Taste of the Town: Experience the "earthly life" at Vale Food Co
MIAMI - It's all about living an "earthly life" at Vale Food Co at Mary Brickell Village.
It is a high-quality, fast-casual, affordable, healthy restaurant concept.
Vale Food Co is the 7th location for the Florida home-grown business that started in 2016 in Tallahasse, then Gainesville, and now throughout the state.
Founder and CEO Sunny Ilyas said Vale Food Co is about getting food that's good for you out to the local communities.
"We want to make sure we can impact communities all around Florida to bring our healthy food options to that city and see what we can do to really energize that community," said Ilyas.
"We will show them when Vale is opening a community we're not just opening to make money, but we're hoping to be a part of the community" he added.
The 3000-square-foot restaurant with dining inside and out features clean and modern designs with an emphasis on being as green as possible.
The interiors highlight reclaimed woods.
All of the food containers are bio-degradable and all of the food is made fresh daily which includes vegan, and gluten-free items.
Ilyas says nutrition is the backbone of Vale.
"When you come and eat at Vail you are going to leave energized and that's one of the things, I always tell people," he said. "Notice how you feel when you leave Vale. You feel stable energy levels when you leave our restaurant because we put high-quality nutrition into it."
The menu is divided into a cold "superfood" station and a hot food station along with a selection of bakery items, and a full healthy beverage program.
CBS4's Lisa Petrillo and Illyas begin their tasting with the Spicy Tuna Poke Bowl with edamame, diced avocado, spicy Ahi tuna, and sesame seeds.
"It's so light, yet it's hardy and refreshing. The tuna is super fresh, the avocado is perfectly ripe, it's got so many textures and flavors. I'm all about this bowl," said Petrillo.
Next, the Out Of This World Bowl with cilantro lime brown rice, buffalo cauliflower, ancho pulled chicken, with chipotle ranch dressing.
"It's the perfect amount of spices and flavors in a hug of a bowl. It's got a lot of flavors and you know that it's healthy, but it's also just good food," said Petrillo.
They sampled the creamy and cold Acai Bowl while eyeing those freshly baked items like the Dark Chocolate Turtle and Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwich.
They ended with the thin sliced gluten-free (Swedish style) Avocado Toast topped with salt and pepper and red chili pepper flakes.
"It's nice and you don't have to feel that you just scarfed down a huge piece of bread," said Ilyas.
"It's breakfast, lunch, or dinner anything in between and then the pepper flakes really give it a nice little kick. It's super light and really interesting," said Petrillo.
Vale Food Co, where living an "earthly life", is only a taste away.
The restaurant is open 9 AM to 11 PM every day.
For more information, visit their website here.
