Considering how meaty most of our COVID-19 takeout guides have been (and we mean both carnivorous and lengthy) we’ve decided to create a short mainly plant-based guide for week 7.
We’re getting close 60 days of quarantining now, and the appearance of some warm weather has us looking forward to some more nourishing and healthy-feeling food, as opposed to the carbs and slow-cooked numbers we’ve been piling over the winter.
Plus, our Very Vegan Guide to Winnipeg remains one of our most-read articles on the website, so it's the perfect time for a takeout-centric version (for an extensive list of takeout and delivery options, please see our fully searchable website here).
Verde Juice Bar – it took moving to Wolseley to discover how truly amazing this place is. It’s the main inspiration for this article, as this past week, we did some salads for takeout that were zestier than a lemon and lime on holiday.
Both the burrito and falafel bowls are bursting with acidity along with tonnes of contrasting textures, which is everything you want in a bowl of food.
The burrito bowl has crunchy radish and fermented purple cabbage, a lively cilantro lime vinaigrette, nice chewy textures from thin ribbons of kale and smatterings of quinoa, while there’s plenty of creaminess byway of a chipotle cashew spread and a line of refried beans. It both looks and tastes like something that is doing your body good.
The falafel bowl too wins on all accounts – the falafel itself is herbaceous and not at all dry, the shots of feta and tahini dressing give it some extra umami, bits of dates provide sweetness, while there’s plenty of mint and flat-leaf parsley in there to add even more herby hits. It’s like they looked at the flavour wheel and made sure every spoke was covered. Lovely stuff.
The 10 oz. organic, cold-pressed juices are also worthy of acclaim, and our fam is currently all about Happy Land (watermelon, cucumber, lime and mint) and Lake Life (which is all things green and not too bitter).
Right now you can get delivery from DoorDash, while you can do pickup to in the store (with just three customers allowed in the space at one time).
We’ve been hitting up this place regularly during COVID and have never left unimpressed – everything is just so damn bright, from the flavours, to the friendly knowledgeable service.
Roughage Eatery – Roughage chef/owners, Jessie Hodel and Candice Tonelete have adapted to COVID-19 regulations with bi-weekly “Isolation Menus,” which feature dishes that are bought frozen but can be reheated. These 100 per cent vegan dishes, which include one-litre soups, a pasta feature, a curry or comfort food feature and lasagna rolls (available gluten-free), have been selling out rather fast, so they are now toying with adding hot dishes for pickup back on the menu.
All orders are available right now only via curbside pickup or delivery.
Black Market Provisions – Chef/owners Angela Farkas and Alana Fiks have rather seamlessly adapted to COVID service life, still rocking out a full menu of delicious things you can bring home to either heat or eat immediately.
While we’re always ready to wax poetic about their vegan ice cream (new fav flavour is the lemon blackberry crumble; holy moly that first bite is criminal), we’re trying to talk more healthy stuff here, so we’ll direct you to soups and salady things. You can’t go wrong with the borsht or Mexican corn chowder (both vegan and gluten-free); the cilantro-lime vinaigrette (also vegan, gluten-free) is a must if you need to dress anything up to taste like you are dining on a Pacific playa (we’ve been using it for slaw, radicchio salad -- the dressing has a touch of sweetness -- and on arugula to top off egg-centric breakfast dishes); while you can even order your Mother’s Day card (and TP) from them right now too.
They are currently doing online ordering for next-day pickup or delivery (closed Sunday to Tuesday).
Here’s that online shop.
Close Company – We were so excited to see Close Co. reopen this past week for takeout, as the menu looks banging, while we’ve missed the food that comes out of Winnipeg’s tiniest kitchen for its tiniest room itself (it holds just eight people, with an additional 10 during patio season).
This new takeout menu features both cook-at-home items (everything comes oven-ready, so you just pop it in there, following the temp instructions, and dinner is served under an hour), along with ready-to-eat ones, with so many great vegetarian and gluten-free choices (and yes, meat and seafood too).
Individual dishes include albacore Crudo with smashed avocado, corn salsa, cured jalapeño and charcoal (a play on a dish normally served on a house-made chip; it's one of the city’s great one-bites), fresh double cream ricotta with cucumber salad and crostini (vegetarian), a Thai salad with green apple, chilled shrimp and spicy peanut lime dressing, mushroom arancini (their regular menu risottos were always top-notch, so this should be great), and chicken thigh kebabs with spicy pineapple and ancho chili.
The take-home dishes, cook kit, and other menu items – including wines, cocktail kits (yes please!), wines and beers, can all be found here.
All items are currently only available via pickup.
