Fresh Fork is the newest restaurant in Storrs, where everything on the menu can be made either gluten-free or vegan, or not gluten-free and not vegan, whatever the customer chooses. Fresh Fork had a soft opening on Aug. 2.
Owner Matthew Tetrault of Glastonbury also own Gbury To Go, a restaurant that’s been operating for about a year at 2249 New London Turnpike in Glastonbury.
Tetrault said Fresh Fork, at at 1232 Storrs Road across the street from the UConn campus, opened quietly on purpose.
“Students will be coming back starting next week. We wanted to get our feet underneath us before they came,” Tetrault said. “So far, our customer base has been members of the Storrs community, the locals. They’re happy, about the gluten-free even more than the vegan. A lot of people have discovered they have a sensitivity to gluten.”
The eateries in Glastonbury and Storrs have a lot in common. Many dishes are identical, such as vegetable stir-fry, tofu banh mi, Beyond burgers, Buddha bowls, vegan ramen, Asian chopped salads and the ever-popular multigrain avocado toast.
“We have about 85% vegan and gluten-free, the healthy foods, and the other 15% unhealthy, for lack of a better term. I guess you’d call them comfort staples like our brined chicken sandwich, which is our biggest seller,” Tetrault said.
There are differences, though. Gbury is takeout-only. Fresh Fork seats 44.
Fresh Fork’s breakfast-all-day selection is broader, with eggs, bacon, vegan wraps and tofu over rice with sweet chili drizzle. Unlike mainstream breakfast places, Fresh Fork doesn’t open until 10 a.m. “The kids get up a little later,” he said.
The salad selection is wider in Storrs, with Caesar, Cobb and vegan cobb, and that eatery offers vegan mac and cheese and more options in noodle dishes and grilled cheese sandwiches. Its coffee selection comes from Drumroll Coffee Roasters in Wethersfield, and fruit-only smoothies are available. “We wanted a coffee-shop vibe,” Tetrault said.
Tetrault’s head chef in Glastonbury is Giordan Toledo, formerly of Max Restaurant Group. In Storrs, the head chef is Ray Jurado, whose wife, Loukia, is front-of-house manager.
Tetrault said he considers himself a “mostly plant-based” person, if not entirely vegan. He and his wife both work in the insurance industry. He got into the dining industry out of an interest in investment.
When he met Toledo, who is vegan, he decided to focus on vegan foods, which he felt filled a gap in the market. “When vegans go to restaurants, usually there are only two or three options,” he said.
He said Gbury to Go “was an experiment,” and Fresh Fork is his move to “step into the restaurant industry with both feet.
“I would like to turn Fresh Fork into a conglomerate, duplicating it across the country. It can really go anywhere. Chipotle started on a college campus. You have a captive audience with a diverse clientele,” he said.
Fresh Fork Café is open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 860-477-0200. freshforkcafe.com.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
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