The Keto Kitchen expands from new downtown Cedar Rapids base

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Keto Kitchen’s new location in Cedar Rapids shows diners they can have their cake and eat it, too.

But after the brownie a la mode, cheesecake and fat bombs, the menu doesn’t stop with dessert.

“We’re the only restaurant that tells you to eat less food,” said Mo Nasraddin, owner of The Keto Kitchen in downtown Cedar Rapids. “It isn’t just about selling food.”

After a ketogenic diet changed his life, he set out to share the food he ate with everyone he could. When feeding everyone at his home after work became unfeasible, he opened The Keto Kitchen on East Washington Street in downtown Iowa City in late 2020.

But two years later, his move to Cedar Rapids is repositioning the lifestyle restaurant for a bigger footprint. After closing the Iowa City site and moving to The Keto Kitchen at 210 Third Ave. SE, which he opened in January, he’s working to expand the restaurant’s presence through new programming.

Before losing 140 pounds on a ketogenic diet, Nasraddin tried everything possible to lose the weight, to no avail. The Sudanese immigrant struggled with his weight for most of his life, and his father died from kidney failure after struggling with his weight and Type 2 diabetes.

After conquering his health, he knew how hard it was to know how to cook at home and eat a meal out while staying healthy and keeping the body in ketosis. Now, he hopes The Keto Kitchen makes the life-changing lifestyle accessible.

“No matter what I did, I couldn’t lose the weight. There are millions of other Americans that feel like that, we and they are just told it’s their fault — they don’t work out enough, they don’t run enough, they don’t eat enough vegetables,” Nasraddin said. “That’s what I was told as a kid — it was my fault.”

Now, he believes it was just a lack of knowledge. So now, his mission is to bring that knowledge to everyone.

The menu

Since opening its restaurant and meal prep service two years ago, The Keto Kitchen has moved away from it’s a la carte model to a more focused, segmented menu that gives you plenty of carb-friendly options for your main entree, sides and desserts.

Diners will notice that the dishes themselves don’t have much of a learning curve. Big plate options include lasagna, cheeseburger sliders and steak. Broccoli Parmesan and garlic bread are among the sides, and plenty of soups, salads or burrito bowls.

An all-day breakfast includes classics like avocado toast and omelets, and even items some would consider a no-no for diets, like loaded nachos, make an appearance.

“We’re selling a full meal as the idea now,” Nasraddin said. “Before, it was all about the macros.”

Now, diners can pick a plate and know they’re getting a balanced meal with the necessary macro proportions for a keto diet: 5 to 10 percent carbs, 20 to 25 percent protein and about 70 percent fat.

Over time, The Keto Kitchen has broken the mold for ketogenic eating with re-envisioned starchy items that were previously off-limits for those watching their carbohydrates. New items available on the restaurant’s rotating menus for its Live Better meal plan include the simple pleasures that can be hard to recreate in a keto diet, like scones or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Some of these things are never done on keto, and when they are, they’re full of preservatives, Nasraddin said. He credits their ability to break into these items with their passion for it, plenty of research and experimenting with the right ingredients.

It’s all done with one goal in mind: lowering insulin resistance. In addition to keto, the concept also accommodates gluten free, Whole 30, paleo, vegetarian, vegan and other low carbohydrate diets.

“My gimmick isn’t just about selling food,” the owner said. “This is to heal people. Low carbs allows you to lower your body’s insulin response — that really is the whole point of our food. I think it’s a long-term solution.”

More than 133 million Americans are living with diabetes or prediabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Iowa, the CDC estimates that more than 65 percent of the population is overweight.

Since opening his restaurant, Nasraddin said more and more doctors are sending their patients. Customers also have been drawn in from across Iowa and even other states.

Evolving model

In addition to being a strategic home base for his primary customer base between Waterloo to Iowa City, Nasraddin said the new Cedar Rapids location will allow it to continue to build on its Live Better meal delivery program.

Last fall, the owner won the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance’s Race for the Space contest to expand to downtown Cedar Rapids. As the first-place winner, the prize included a $20,000 credit toward architectural design services, build-out support and business education for a new build-out, along with first choice of several available properties downtown.

The program, currently limited for quality control, gives access to healthy meal delivery with a rotating menu for $99 per month. In the coming months, The Keto Kitchen will be completing an Iowa City warehouse to scale up its efforts, with hopes to bring the program to hundreds.

“It changed my life, and I’m watching it change others,” Nasraddin said. “I won’t stop for anything.”

Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com

Owner Mo Nasraddin poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at The Keto Kitchen in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

A sausage breakfast sandwich hot off the griddle on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at The Keto Kitchen in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

Keto Kitchen’s Brussels bowl with garlic bites packs a kick, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at The Keto Kitchen in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

Owner Mo Nasraddin poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at The Keto Kitchen in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)