With COVID-19 cases on the rise and winter right around the corner, fueling up with whole, nutritious foods — along with adequate sleep, exercise and stress management — is one of the best ways to support your immune system today. But, finding a healthy, delicious, affordable and quick place to eat can be hard and that’s why husband and wife duo Phil Dumontet and Alexa Squillaro decided to open Whole Sol’s flagship location at the new Lakehouse residences at Sloan’s Lake.
Photo Courtesy of Whole Sol
Dumontet and Squillaro opened the first Whole Sol location in LoDo after moving to Colorado from New York in 2017. They now have storefronts in Boulder and Sloan’s Lake as well as a RiNo location and a second Boulder location opening later this year. Prior to opening Whole Sol, Dumontet owned a food delivery app in the Northeast called Dashed. In 2007 it was one of the first food delivery apps in the market and was eventually acquired by Grubhub in 2017. He and Squillaro worked together at Dashed and they were both drawn to Colorado because of the active lifestyle and fitness of the state. The two completed a triathlon at Boulder Reservoir and decided to move here to start their next venture shortly after. During their training, they were fueled by smoothies, grain bowls and healthy snacks but couldn’t find a restaurant that offered all of those things.
“We were surprised that for such a health-conscious place that there weren’t many places like this around,” said Dumontet, “As soon as we started Whole Sol we knew we wanted to be the category leader in Denver.”
Photo Courtesy of Whole Sol
Whole Sol fits perfectly into the active community around Sloan’s Lake and is situated underneath the new Lakehouse residences — the first building in Colorado to be awarded WELL precertification under the WELL Building Standard. WELL is the first to integrate human health and wellness into the design, construction, maintenance and operations of the built environment in order to optimize residents’ health.
“It was such a good partnership for the vision of the building and the neighborhood,” said Squillaro. “Now people can come in after a fitness class or a run around the lake and grab something healthy to go or enjoy it here,” said Dumontet. The reason the couple chose this as the flagship location was due to the vision of the building, community surrounding it and the size of the space — it is much larger than the other Whole Sol locations with 1,500 square feet inside plus a 400 square foot patio for outdoor seating.
Everything on Whole Sol’s menu is organic, gluten-free and dairy-free and all items can be made vegan upon request — if they aren’t already. Whole Sol’s signature smoothie bowls have no added sugar, fruit juice, sweeteners or preservatives of any kind and average under 400 calories per bowl. The açaí is 100% pure and wild-harvested and blended with organic fruit to create a nutty, slightly sweet flavor that tastes amazing when topped with Purely Elizabeth granola and fresh fruit. The Fall seasonal bowl ($11.50) consists of a pumpkin spice base topped with figs, pumpkin seeds, granola and granola butter. If you need a delicious reminder that it’s Fall, this is it.
In addition to smoothie bowls and cold-pressed juices, Whole Sol also offers hot bowls and toasts to warm you up on a cold day. The hot bowls are great any time of day and include options like the power greens ($10.50) with shredded kale, sauerkraut, two poached eggs, hemp seeds, dijon dressing and avocado and the vegan tofu scramble ($10.50) with sautéed tofu, kale, tomatoes, mushrooms, shallots and cabbage. The toasts make for a great breakfast or lunch with options like white truffle avocado ($9) and bruschetta pesto ($8) — all served on gluten-free bread. The new Sloan’s Lake location also has a few exclusive items including the Super Juice — an immunity boosting, cold-pressed juice packed with Vitamin C, minerals and antioxidants — and also serves coffee from Boulder’s Ozo Coffee. Every Wednesday, Whole Sol offers one menu item for $5 that changes weekly. Look out for a few new menu items coming soon including a vegan burrito, a harvest salad and Whole Sol’s take on huevos rancheros with a red and a green sauce.
In addition to their passion for serving nutritious food, Dumontet and Squillaro are passionate about working with local partners and artists when they can. The new location includes a living plant wall from Denver’s Living Decor Store that gives a fresh, airy feeling to the space. One of the walls is painted in pink ombre — a signature style for Boulder artist Pamela Grace from Coloured Paint — and the back wall is adorned with the fitting phrase, “Life’s short. Lick the bowl” to remind you that it’s okay to get every last drop of your smoothie.
Whole Sol is hosting a grand opening party on Saturday, October 31 — dubbed “Whole Soloween” — with outdoor fitness classes and pop-ups from local vendors. The fitness studios hosting classes are Row House, Duality Fit and Live Fit Forever Well. Functional Recovery & Enhancement will provide sauna treatments, hyperbaric oxygen treatments and vitamin IVs and the Living Decor Store will have a pop-up with plants for sale. The Fall seasonal smoothie bowl will also be on sale for just $5.
Whether you’re looking for something healthy after a jog around Sloan’s Lake or a meal prior to seeing a movie at the nearby Alamo Drafthouse, Whole Sol has you covered any time of day.
Whole Sol is located at 1611 Raleigh St, Denver. Open daily 6 a.m. – 7 p.m.