Edgemont Village eateries have made these pages two weeks in a row, three times in the last six months.
The Village seems to be on an upward trend, at least from the perspective of new openings. I have been waffling about visiting the florist that also serves soup as the combination seems so unlikely, but there is certainly no shortage of other unique places to eat along the roughly four-by-three block strip that comprises this part of North Van: La Galleria, BjornBar, The Meatery, Canyon, Delaney’s, Caffe Artigiano, Nicli Antica, and now, another recent addition, Be Fresh Market.
I was perplexed when The Juicery shut its Edgemont location doors last year as the place seemed busy enough whenever I visited and there is a reliable contingent of lycra-clad Grouse Grinders and road cyclists to support that sort of healthy offering in the Village.
Be Fresh is apparently keen to pick up that mantle (not in the same location, mind) and has launched an Edgemont Boulevard venue with a ready-made meal model that I tried out this past weekend.
Be Fresh markets and cafes are the bricks and mortar offshoots of SPUD, the online grocery and delivery business that cultivates relationships with local growers, producers, and suppliers and emphasizes healthy and organic eating. Indeed, anyone who uses the SPUD service with any frequency will recognize the lineup of seasonal fruits, vegetables, snacks and sundries that line the shelves of the outlet in Edgemont. This latter location of Be Fresh is a market, so no food prep takes place on premise and there is no dine-in option. However, the shop stocks ready-made meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner and, relative to the portions and diversity of ingredients, the fare represents good value for your money.
Be Fresh stocks some interesting products from suppliers that make headlines in their own right, like bone broths from Two Rivers Meats, or vegan burger patties from Beyond Meat. The emphasis of all products stocked here seems to be some combination of local, organic, ethical and responsible, or craft-made. The website advertises that 70 per cent of produce sold is organic, all meat products are free of antibiotics, and all dressings, sauces, soups, and spreads are made from scratch in house at the centralized East Vancouver prep kitchen.
I chose a broad overview of pre-made meals to get a sense of the Be Fresh culinary approach. I was pleased to see that meals were packaged in containers made of compostable cardboard or recycled plastic, something that has, to my surprise, still not caught on as a mainstream practice for takeout meals.
Among my lunch items was a Rainbow Vegetable Wrap, a weighty vegetarian wrap filled with quinoa, cabbage, carrot, onion, cucumber, celery, bell peppers, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, hummus, and sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. The hummus was regrettably a bit sparsely applied in the wrap, leaving my wife DJ, the wrap’s recipient, missing a softer, creamier textural component. My son, The Boy, tried the Pulled Pork Wrap, an equally dense wrap with smoky barbecue mayo and spinach, brown rice, cabbage, carrot, red peppers, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, green onion, and cilantro.
For my taste, pulled pork is better warm, so I struggled a bit with the textures of the cold sandwich, but The Boy was a fan overall, his only mild balks were at the significant cabbage content and the crunchier-than-al-dente texture of the brown rice. I chose Vietnamese Salad with chicken for my lunch and enjoyed the fragrant star anise flavour of the chicken’s seasoning, as well as the tangy, sesame-lifted vinaigrette that nicely coated the accompanying glass noodles. Here too, however, cabbage was a prominent (if not dominant) player, prompting me to look at the nutritional values listed on the labels applied to each of the dishes.
We were all surprised to learn that these righteous-feeling meals, each of which was within the 450 - 570 calories range, contained significant portions of the daily recommended intake for certain nutrients about which one ought to be cautious. DJ’s vegetarian sandwich, for instance, contained 47 per cent of the daily recommended sodium value and 21 per cent of recommended fat. The Boy’s wrap had a whopping 60 per cent of the recommended daily sodium intake and my salad 48 per cent of the same, as well as 47 per cent of the fat intake.
Interestingly, on the whole our dinner entrees seemed better balanced nutritionally and were the winning dishes of our sampling on the taste front as well. Entrees, packaged as dinners for two or four, were well portioned. We selected dinners for two, which were attractively priced at $19, especially considering they came with sizeable side salads.
DJ’s vegetarian Thai Red Curry with Tofu boasted bold and balanced flavours of lime leaf, garlic, coconut milk, and chillies, served with brown rice and a tasty side of cauliflower and onions. The Boy and I shared the Healthy Meat Loaf entrée served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables that included potato, squash, carrots, and zucchini. The meatloaf was exceptionally lean but retained a welcome succulence and exhibited thoughtful, balanced spicing. A drizzle of tangy tomato sauce gave it a flavour boost and worked well with the skin-on mashed potato, the star of the plate with its deep, heady garlic notes.
I thoroughly enjoyed a handful of Be Fresh Granola that I added to my yogurt this morning for breakfast. The 450 gram bag, which contains gluten free oats, dried cranberries, raisins, roasted pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, sunflower seeds, and shredded coconut, was priced at $9, which I think is very reasonable given the high cost of commercial granolas in similar sized packages at the grocery store.
SPUD customers can pick up their online orders at Be Fresh. Weekly produce boxes of curated, fresh organic fruits and vegetables are available for $31 to customers who sign up for the program.
Be Fresh, 3183 Edgemont Boulevard. Befresh.ca. 604-770-3335.
