Good Foods Cafe Restaurant Review

Oh, the holiday season—such a gluttonous time of year. Between large family meals, celebratory drinks with old friends and endless holiday parties, we could all use a health intervention this time of year.

The Good Foods Café inside Good Foods Grocery may seem like your everyday grocer’s counter inside a small natural foods store. A menu of salads, paninis and sandwiches seems typical enough, and the small set of tables and chairs don’t have much aesthetic appeal. But, the remarkably tasty, yet healthful, lunch options are sure to please everyone from meat-eaters to vegans.

Chef Michael King, who has run vegetarian restaurants in town including the popular Grace Place, seems to be the key factor in setting this venture apart from the typical deli. Vegetarians need not settle for the same old mix of lettuce and wimpy vegetables. While good use is made of a variety of colors and local ingredients, King’s flavors pop and eschew any comparison to rabbit food.

The café is a recently revamped venture inside a long-standing local grocer in Henrico’s Gayton Crossing Shopping Center. The deli counter is a bit hidden in the back, but it greets patrons with a display of fresh sides ranging from roasted butternut squash to sweet-and-sour red cabbage with apples, which can be ordered by the pound or as a sampler or side.

Orders are taken at the counter and a loud speaker announcement is made once the order is ready. A few tables are available for dine-in orders, but quite a few to-go orders come in by phone during our lunch visit.

Entrée salads all start with a base of organic salad mix with spring greens, beets, red peppers, zucchini, red cabbage, carrots, kale, celery, cucumbers and scallions. Each of the ingredients is finely shredded and mixed into a colorful and flavorful base.

The Tuscan salad ($8.79) adds a paté of olives, fresh mozzarella, artichokes, roasted red peppers and basil that can be forked up and incorporated into the salad mix. The paté packs a jolt of tangy flavor that meshes well with the crisp mix. We chose the house Good Foods Garden dressing, a thick green dressing that had a nice herbal tinge.

Meat eaters aren’t left out of a menu that is heavy on salads and veggie sandwiches. Chicken or tuna salad can be ordered as part of a wrap or on Montana Gold wheat bread. Paninis pressed with Flour Garden Bakery bread can be ordered with chicken, turkey, ham or veggie options such as a tempeh reuben.

The Milan panini ($8.49) may seem basic on the outside, but with a lightly crispy bread from Flour Garden Bakery holding together the ingredients, this sandwich is anything but ordinary. The chicken is thickly sliced and moist, while the roasted red peppers, grilled onions, fresh mozzarella and basil pesto converge for an Italian treat.

Sandwiches come with a side of veggie chips, but for only a dollar extra, you can choose from the great fresh sides available in the deli case. Our choice of braised Brussels sprouts satisfied, with a mix of leeks, walnuts, olive oil and dill to add a robust flavor to the crisp cabbages.

The Luna paté sandwich ($7.99) is a popular vegan carryover from King’s Grace Place, but satisfies even omnivores like ourselves. A thick spread of garbanzo beans mixed with pureed vegetables, the sandwich spread boasts a hummus-like consistency, with added flavor from the veggies. We enjoyed the soft Montana Gold wheat bread, but the sandwich can alternatively be ordered as a wrap.

An array of organic juices and smoothies can be ordered as well, each made with a fresh blend of fruit juices and spices. With the cold and flu season approaching, the Immunity juice with carrot, celery, lemon, ginger, cayenne and garlic wouldn’t exactly serve as a sweet treat, but gave a quick boost, even if the effects were only psychosomatic.

Currently, the café is only open for weekday lunch hours, but with a location inside a shopping center not particularly convenient to many offices, weekend hours would be a good idea to draw in shoppers for a healthy and hearty lunch.

Don’t let the food-store locale fool you, there is some serious food to be found inside the Good Foods Café. With creative options for the vegetarian and vegan crowd, and tasty choices to please any palate, this lunch spot is sure to satisfy your health-conscious cravings.