Moreover, the restaurant will serve as a center for education, with room for cooking or nutrition classes and a library that encourages customers to grow their own food. Seeds and seedlings will be for sale.

There will also be a spot to sell local produce, some prepped for easier meal-making. They'll be offered with recipe cards with suggested dishes using the ingredient, Ashker said, following the restaurant's mission of empowerment and education.

"We'll have beans and rice, everything you need to make a complete meal here." Plus it will aim to be affordable and draw in everyone from the community, he said.

The restaurant, across the street from Willoughby Insurance, has been three years in the making, Ashker said. "It's taken us a lot longer than we thought," he said. "But the way it's coming out is great, so we're glad."