Restaurateur Pat Fellows is hoping to be back in the kitchen with Fresh Junkie by early April.
The businessman used to own the local restaurant Rocket Fajitas. Fellows changed the idea of the business in 2007 to Fresh Salads and Wraps, taking it to the Main Street Market. In 2011, he added a Fresh food truck.
Now, he’s branding his truck, Main Street Market location and his upcoming brick and mortar location at 303 North Blvd. as Fresh Junkie.
“I would love to be open for the first Live After Five concert,” he says. “I’m getting e-mails, texts and Facebook messages every day from people wondering when I will open.”
The idea behind Fresh Junkie isn’t new, he says. It’s just time to grow.
“When I first started Rocket Fajitas, we were making everything fresh from scratch with ingredients that arrived that day,” he says. “I said to myself, ‘We can do this every day without any waste. We’re going to make what we need every day, and the customer is getting the freshest stuff they can get.'”
Among the custom-made options at Fresh Junkie are classics like the Caesar and Sensation salads and wraps as well as the Brickhouse with grilled asparagus, edamame, red bell peppers and more, and the Rocket with romaine lettuce, cilantro, roasted corn, red bell peppers, jack cheese, grape tomatoes and chipotle ranch dressing. The choices come in veggie-only or with chicken.
Fellows, who has been selling running shoes across Louisiana for the past five years in addition to managing his food operations, says he’d like to open more Fresh Junkie locations in the future as well as expand the brand.
“It’s about the food, yes, but it’s also about being fit overall,” he says. “You can work out all you want, but if you’re not eating well then you aren’t doing yourself any good.”
