Rush Bowls is located less than a ten-minute walk from campus, tucked into a modest brick storefront. The smoothie bowls, on the other hand, are anything but modest. Rush Bowls serves 20 colorful varieties of smoothie bowls with an array of customizable toppings—including freshly ground peanut butter—and several optional supplements to boost your breakfast.
Rush Bowls was founded in Boulder, Colorado and has students at the heart and soul of the business model—its first location was right next to a college campus. The owners opened the Berkeley location in Spring 2018 because they understand the need for students to have access to natural, fresh and affordable meal options. When it comes to breakfast, many of us rush to class and struggle to find quick, healthy breakfast bites that provide energy and make us feel good.
Beyond the health-conscious menu, what makes Rush Bowls special is flavors you can't find anywhere else. You might think you're looking at a decadent dessert menu when you see bowls with names like Apple Pie (à la mode) or Peach Cobbler. If you're craving something more savory, you might try the Spicy Bowl with cayenne pepper. Your pup can even enjoy the Bow Wow Bow—it’s got peanut butter, fat-free frozen yogurt and it's topped with a milk bone!
Chai's Mystique
My personal favorite is the signature Chai's Mystique. It has banana, almonds, cinnamon, honey, chai, fat-free frozen yogurt, and your choice of milk, all blended together to creamy perfection and topped with organic granola, honey, and cinnamon. This bowl stands apart from other smoothie bowls for creating a flavor profile that's centered around spices rather than fruit. It's the perfect cozy option for a cold winter morning. Rush Bowls allows you to choose one free fruit topping, so I added shaved coconut—a flavor pairing I highly recommend.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Bowl
Another unique option is The Peanut Butter and Jelly bowl—a must-have remix of your childhood favorite. Banana, strawberry, peanut butter, fat-free frozen yogurt, and your choice of milk form a smooth base for the toppings of organic granola, jelly drizzle, and a generous dollop of house-made peanut butter. I added sliced banana as my free topping, and it made the other flavors pop.
My favorite part about this bowl was the peanut butter. It was thick, sticky, and the perfect balance between creamy and crunchy. Far from gimmicky, freshly ground peanut butter has a distinctive nuttiness that is hard to find in packaged varieties and really puts this bowl over the top.
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bowl
The Chocolate Covered Strawberry bowl tastes just like—well—a chocolate covered strawberry. Like the popular dessert, it's both rich and fresh—sweet, but not too sweet. The base consists of strawberry, banana, chocolate, fat-free frozen yogurt, and your choice of milk, topped with organic granola and a swirl of chocolate. Adding sliced strawberries on top is an absolute must to get the full chocolate covered strawberry effect.
The bowls come in one size and are perfect for breakfast—large enough to fill you up and energize you all morning, but not so large that you'll feel overstuffed. With protein, whole grains, nuts, and fresh fruit, these bowls make for a complete meal and are bound to make you feel as great as they taste. Not to mention that the additional supplement options cater to a wide range of nutritional needs.
With an array of smoothie bowls and almost as many drinkable smoothies, Rush Bowls is bound to have a flavor for you that hits the spot. The customizable toppings and supplements add to your options, making for a menu that never gets boring. Prefer to enjoy smoothie bowls in bed? Give Rush Bowls a rain check and try these Spoon-approved recipes you can make at home.