Edible Canada at the Market recently opened its doors to the public. The 3,500 square foot culinary centre in the heart of Granville Island is home to a vibrant bistro and artisan food retail space. Edible Canada at the Market is dedicated to promoting the best of BC and Canada, reflected in the locally-based menus, wine list, and retail products.
Market-fresh seasonal cuisine determines the menus and fresh sheet – with Chef de Cuisine Jennifer Dodd searching the aisles of next door’s Granville Island Public Market for daily inspiration. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, and while the ingredients are of the highest possible quality, prices are kept reasonable and the dishes accessible.
Signature opening menu items include Duck Fat French Fries with Bacon Aioli, Birch Syrup & Kasu Sablefish, and Gluten Free Fish & Chips. The beverage program is entirely Canadian – from Vancouver’s SIP Soda, to BC boutique wines, Quebecois craft beer, and Nova Scotian single malt whiskey. Edible at the Market is also the only Vancouver site for highly regarded Nichol Vineyard wines on tap. Pinot Gris and Nine Mile are delivered in kegs and tapped to pour through the bar’s draught lines.
The bistro seats 170, including an expansive patio perfectly sited for prime people watching. For those on the go there’s a take out window with a menu of quick and tasty handheld bites, as well as a barista-staffed full-service Salt Spring Coffee bar. Inside is a glassed-in private demonstration dining room, the new site of Edible Canada’s popular Guest Chef Market Dinner Series, and available for private dinners and events. Every facet of the space was designed with sustainability in mind – from the recycled fir table tops, to the beach-scavenged cedar hostess stands (carved by Granville Island artist Clarence Mills). Both the main open kitchen and the demo kitchen are stocked with state of the art equipment.
The sustainable measures extend to the exterior as well, with two electric vehicle plug-in parking stalls, and a patio lined with planter boxes of herbs and vegetables. President and founder Eric Pateman has overseen the operation every single step of the way. Pateman has grown his company from a tiny one-man culinary concierge service into one of the leading ambassadors of Canadian cuisine.
Beginning simply as Edible Vancouver in the spring of 2005, Eric widened his scope beyond city limits with a culinary artisan retail store in the Public Market and expansion to Edible British Columbia. In 2010, only five years after the company was founded, EBC took another big leap and became Edible Canada. Eric’s vision to introduce the public to the very best Canadian culinary artisans was realized.
According to Pateman, “all of the different facets of the company intertwine and work together very well – from the bistro and the retail store sharing the same space, to the guest chefs utilizing products off our shelves in their recipes, to the chef guided market tours, showing guests where the ocean wise fish is coming from that they can order for lunch in our bistro – it’s all very cohesive and fluid. Everything we do reflects our tagline – Sightseeing for your taste buds.
This space is a testament to the hard working producers and farmers within our province, and now with this scope and scale we can bring in products from other provinces and territories as well. Vancouver is a world class culinary destination, and with 12 million people passing through Granville Island annually, let’s show them how incredible Canadian food and wine is.”
Edible Canada is open daily from 9 am to 10 pm and is located at 1596 Johnston Street, across from the Granville Island Public Market.
All images courtesy of Edible Canada at the Market.
