Taste of the Month: Custom, Fresh-Made Bowls at Roots Natural Kitchen 

Looking for a fresh, healthy option in downtown State College? Look no further than Roots Natural Kitchen, a modern twist on good, natural ingredients.

The restaurant offers customizable rice and veggie bowls and salads. But Roots Natural Kitchen, 270 E. Beaver Ave., is much more than that, according to interim general manager Nelson Hartley.

Hartley says everything served at Roots is freshly prepared. Staff members fill the back of the restaurant each morning, chopping produce and preparing menu staples like lime-pickled onions and house-made dressings. The grain options are refreshed every hour for optimal taste and texture.

“People are always looking for fresh,” Hartley says. “Our mission is to empower people through radical accessibility of natural food.”

The menu at Roots is based on natural ingredients for its salad- and grain-based bowls and teas. Beverages like hibiscus green tea, lemonade black tea and dragon fruit green tea are brewed and bottled in-house. 

Popular bowls at the Happy Valley location are the “El Jefe,” which has brown rice, kale, black beans, charred corn, red onions, avocado, pita chips, feta, chicken and a cilantro lime dressing, and recent special “The Outlaw Bowl,” which features BBQ chicken, Brussels sprouts, brown rice, black beans, charred corn, purple cabbage, red onions and tomatillo ranch dressing. 

A customer can customize any bowl on the menu to their own preferences, or they can create an order combination uniquely theirs, Hartley says. 

To create a bowl, customers first choose a combination of bases, either grain- or lettuce-based. The grain options are brown rice, bulgur (gluten free, a partially debranned wheat grain) and Roots rice (a mixture of brown and purple rice). Customers can choose from a wall of fresh and crisp lettuce options including kale, spinach and Arcadian mix.

Then, customers have their pick of more than 20 ingredients to add to their bowls. For those seeking a sweeter creation, consider trying the dried cranberries, sweet potatoes, grape tomatoes, and beets. Those seeking tangy and spicy flavors can choose the lime-pickled onions, jalapeños, a variety of beans and feta cheese. Five are included in each bowl, but you can add more for 60 cents each.

Protein options include chicken, BBQ tofu, red chili miso tofu and mushrooms. If you can’t decide, ask an employee to split the proteins and choose two. Finally, all of the selections are tossed into one of 10 house-made dressings, which include cilantro lime, basil balsamic, lemon za’atar, pesto vinaigrette and miso ginger.

Roots offers options for those who are gluten, dairy and soy free, as well as for vegetarians and pescatarians. 

“It leaves you with a good feeling in your stomach when you’re done eating,” Hartley says. “Most people can’t even eat it all in one sitting.”

Hartley says Roots is popular with college students and employees, as well as those who work downtown and are looking for a different option. He says a lot of Penn State athletes come in for post-workout meals including “big football players.” Their favorite bowl is usually “The Balboa,” a brown rice-based bowl with roasted sweet potatoes, charred corn, avocado, pita chips, feta, lime-pickled onions, lemon tahini dressing, Caesar dressing, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and one-and-half times the serving of chicken. Hartley says they’ll often double up on the chicken for extra protein.

“It’s filling for someone doing a lot of activity,” he says.

The restaurant is also kid-friendly, offering free meals to kiddos 12 and under every day when accompanied by an adult. It’s a great opportunity to introduce new types of food flavors and textures.

“I cannot believe the number of people who eat Brussels sprouts after trying one of our bowls,” he says.

Roots offers fundraising and catering options, recently introducing a “Mega Bowl” to its catering menu. The bowl feeds five to seven people, which Hartley says is great for lunch at the office or family dinners. 

Open 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Roots Natural Kitchen is available for online and mobile ordering through its app, GrubHub and UberEats. It also offers indoor and outdoor seating during the warm months. Roots is part of a small chain of restaurants, including two locations in Pittsburgh. T&G

Hannah Pollock is a freelance writer in State College.