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Jardin
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As dining destinations go, the Distillery Historic District leaves little to be desired. Its slew of restaurants and cafés, bakeries and specialty food shops sate cravings for Mexican cuisine and French, for pizza, locally-brewed beer, golden-crusted pies and now, with the opening of Jardin Kitchen + Juice Bar, for fresh gluten-free foods. A place where gluten is verboten but flavour reigns, Jardin is for diners craving the type of wholesome sustenance that never leads to regrets.
With a name and look that evoke a bucolic utopia, Jardin Kitchen + Juice Bar fits seamlessly into The Distillery Historic District’s carefully designed food program. The nutrient-packed yin to the area’s surfeit of indulgent yang, it’s the type of sunlit spot that wouldn’t feel out of place in Calabasas, California.
“We’re an entirely gluten-free restaurant focusing on healthy dishes, everything fresh,” explains executive chef Esau Garcia. “We try to do everything from scratch,” he adds, explaining that one of the few things the team outsources is sourdough and sandwich bread, which it buys locally from Cock-A-Doodle-Doo Gluten-Free Bakeshop.
“We want to capture the gluten-free and the non-gluten-free audience.” The team’s goal, he adds, is to help customers “understand that gluten-free food isn’t boring or tasteless.” To wit, the menu flaunts a kaleidoscopic array of fresh-pressed juices and smoothies, fetching sandwiches, zippy salads and bowls layered with sundry sweet or savoury ingredients.
There are also specialty coffees (made from Propeller beans) to pair with chocolate cake, chocolate chunk cookies, protein balls and more along with hearty brunch items that can easily ward off hunger for hours.
The menu, says Garcia, reflects his Mexican heritage and the years he spent in California and Australia, where the Japanese influence was impossible to ignore. Here, miso and tamari nudge Umami Avo Toast beyond its familiar frame and a juicy Piña Colada Smoothie Bowl transports diners to the azure waters of the Caribbean Sea. The true challenge, he explains, came in creating a space entirely untouched by gluten.
Beyond not allowing gluten through the doors (no, you can’t bring your pizza from neighbouring District Pizza into Jardin), the team scrutinizes recipes and ingredients, carefully selecting safe options from suppliers and researching every single item coming into its kitchen.
Visit first thing, and you’ll be drawn to vibrant juices, like the ruby-hued Beet Citrus Zing and B-Green, a verdant elixir that gives the impression of having wellness-inducing powers in every drop.
Sippers that double as meals (even desserts), chef’s smoothies range from an innocent-sounding Green Sensation to the naughtier PB & J and Choco Zen. Indulge, knowing the more decadent options rely on nothing more than nut butters, dates and maple syrup for their crave-sating profile.
Easily carried to meetings or snacked on in the chummy space, bowls are solid options crammed with tasty ingredients. Gluten-free and vegetarian to boot, chef’s Chickpea Bowl marries a base of mixed leaves and quinoa tabbouleh with red pepper hummus, avocado, hard-boiled egg, spiced chickpeas, tahini dressing and a fluffy crown of fresh alfalfa sprouts. With no two bites quite alike, it makes for an endlessly intriguing lunch or light dinner.
Gloriously silken fish meets brown rice, greens, seaweed and sriracha aioli in a Salmon Poke Bowl that brims with colour, texture and flavour. Another high-protein hit, Chicken Salad benefits from a velvety cloak of avocado dressing, and a surfeit of garden-ripe veg.
A dish easily shared between two, Shakshuka is warming and gently spiced, with brown rice giving eggs a snug spot to nestle, and diners a more substantial take than usual on the crowd favourite.
A place that hums with tourists year-round (and lures loads of locals, especially when its famed Winter Village is in season), the Distillery Historic District is rife with food offerings that appeal to a variety of tastes. In Jardin Kitchen + Juice Bar, it now has a spot tailor-made for anyone who can't, or doesn't want, to ingest gluten. Its menu packed with handcrafted, invigorating bites, they won't be the only ones clamouring for a taste.
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