Kittery resident Alissa Cohen is readying to open a raw food restaurant at 75 Congress St., Portsmouth. The projected opening date will be in March or early April.

Though raw foodism is catching on all over the country, Cohen’s new venture will be only raw restaurant between Boston and Portland, Maine.

Cohen promises a large dining area, take-out options, and a sit-down juice and smoothie bar where you can order drinks such as an alcohol-free pomegranate martini with kombucha, a fermented tea that contains healthy bacteria and yeast.   

Cohen has practiced a raw food diet for 19 years. She published a book called “Living on Live Food” three years ago, and travels around the world teaching people about the benefits of a raw lifestyle. Cohen most recently taped an episode of the “Tyra Banks Show” that’s set to air on Jan. 17. With her success as a raw educator and author, Cohen calls the opening of a restaurant inevitable.

“I grew up in the restaurant business,” she says. “It’s in my blood.”  

To qualify as raw, food cannot be cooked over 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Raw foodists are concerned that cooking destroys enzymes, which are necessary for healthy digestion, and makes food more acidic than usual, which can disrupt the pH balance of the body.

Though the menu hasn’t been finalized, the restaurant will offer gourmet meals, appetizers and a tapas bar where customers can order several samples. The head chef is a woman named Jhosie Cheeks, who Cohen met on the set of the “Tyra Banks Show.” Cheeks is leaving her job at a five-star restaurant in California to work with Cohen.

“Portsmouth is such a funky, happening town,” Cohen says. I think people will really embrace this here.”