Build-Your-Own Chain Honeygrow Spawns Second Concept, Minigrow

The team behind Fishtown-based Honeygrow is spinning off Minigrow, a smaller, faster version of the company’s build-your-own-bowl restaurant. But unlike Honeygrow, the first Minigrow is opening in New York: It’s scheduled to debut at 285 Madison Avenue on October 30, with two more Manhattan locations planned for December. Philly will get its own Minigrow, in Center City, next year, along with outposts in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Honeygrow has more than 20 locations, with eight in the Philly area.

Founder/CEO Justin Rosenberg and culinary director David Katz are repeating their hit Honeygrow model with Minigrow, offering customizable salads and noodle bowls with house-made dressings and sauces and nothing kept frozen. Minigrow’s menu has fewer options than the bigger Honeygrow, as a way to save space and need less equipment, Rosenberg told Eater DC over the summer. The menu includes mazemen noodles (picture: ramen noodles without the broth), cold-pressed juices, and Moroccan mint dark chocolate bars from Chris Curtin of Éclat Chocolate. The noodles were picked because they cook quickly but retain their chew, according to the company. Proteins to mix in with the noodles and salads include dashi-poached salmon, slow-roasted pork shoulder, chicken thigh, crab, and marinated tofu.

The signature bowl is Katz’s Chicken Jawn, made with flat noodles, miso corn, sweet and sour onions, black truffle, roasted chicken, and chives and topped with parmesan cheese. The Chicken Jawn will be on the New York menu too, not just in Philly.

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