Max Well, New Orleans, a new salad and cold-pressed juice cafe from Maxwell Eaton, will be taking over the spot that was formerly the home of Fresh Bar at 6101 Magazine Street near Audubon Park by early fall, with an organic, plant-based menu that revolves around fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. Fresh Bar, which had gone through an ownership change in 2016, closed this past May.
Opening hours will span breakfast to early evening seven days a week with counter service and some grab-and-go meals. The breakfast menu will be centered around, but not limited to, a variety of oat dishes such as overnight matcha oat bowl (rolled oats, almond milk, matcha powder, chia seeds, banana, strawberry, blueberries). The cafe will also serve oat groats and steel cut oats. Fresh orange juice will be available at breakfast.
Salads are a big part of the menu and some of the possibilities for the menu have been been debuted on the cafe’s Facebook page, such as French green lentils and kale tossed with quinoa, and a bright rainbow salad.
In addition to salads, the cafe will serve “protein heavy” bowls that feature several proteins over a smaller bed of greens. Organic, cold-pressed juices will be available in bottles. Green juices will be pressed fresh to keep the enzymes intact, according to Eaton.
Sweets will include cranberry-ginger granola and vegan chocolate covered dates.
Eaton, who moved to New Orleans in 2001 to attend Loyola University, became interested in healthy food after becoming part of the New Orleans music community. He’s an avid cyclist and he studied nutrition at Tulane University. The name of the cafe, Max Well, New Orleans, is clearly derived from Eaton’s own first name in a bit of name determinism, perhaps. Max Well is also short for “maximum wellness,” according to Eaton
Eaton used to live in an apartment down the street from Max Well’s new home and remembers buying flowers there when it was a flower shop. Since Fresh Bar, also a salad cafe, was the last resident of the space, the layout is already set up for the Max Well concept. The kitchen will be expanded some and a “few architectural features” will be added “to help the space hold a friendly and comfortable atmosphere.” Eaton hopes that the cafe will encourage guests to “hang out and spend a relaxing moment eating something that is good for them.”
