A robot arm that feeds food onto a conveyor and into the oven to heat up; a pared-down staff of three workers; completely digital ordering and zero seats—is this the fast casual of the future?
Chipotle founder Steve Ells thinks so. Those are just a few of the features that differentiate Kernel, his new concept that opened in New York City last month. And, yes, there’s a planet-friendly, plant-based menu, but it was developed by two fine-dining chefs who previously worked at Michelin-starred restaurants.
Walk in and you immediately see rows of stacked cubbies holding orders for pickup with that roving robot arm right behind. What you don’t see are the electric bike trailers in the back that deliver food every hour in thermal boxes from a centralized commissary kitchen. In that kitchen, most everything is cooked from scratch with culinary director Neil Stetz, an alum of Quince in San Francisco, at the helm.
Orders are placed in cubbies and customers get a text when their food is ready to pick up. | Photo by Pat Cobe.
And you also don’t see the software that manages the orders while somehow making the whole high-tech experience more hospitable. If the screens in the prep area show that an order is taking a few minutes longer than promised, the customer gets notified on his or her phone. Once an order is ready, the “bundler” who packs the bag, puts it in a designated cubby, and hits a button that texts the customer. Each bag also includes a scannable card encouraging feedback.
Not for vegans only
Kernel’s menu took a year of R&D, developed by Chief Culinary Officer Andrew Black, a former sous chef at NYC’s Eleven Madison Park, and Stetz. Neither are vegans but both are on a mission to elevate plant-based food and celebrate vegetables.
Walk-ins can order by scanning the QR code on the in-store menu board. | Photo by Pat Cobe
The menu includes two sandwiches, two salads and four veggie sides—two hot and two cold—each boasting layers of flavors and textures with just the right amounts of seasoning, acid and heat, said Black. Judicious use of fresh herbs, house-made condiments and unique ingredients create complex flavor profiles.
“When Steve [Ells] and I started talking, we knew we wanted a crispy ‘chicken’ sandwich and crispy potatoes on the menu. We have great vegetable sides, featuring vegetables we’re excited about,” said Black.
That crispy chicken sandwich features a chicken fillet made with wheat and soy that’s hand-breaded and fried in the central kitchen. To order, it's finished in the restaurant by heating it in the impingement oven fed by that aforementioned conveyor belt, he explained. It’s layered with chipotle mayo, pickles, and slaw on toasted brioche bun—a build very much like a traditional chicken sandwich.
The Kernel culinary team worked with Motif, a company that specializes in plant-based chicken, to perfect the size, thickness and shape of the fillet. The breading is seasoned with sage, black pepper and other spices for a complex flavor profile. After the initial frying, it retains its crispness during the 7-minute bike ride from kitchen to restaurant and the quick reheating process.
Another must-have was the Kernel Burger, which went through about 100 tests before it landed on the menu, said Stetz. In the final iteration, the patty is made with roasted vegetables and layered with salsa verde and pickled onions on a toasted brioche bun.
“The burger patty is a combination of grains and vegetables, some are cooked and some are raw, then blended, ground, mixed and formed into a patty,” said Stetz. “We tried a lot of different combinations of grains and vegetables, some more veggie forward, and different flavor profiles. (Farro didn’t make the cut.) This one is more savory, developed with root veggies, grains, legumes, onions and garlic to build umami.”
The Kernel Burger features a patty made with root vegetables and grains, with a "special sauce" of salsa verde. | Photo by Pat Cobe.
Even with all that R&D, the burger is still evolving. When the patty is placed on the salsa verde on the bottom bun, it slips around a little when you take a bite. “We’re working at giving the surface of the patty more texture to adjust the grip,” said Black.
Vegetables as menu stars
Except for the Motif chicken fillet, Kernel is all about offering a lot of different vegetables made with care, said Black.
The Roasted Carrots, one of the warm sides, are roasted with dates and mixed with farro, salsa verde and herby pesto, then topped with spiced almonds. I’d be hard-pressed to find as impressive a side in most casual-dining restaurants.
Ditto with the chilled Crunchy Cucumbers, tossed with wild rice, basil, cilantro, mint, chili tamarind jam and cashews.
But the thrice-cooked crispy potatoes are the most impressive. Perfecting this signature side took a multi-step R&D process, sourcing a specific type of potato and packing them into a vented to-go container to retain crispness en route.
“We tried all kinds of potatoes,” said Stetz. “The variables in potatoes are incredible.” The winner was a Chipperbec potato that’s low in sugar, low in water and high in starch. During R&D, the kitchen team tried different size dices and cubes—they weren’t looking to do a typical french fry shape—but now Kernel works with a supplier that grows, picks and dices the potatoes. “They’re processed right after they are picked,” he added.
In the commissary kitchen, the potato cubes are fried three times, then reheated to order in the oven at the restaurant. Ketchup comes on the side, and even that is house-made, said Black. It uses a proprietary blend of organic ingredients and is designed to taste close to Heinz but with a better-for-you health profile.
The vented lid keeps the potatoes extra-crispy in transit. | Photo by Pat Cobe.
The chefs played around a lot with the container for the potatoes, too. At first, they laser-cut the lids to let the steam escape and keep the potatoes crispy, but that was too labor-intensive for the long run. Now a supplier partner produces the vented lids based on that prototype.
Over at kitchen central
This Kernel menu story would not be complete without mentioning the house-baked cookies. There are two varieties: Chocolate Chunk and Oatmeal Raisin Walnut. Both are baked with a blend of olive and vegetable oils, whole grains and top-quality chocolate and nuts, then finished with a sprinkling of flaky salt.
They’re such a hit, Black showcases the recipe and demo on Kernel’s Instagram so fans can make them at home.
“Creating something really delicious, with a lot of attention to detail, made with a lot of care, at a really affordable price and convenient—that’s our mission,” said Black. “The food we’re making is as good as a lot of food you would get at a pricier sit-down restaurant.
Prices are about midway between McDonald’s and Sweetgreen, with sides running $4-$5, sandwiches $7-$9, entree salads $10-$14, and those irresistible cookies, $3 each.
I’ll admit I am a bit of a plant-based skeptic, but this food lives up to its promise. I don’t even like beets, and Kernel’s beets—the menu’s fourth side dish—won me over. The cooked beets are marinated and combined with green hummus and quinoa, then topped with a scratch-made super-seed crunch that tastes like a savory granola.
Asked if Kernel is considering batching these recipes and creating a catering menu, Black said it’s been discussed. But first the concept is expanding to more locations in New York City, going into even smaller spaces with its compact onsite prep model.
Most customers order online and take the food to go. I didn’t have an office or home nearby, so that wasn’t an option. It would have been nice to have a seat while I ate my very tasty lunch.