Cori Zastera, left, and her husband Jason, stand in front of the Ritual Salad location at 1802 W. Superior St. in Lincoln Park. The new restaurant is scheduled to open in October. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).

A new fast-casual restaurant featuring healthy salads and soups is in the works for Lincoln Park as the booming Duluth neighborhood sees redevelopment push east along Superior Street toward Garfield Avenue.

Ritual Salad will take over the corner office building of the former Dinehery Fence and Ironworks site at 1802 W. Superior St. According to St. Louis County Records, ALN Properties LLC of Hermantown purchased the property, which includes a large warehouse off Michigan Street, for $350,000 this spring.

Ritual Salad owner Cori Zastera said she will lease the space, remodel it and launch her first restaurant this fall. In addition to serving good food, Zastera said her establishment will also be good for the soul, as the restaurant will feature a spiritual theme based on the mystical, meta-physical world.

“In the perfect world Halloween weekend will be my grand opening,” said Zastera, as she and her husband Jason installed a temporary sign on the busy street corner. “I’ll start soft openings at the beginning of October but Halloween is my Christmas, so I really want it to be Halloween weekend.”

New Ritual Salad T-shirts will be for sale in restaurant’s meta-physical gift shop.

Ritual Salad will offer specialty-made, seasonal salads with customers choosing from some 30 different toppings including proteins and dressings. The salads will feature fresh, locally-sourced greens and vegetables with plenty of gluten-free options. In the winter months, soups will be added to the offerings.

Zastera said a liquor license is also in the works. “We all know a good chardonnay goes with a really good salad,” she said.

The small 8-seat restaurant will include a meta-physical gift shop selling T-shirts, candles, books, jewelry, crystals and apothecary items. Construction is underway to add year-round outdoor seating with fire pits, warming stations and side gardens.

“I want it to feel like somebody’s house,” she said. “It will be cozy.”

Zastera was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario and came to Duluth as a student, graduating from the College of St. Scholastica in 2012. She worked as a registered nurse, but burned out in the hospital environment and returned to her first love, restaurants. Zastera has worked in the hospitality industry for 20 years, including a stint at OMC Smokehouse in Lincoln Park where she served as a manager for a year.

“Cooking is my passion,” she said. “Everything will be made with love.”

Building owner Alan Nelson said the new restaurant continues Lincoln Park business expansion along West Superior Street. He plans to renovate a second, larger building on the former Dinehery Fence property this fall. The 2,500-square-foot pole building, constructed in 1988 and fronting Michigan Street, will see new windows and structural improvements, he said. The property can be modified to accommodate just about any new business plan.

Property owner Alan Nelson plans to remodel the former Dinehery Fence warehouse and workshop. Officials said the space is waiting for the right tenant with the right idea for the location.

“I’m thinking it will be some type of food place too,” said Nelson. “Maybe a food hall or a market.”

Nelson redeveloped the old Furniture for Less building on the corner of Superior Street and 19th Avenue West in 2020, creating a new commercial and residential property called Enger Lofts. He also recently purchased the former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. and plans to lease the 4,000-square-foot main floor.

Alan Nelson, who redeveloped Enger Lofts at 1832 W. Superior in Lincoln Park, has purchased the former Riverside Flooring building, also in the 1800 block of West Superior Street. The main floor of the building is available for lease.

Nelson said Lincoln Park has changed dramatically in the past five to 10 years as redevelopment has established a good mix of bars, restaurants, retail and residential properties. He said the neighborhood has been boosted by both local residents and out-of-town visitors.

“There’s a lot of tourists down here now,” he said. “It’s kind of becoming the next Canal Park.”

According to its website, Dinehery Fence was established in 1981 and provides the area with a variety of fencing and iron works products, installation and service. Calls to its office were not returned.