Food & Drink: Real food remains Mighty Bowl’s mission

“We want to bring up the food game,” he said. “Food matters so much to our quality of lives. It matters to our health long term. I just think that we have minimized food and food culture in our lives, and we want to put better quality food on stage and make that the forefront of our lives.”

Valenta’s seriousness about serving real food doesn’t translate into a boring dining experience. The new space features something a bit different that Valenta has seen in New York and Los Angeles — bleacher seating.

“Bleachers are kind of a funky, fun thing,” he said. “We thought Vancouver needed a set of bleachers in a restaurant and so we did it.”

Tables and stools at the smoothie/juice bar and window are available to those seeking a more conventional dining experience.

The menu also features some new twists.

For starters, you can now get breakfast — smoothies, juice, smoothie bowls and avocado toast — from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the blue tile ringed smoothie/juice bar.

Bowls, salads, and burritos (and breakfast items) are served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are two lines — if you don’t know which line to use, just ask for help.

On my first visit, I had the coconut curry bowl and a Be Illin’ juice (celery, cucumber, apple, kale, lemon, ginger, spinach). The coconut curry was luscious with a dash of spiciness. The vegetables were cooked just right, succulent with a bit of bite left in them. The Be Illin’ juice was refreshing with a nice zestiness from the fresh ginger.

Another time, I tried the avocado toast and the kale caesar. The avocado toast was judiciously sprinkled with chopped scallions, red pepper flakes, sea salt pepper and lime juice. The kale caesar was unbelievably good. The kale was crispy and crinkly, coated with creamy, garlic-y and lemon-y dressing. On my next visit, I plan on trying the cashew broccoli bowl (with housemade cashew cream) and checking out the bleacher seating.

The prices are higher than Mighty Bowl’s food truck prices. Steve explained that prices haven’t been raised in two years (despite increases in cost) and he isn’t interested in joining, “the race to the bottom,” by using cheaper frozen or processed foods.

The next steps for The Mighty Bowl are dinner and weekend service, as well as group orders and catering. Their food truck will still roam the streets, but with less of a downtown presence in order to reach other parts of the county, bringing “real food” packed with flavor.

Rachel Pinsky can be emailed at couveeats@gmail.com. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @couveeats.