Aaron Gordon, founder of the small Tangysweet chain, has signed a lease in the forthcoming Clarendon Center for a gourmet salads and sandwiches shop. Called Rabbit, the operation won’t be like anything you’ve already experienced, Gordon promises, whether a Panera or Chop’t or some other overworked concept.

“It’s very different from what you’ve seen at Chop’t and Sweetgreen,” Gordon says. For starters, the entree salads and sandwiches will be chef-driven and chef-composed.  Secondly, yogurt will be only a small part of the business model. Thirdly, Rabbit will not be some glorified cafeteria; it will offer beer and wine, and provide a setting that you might find suitable for a night out or a date.

What’s more, Gordon says, Rabbit will also be focused on speed. Hence it’s slogan: Slow Food Fast.

The name itself is Gordon’s attempt to, essentially, recontextualize the term “rabbit food,” which has been been forever linked to prissy, health-nut vegetarian eating. Gordon wants to help make the term hip, perhaps for the first time.

After all, he says, “healthy foods have become part of everyone’s life.”

Look for Rabbit to open in March or April, depending on the Clarendon Center’s construction schedule. So far, Gordon says, he hasn’t even been given a set of keys.

Photo courtesy of Saul Centers