Tender Greens, the Los Angeles-born group of chef-led kitchens celebrated for its seasonal home cooking at everyday prices, opens its debut location in Massachusetts Monday. With a location at The Street in Chestnut Hill (49 Boylston Street), just a few miles outside of Boston, this opening marks the 28th outpost and second location of Tender Greens outside of California, following New York City’s opening in February. The East Coast expansion of the restaurant group has been highly anticipated for over two years, after the 2015 news of an investment from Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (Meyer and USHG founded Shake Shack). Tender Greens will also expand to a second Boston location in Copley Place this August.
Founded in 2006 by fine dining alums Erik Oberholtzer, David Dressler and Matt Lyman, Tender Greens has garnered a cult-following for its wholesome, craveable, beautifully-prepared food. Using only the highest quality and responsibly-sourced ingredients, everything is cooked and plated with the utmost care and attention by a resident classically-trained chef and served with gracious hospitality. Todd Renner will serve as Executive Chef of the Chestnut Hill location, transitioning from his role of the same title at the Downtown San Francisco outpost.
“From the very beginning, Tender Greens has always been all about its community, and we can’t imagine a stronger, more community-driven city than Boston,” says Tender Greens Co-Founder & CEO Erik Oberholtzer. “I went to culinary school in Providence, cooked on the Cape, and fell in love with Boston while living in Brookline before moving out to Berkeley. Boston’s rich food culture and neighboring farms and fishing communities make it an incredibly compelling place to cook. We look forward to sharing a taste of California while celebrating what makes Boston so exciting.”
Alana Frey, General Manager of The Street, adds, “Tender Greens makes The Street one of the greatest health and wellness destinations in Boston and beyond, and it will greatly enhance our property’s collection of trendsetting dining, shopping and fitness brands. We are thrilled to be the home of its first outpost in Massachusetts.”
Open for lunch and dinner, Tender Greens’ core menu features the kind of healthyish food chefs love to cook for themselves and their families. The menu is organized by: Plates (including a protein, side, and greens), Sandwiches, Salads and market-driven specials served twice daily. Menu items are in the $12 to $16 range, with favorites like theBackyard Steak, Salt & Pepper Chicken, Herb Brushed Albacore Tuna, Happy Vegan Salad, Fried Chicken Sandwichand Mashed Potatoes. Unique to Boston and new for Tender Greens, the menu includes a Harvest Salad, where the hyper-local ingredients shine according to seasonality, and Chef Todd’s signature, seasonal, house-fermented hot sauces. Tender Greens believes in good, real and whole food, reflected in the use of sustainably raised ingredients that are kind to the environment and go beyond the organic label. Produce is sourced from local farmers who use natural and regenerative farming practices. Meat and poultry are always antibiotic and hormone-free; chicken is pasture-raised and vegetarian-fed, beef is raised in family farms, with the majority of its life spent in open pastures; and seafood is sourced from the most responsible fisheries to protect the health of the species and waterways.
Tender Greens in Chestnut Hill is sourcing from the local New England area with some of Massachusetts’ best family-owned purveyors. Highlights include wild shiitake mushrooms from Martha’s Vineyard Mycological in Chilmark, sweet potatoes from 108-year-old Swaz Potato Farm in Hatfield, non-homogenized raw milk blue cheese from Great Hill Blue on Buzzard’s Bay in Marion and microgreens from urban agriculture company 2 Friends Farm in Attleboro. Tender Greens also works with Local Roots, the innovative vertical-farming startup that grows crops in shipping containers, one of which is being installed in the New York this spring to grow produce for its East Coast restaurants. Local seafood is sourced from USA wild-caught, sustainable, and traceable seafood partner Sea to Table which connects independent fisherman to chefs and Luke’s Lobster is providing Maine lobster tail for the Lobster Salad.
With its new home at The Street, Tender Greens joins some of Boston’s top food, fashion, beauty, fitness and lifestyle brands including Shake Shack, Juice Press, Barry’s, lululemon athletica, kodomo, Vince and more—making it one of the most exciting lifestyle destinations in the city.
The 3,000-square foot restaurant evokes the feeling of a bright, modern farmhouse with pitched ceilings, locally sourced white oak and sleek marble accents. Diners can engage with the chef at the chef’s counter, an open kitchen concept inspired by the experience of guests gathering in a chef’s personal kitchen at a dinner party. The restaurant seats 60 guests inside and during the summer months an additional 25 on the outdoor patio.
