Back in the early fall, the Big Carrot closed their café for renovations, with big projections for a completely redesigned area, with an expanded menu. Since my family frequents the Big Carrot for grocery shopping, I have been excited about the renovation for a very long time now (Sorry to the Big Carrot front desk – I called around once a week from the beginning of December to a couple of weeks ago :).
The new and revamped kitchen/cafe opened a few weeks ago, but I didn’t have the chance to go until this past weekend. As we would all expect from The Big Carrot, everything is organic unless marked otherwise, and that’s only when it’s sea salt, raw honey or something else that isn’t certifiable. As far as I am aware, only Live and Doug McNish have such commitments in Toronto restaurants to organic!
The greatest part about The Big Carrot’s new kitchen is that you can grab a meal before shopping, during shopping, or after to take home. Their menu really does offer something for everyone. You can grab and go from their fridge, from the bakery display, make your own salad from their all-organic salad bar, or order sandwiches, burritos, salads and tacos! Everything that you order at their counter is customizable, so you can avoid ingredients you dislike or choose not to eat, or add your favourite ingredients as extras!
Even though I had just had one of Chocosol’s delicious tamales at the Brickworks farmers’ market, I walked into the Big Carrot and couldn’t resist ordering something right away, it’s a pretty inviting area with a great menu. I opted to get one of the custom bowls from their Taqueria. Now, if you know me, you know that I love putting a little bit of everything into my food. I started off my bowl (actually made in a compostable takeaway box) with a bed of brown rice, then quickly added spicy tofu chorizo, refried pinto beans, and chimichurri sauce. When I was asked if I wanted any other sauces, I thought about it for a moment, before telling the Big Carrot team member that I would have a little bit of every sauce – there were 3 others; a chipotle sauce, an avocado sauce and a pico de gallo – All were delicious! You can see below in my photo of the “build your own” how you can combine many things to make your ultimate organic dish.
When I sat down to eat my bowl at their counter near the exit of the store, my mom was skeptical of whether I was going to be able to eat it all as it was quite large, but I managed very well with a smile – it was awesmazing!
Next time I go back to the Big Carrot, I will definitely try one of their sandwiches or their organic salad bar – there are so many different combinations that I can make!
If you ever happen to be in the area, or if you are hungry for a quick, organic, and creative meal, be sure to check out the Big Carrot’s new kitchen, I would say it’s one of the best fast food places in the city, and hopefully inspires others to serve better food in a better way! We all benefit from that!
