Whole Foods Market North Vancouver Opens

I had a chance to preview the new Whole Foods Market in North Vancouver today which opens to the public on Thursday April 26. This store is 7th for the company in British Columbia and is around 40,000 square feet. The store will also feature the Iron Keel, an eaterie with a full service bar and café. Iron Keel’s cuisine focuses on seasonally inspired tartins, or open faced sandwiches served on toasted terra heritage sourdough levain bread. The bar, which will host a daily happy hour, includes twelve taps that spotlight BC beers, cider, and Brew Dr. Kombucha.

Toured the Allegro Coffee Bar which is exclusive to Whole Foods Market, Allegro Coffee buys and roasts only specialty Arabica beans, which represents the top 10 percent of all the beans produced in the world. From that 10 percent, Allegro only purchases the best tasting beans, which means that Whole Foods Market shoppers get the best in quality and taste, every day. The bar also features a full service juice bar with a variety of freshly made juices, like wheatgrass, green drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, and smoothies using local and organic produce. The menu includes kid-sized smoothies, making it truly a family experience.

The Produce is quite large and features a large selection of organic fruits and vegetables at their peak ripeness, with an emphasis on seasonal selections. Cherries, stone fruit and corn dominate our summer picks, while apples, pears and hard squash will be featured in the fall and winter seasons. Local producers include Harkers, Cawston Cold Storage, OriginO and Linas Garden.

The Dairy department features the usual offerings of milks, as well as yogurts and Tree Island Yogurt from Vancouver Island as well as more brands.

Executive Chef Pacific North West, Ryan

Fresh Meat & Seafood is in the Tide & Terra department, look for fresh Western Canadian beef from Northern British Columbia and Alberta. Other BC producers include McLean Meats, Black Forest Meats, Rossdown Farms, JD Farms and Thomas Reid Farms. Their resident butchers will custom cut a steak or roast, and all their sausages are ground in-house, so customers get the freshest product possible. This market also offers a wide variety of smoked in-house seafood, I tasted their delicious in-house smoked Chilean Sea Bass. Their fishmongers will fillet a whole fish, skin and debone, peel and devein shrimp, and shuck oysters at no extra charge. BC local products include Salt Spring Island Mussels, Fanny Bay Oysters, Nanuk, and West Coast Select.

Their Specialty department includes the world’s finest local and organic artisan cheese, a wide variety of pickles, olives, pates, fresh pastas, and nitrate-free cured meats. A thoughtfully curated selection of locally produced products also includes Paradise Island Cheese, Little Qualicum cheese, Happy Days goad cheese, Kootenay Alpine cheese, Salt Spring Island cheese, Black Forest Meats, Golda’s Pesto and Old Country Pasta. A carefully curated selection of local BC chocolates and confections can also be found, including Thomas Hass and Lisa Lou’s.

Fresh Baked Goods: Pick up some dairy free mochi a first of it’s kind available in a Whole Foods market in BC, priced individually and available in Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry and Salted Caramel. Or try a fresh waffle, made in North Vancouver at Patisserie Labeau and topped in house. We use local products, including BC producer Anita’s Flour, and carry cookies from Le Gateau.

Their is a large hot and cold food bar as well as a taco bar and freshly baked pizza bar which is a star attraction of Whole Foods. Customers will also find the Iron Keel in store bar and eatery with seating for customers to get wine or beer along with some light eats.

The store opens to the public at 9am on Thursday April 26, 2018.

By: Richard Wolak

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