwebs, has a handful of seats, including Centre Street-facing stools in the front window. The bright, plant-filled room is an apt home for the light, natural menu. The name Carrot Flower comes from a Neutral Milk Hotel song, and White’s indie rock preferences are also evident in the concert posters decorating the white-washed walls.

Friends and family got an early taste of Carrot Flower over the weekend. The official menu is still being tweaked, White says, but expect to find a range of dairy-free smoothies in flavors like Monkey Gone to Heaven (with blueberry, banana, peanut butter, honey, and coconut milk), That Summer Feeling (watermelon, strawberry, lime), and Green Street Tea (pineapple, spinach, matcha, lemon, coconut milk).

Smoothie and açaí bowls, cold overnight oats, locally made granola, and a selection of doctored-up Fornax breads comprise the morning-friendly fare, while savory toasts, dairy- and gluten-free soups, and salads could be lunch or dinner. There are also freshly pressed juices, gingery and wheat grass supplement shots, organic coffee, teas, and other soft drinks.

Carrot Flower joins Juicygreens among new, plant-based options in Jamaica Plain. Little Dipper recently opened, too, with its own fresh takes on açaí and other seasonal bowls alongside classic diner fare. The burger joint Grass Fed, now owned by Socrates Abreu of the popular Mexican restaurant group Chilacates, will have more vegetarian options on the menu, Abreu previously told Boston. It’s on track for a mid-September reopening.

In other Greater Boston juice shop news, Brighton-born Energize recently opened a second location near Symphony Hall, and Mattapan’s Blue Hill Ave. is now home to a shop called Cafe Juiceup, Eater Boston has reported.

Carrot Flower officially opens Tuesday, Aug. 14. To start, it’s in business Tuesday-Sunday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., though the hours could eventually extend to 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. daily, White says. Follow along on Instagram to stay in the loop.

Carrot Flower, 703 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, Boston, carrotflowerjp.com.