Newton couple caters to the raw food crowd with Prana Cafe

Chocolate pudding. Cinnamon mini-muffins. Cream of mushroom soup. Nachos.

All this tempting food is featured on the menu at the new Prana Cafe in Newton Corner. But there's a twist.

It's all raw.

A Newton husband and wife started a restaurant that serves raw, organic and vegan foods. It is several doors down from Prana Power Yoga, a yoga studio they have owned for the last seven years.

Taylor and Philippe Wells opened The Prana Cafe, at 292 Centre St., earlier this month. The restaurant includes a wide variety of foods, such as pizza with spicy cilantro pesto, nut cheese and marinated peppers; warm coconut and almond porridge; and chocolate cake with creme anglaise.

The word Prana means life force in Sanskrit.

For the Wellses, engaging in yoga and eating raw and organic food are two important ways to feel invigorated and healthy.

They said they look and feel better than they did before they restricted their diet to uncooked and unprocessed foods.

"We both have definitely gotten younger in five years," said Taylor Wells, 43, noting her and her husband's skin has gotten smoother, they've lost weight, and they are able to sleep two hours less a night.

Uncooked food has many more nutrients than cooked food, the Wellses said, and unlike cooked food, it contains enzymes that help with digestion. The Wellses eat only vegan products, or products that have not come from animals, for spiritual reasons.

According to the couple, there are just two other raw restaurants in Greater Boston - Grezzo in the North End and Rawbert's Organic Garden Cafe in Beverly.

"Quite honestly, we had no place to go out to eat," Taylor Wells said.

The Wellses feel their restaurant fills a demand in this part of greater Boston. And for those who have not yet tried food that is raw, vegan and organic, it is an opportunity for them to see what it's about, they said.

They could start by trying some ice cream. The restaurant's vanilla ice cream, for example, contains coconut, cashews, agave nectar, Madagascar vanilla bean and water from coconut flesh.

Other relatively simple dishes include cinnamon mini-muffins, homemade granola and cream of mushroom soup. People can start by eating raw a little at a time, said Philippe Wells, 40.

"We're not dogmatic about the raw aspect of it," he said.

Menu categories include snacks, soups, salads, sandwiches, smoothies, desserts, to-go items and special dishes for children.

The restaurant also caters to children by having a play area. It's a little cove that includes a tea set, beanbag chairs and toys.

"We think about it as 'How can we provide a service to people,"' Taylor Wells said, noting the area was inspired by the play area at the Full Moon restaurant in Cambridge.

The space will eventually have kid-friendly movies, too, said the Wellses, who have three children who all do yoga and eat raw and vegan.

The Wellses began renting 292 Centre St. earlier this year, after they learned that Barsam Rug Center was going out of business at that location.

"I said 'The Prana Cafe, it's here,"' said Philippe Wells, of his reaction to seeing that the rug store was closing.

The couple completely renovated the inside, which now has green walls, bamboo floors and a countertop made of recycled glass.

Employees of nearby businesses have recently expressed interest in the space's future, said Sarah Livesey, the Prana Cafe's front manager.

"They're like 'Hey, what's going on in here?"' she said.

The Wellses anticipate that those professionals will make up a significant portion of their client base, as well as people needing some food and drink after a tough workout at Prana Power Yoga several doors down.

Emily Guadagnoli, a 28-year-old Newton Corner resident who does yoga at Prana Power Yoga, said she intends to stop by the restaurant on a regular basis.

She has been incorporating more and more raw foods into her diet, and they make her feel great.

"I'm so excited to have something in our neighborhood that's really accessible," she said. "The prices look really reasonable, and there's a huge selection."

For now, the restaurant is open every day of the week but Tuesday. Hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. In coming months, the restaurant will also be open on Tuesdays, and hours will extend to 9:30 p.m.

The Wellses hope to eventually sell some of their products on the Internet, and open up Prana Cafes near yoga studios they own in Cambridge and Winchester.

The couple also owns a yoga studio in New York City.

"We're always living our dreams," Taylor Wells said.