Preachy new health restaurant is out of its mind
RING an appetite, but leave your mind behind, when you drop into Honeybrains.
The new Noho restaurant is coowned by a neurologist, and it claims to be more than just a mere grab-and-go spot for grain bowls. Rather, it bills itself as a “public health care initiative set in a cafe.” Really?
Co-owner Alon Seifan, a neurologist who practices in Hollywood, Fla., and has a medical degree from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, says menu items were created with “micronutrient”-packed ingredients in mind — meaning specific foods with beneficial properties, including certain veggies, fruits, legumes, whole grains and fats.
For example, Seifan said, walnuts have more omega-3 fatty acids than other nuts, so they’re used in the “Mediterranean mind salad.”
Seifan doesn’t claim that walnuts or any other foods can directly prevent Alzheimer’s disease, as some press reports have incorrectly stated. Rather, he says certain foods fight inflammation, improve circulation and metabolism, and promote “nutrient balance.” Weak- nesses on any of those fronts, he tells The Post, “can increase your risk” of the dreaded disease.
“Inflammation occurs in the blood, which bathes our organs, which in turn can relate to brain inflammation” — believed by some scientists to be a cause of Alzheimer’s, he says.
Honeybrains’ dishes are fine and sometimes quite good. Flaky sea bass with spiced sweet potatoes and wilted kale ($13) was better than most fast-casual fish.
But health-minded promotional blurbs — such as “where nourished minds and thriving bodies enrich lives” and “products to nurture your well-being and your brain” — festooned around the space can short-circuit your gray matter to the point that you hardly notice what you’re eating.
And, other than a wide choice of honeys for sale — all “made from bees that are healthy, homebound and happy” according to more signage — Honeybrains doesn’t seem much different from Sweetgreen, Fresh & Co., Chopt and the like.
To hawk its message, Honeybrains is holding free Thursday Night Talks (6:30 to 7:30 p.m.) hosted by experts on wellness — the first on Thursday featuring Seifan himself.
But, you’d think such a “healthful” place might offer calorie counts. None is available, including for beltbusters such as Cobb salad.
“We don’t care about calories,” Seifan says. “When people start to think about calories, they start to rule things out.
“Science says that if you eat enough good food and stay away from food overnight” — meaning shortly before you go to sleep — “it doesn’t matter how much good food you eat.”
Great — but just serve it without the sermon.