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Beat Magazine Review
“Above the enormous sculptural head [in front of The Revolving Museum] and up the little stairs,” are the directions given on the website for the “urban oasis and organic cafe” called Life Alive. Once inside the welcoming storefront, past the honey-colored walls, the inviting sofas and soft chairs, the vitamins and healing tinctures arrayed on shelves, the aromatherapy candles and homeopathy journals spread around, you’ll see the food-laden counter where owner, Heidi Feinstein, is making some of the best vegetarian food around, and doing it with a zeal to make healthy eating easy in a busy world. Two and a half years ago the Lowell resident started Life Alive, in the beautifully-renovated arts district of downtown Lowell. Today, Life Alive remains true to its extraordinary mission, and then some.
With a background in holistic health including massage, vibrational medicine and herbology, Feinstein wrote a business plan well within her comfort zone. “Other than a little juice bar and some brown rice with a few steamed vegetables over it, I really thought my business would be selling the products [vitamins, supplements, homeopathy treatments, aromatherapy products, and education classes]. I was actually planning to have a massage and yoga studio here—and the rest would be all the other stuff.” Feinstein was surprised to find that the prepared food part of the business took off right away. |
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“I had no idea what I was getting into,” recalls Feinstein. Soon, Life Alive was more restaurant than anything else. “We’re slammed at lunch,” is how she describes business now. In fact, it’s been so successful that Feinstein has been making plans for Life Alive II and maybe even III, perhaps in Boston and in Cambridge. She gives the food all the credit. “This is about whole food; how unprocessed, organic, sustainably-grown, non-toxic food can be delicious. People who are open to that are dragging their friends in who are not, and then they are all coming back for more, because it’s delicious.”
Ninety-nine percent of the food served at Life Alive is organic; and it’s not strictly for vegans (there is cheese and half-and-half available); nor does it appeal only to vegetarians. Of her clientele, Feinstein says, “I have meat and potato eaters who come here regularly. A lot of vegans do come here, too. People are traveling from all over because it’s hard to find food in all three categories: vegan, organic and vegetarian.”
The restaurant is open seven days a week and serves a large variety of vegetarian menu items, from smoked lemon garlic tofu to peanut butter and jelly, and is very reasonably priced: the most expensive single item on the menu is $9.35!
Life Alive’s signature dish is called “The Rebel,”($8.95 for a filling bowl) and consists of carrots, beets, dark greens and that fabulous grain, quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa), which has the highest nutritional profile of all grains. The vegetables in “The Rebel” are perfectly cooked, not too crunchy, and very fresh tasting; the wholesomeness of the quinoa rounds out the flavors and makes this a satisfying meal, and ready in about three minutes.
Also on the menu are organic teas and coffees; soups; juices, like one called, “Hive Alive,” which boasts an immune-building blend that detoxifies your body while you smile; and “sumptuous smoothies” that can be turbocharged by adding spirulina, flax, bee pollen, lecithin or all of the above.
Education is a very big part of the mission of Life Alive. In addition to some very well-informed employees whose goal is to nurture everyone who comes through the door, there are dozens of signs posted throughout the restaurant describing ingredients, nutritional content and curative effects of the food served. Indeed, Feinstein feels strongly that all her food has medicinal value. One sign extols the benefits of eating shitake mushrooms explaining that it can boost immunity, fight tumor activity, treat cancer and HIV and lower cholesterol. Feinstein says, “People comment on how good they feel after eating this food.”
In addition to running the restaurant and selling the products, Feinstein conducts classes in cooking, breathing, and in maintaining a healthy life-style.
Being loyal to the food, present for the customer, and, “combining health with pleasure for an awakening experience;” that’s Life Alive.
LIFE ALIVE, 194 MIDDLE ST., LOWELL. 978.453.1311
HOURS:
MONDAY, 10-6; TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, 10-7; THURSDAY, 10-9 ; FRIDAY & SATURDAY, 10 -6; SUNDAY, 12-6 |
