After moving back to Naples, Kylee Brinkman, owner of The Bowl, discovered that what she and her husband were missing was something they had been accustomed to while living in California and traveling in Hawaii—the clean, healthy eating options readily available on the majority of Golden State’s café, restaurant, juice bar and deli menus. Brinkman, a yoga instructor, rose to the challenge of filling the Naples gap by experimenting with different fruit blends and creating her signature fruit bowls with recipes that have the antioxidant-rich acai berry as their base.

Brinkman’s business, which spent its infancy in a small commissary at InnerG Health Fuel, on U.S. 41, later expanded to farmers’ markets throughout Naples and eventually grew into a storefront in Magnolia Square at the corner of Pine Ridge and Goodlette roads. Open seven days a week, The Bowl offers eight bowl varieties made on the premises from all organic and locally sourced ingredients that Brinkman selects for their quality, rather than price.  

While the majority of Brinkman’s bowls are made with a base of acai berries, she also offers the Islamorada and the Beach, made with pitaya. Also known as dragonfruit, these bowls are made with blended, nut-based milks or fruit juices, nut butters and other fruits to form a puree. Each bowl is lined with granola and generous amounts of the puree that is then topped with a selection of sliced fruits and other sweet treats.

The Barefoot Bodie Bowl, named after Brinkman’s young son, is a blend of acai, strawberries, blueberries, banana, peanut butter and hemp milk, topped with granola, freshly sliced strawberries and bananas, unsweetened coconut shreds and drizzled raw honey supplied by local honey purveyor, the Lee Queen Bee.

The AB&J bowl is a version of everyone’s childhood favorite. The blend of pulverized, frozen acai berries, blueberries, strawberries, banana, almond butter and almond milk is a customer favorite, topped with granola, hemp hearts, unsweetened coconut shreds, drizzled local raw honey, freshly sliced bananas and whole blueberries.

Chocolate lovers go for the Cacao Bowl. The blend of raw chocolate, acai, banana, cacao and coconut milk is topped with sliced strawberries, almond slivers and cocoa nibs. It is dressed with granola, coconut shreds and drizzled raw honey.

Other popular bowls are the Key West with Acai, made with pineapple, mango, banana and coconut milk; the Green Tide, with acai, strawberries, banana, spirulina and apple juice; and the Berry+Green with acai, blueberries, strawberries, spinach and apple juice. All three include toppings and drizzled honey.

Served in small and large sizes, the bowls are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner—but not the only items on the menu—The Bowl offers different flavors of 221BC Kombucha, made in Sarasota. This sparkling, fermented tea is known for its probiotics and enzymes. Cold-Brewed Black Tulip Coffee (a Naples-based company), as well as smoothies in seven different flavors are also on tap.

“We don't use any fillers in our bowls. This means no ice. Bowls are 100 percent whole food ingredients with a small amount liquid that has no added sugar. Our customers get a thick consistency and a delicious meal in a bowl. The only notable difference between a meal in a bowl and a blended smoothie is the granola and toppings,” enthuses Brinkman.

Limited bowl varieties can also be purchased Saturday mornings at the Third Street South Farmers’ Market, located at 245 13th Avenue South. In the fall, Brinkman plans to open a second location at 1200 Central Avenue in Naples.

The Bowl is located at 1427 Pine Ridge Rd., in Naples. For more information call 239-734-3867 or visit The-Bowl.com.