Once upon a time my bus driver got confused and took a bunch of really unhappy commuters on a detour through downtown Denver. As I gazed out the window wondering just how late to work this was going to make me, a sandwich board caught my eye. “BEYOND BURGER!” it shouted at me. Wait, what? I was too slow to catch the name of the restaurant it was in front of, so later that day I walked back to that block (17th and Broadway) and discovered Choice Market, a restaurant/health conscious convenience store!
They have a huge menu, and everything that is vegan is clearly marked. They also stock a ridiculous amount of vegan convenience foods. Here’s just a tiny portion of what they offer:
This is just one of the refrigerated cases, look at all that plant-based goodness!
They also have pre-made salads in another case, you can just grab n’ go (quickly too- they have a self checkout!)…
Annnnnd… CUPCAKES!
They also have 8 different beers on tap- also serve yourself!
And the menu! I’ve only been twice and there’s still plenty left for me to try, like the Beyond Burger (served with vegan cheese, vegan thousand island, and all the usual veggie toppings), the Jackfruit Torta (made with green chile marinated jackfruit, vegan mozzarella, refried black beans, avocado and vegan mayo), and the Breakfast Burrito (stuffed with tofu scramble, vegan green chile, roasted potato, refried black beans and vegan mozzarella), just to name a few.
The first time I popped in alone, and went with the Beet Reuben, a delicious combination of corned beets, vegan mozzarella, sauerkraut and vegan thousand island on rye bread:
The bread was toasted and omg why haven’t I ever combined beets and thousand island before? This is definitely my favorite item on their menu thus far. I also ordered a side of the Vegan Green Chile Mac N Cheese, which is made with cavatappi pasta (my fave!), and a green chile sauce. Their online menu only shows the regular version, but when you’re in the store the menu on the wall has a vegan version.
The sandwich by itself really filled me up and I didn’t touch the mac n’ cheese until lunch the next day, so I definitely over ordered. The good thing though is that all their food is wrapped up to-go, so it worked out. I didn’t love the mac n’ cheese as much as I had hoped. The green chile was very flavorful but I found the cheese sauce a bit bland. It definitely needed more salt.
The second time I went, my friend Cynthia came with. I had told her about this place and she was just as excited to eat there as I was.
This time around, I chose the Tofu Bibimbap Bowl which has vegan fried kimchi brown rice, sesame soy tofu, sauteed baby kale, sauteed wild mushroom, roasted corn, pickled onion, vegan kimchi and is drizzled with sriracha.
Very spicy and flavorful! This was my first time having Bimimbap, but I already knew that I love kimchi and really any Korean flavor. And it was so filling! I only managed to eat about half (so basically I spent $11.50 for two meals- that’s a pretty good deal!). I also bought a container of the Homestyle Vegan Potato Salad because it sounded good, and I ate it later as a snack…
Lots of mayo and dill and crunchy peppers and onions, just the way I like it!
Cynthia spotted a case full of empanadas as soon as we walked in, and there was a row marked vegan so she grabbed one. It was almost a disaster as they were mis-labeled but the kind (and dare I say handsome!?) man behind the counter quickly realized and fixed her up with the plant-based one.
As I watched her eat (half of) her sandwich I was suffering from some serious FOMO. She chose the Truffled Wild Mushroom Melt, which combines those truffled mushrooms with house roasted red pepper, caramelized onions, vegan mozzarella and a sunflower seed basil pesto on a hoagie roll. The picture truly doesn’t do this sandwich justice and it’s definitely what I’m ordering the next time I go in!
Look at all that cheese!
I definitely recommend Choice Market for a quick and casual meal, or if you need to stock up on hard to find vegan products. They’re a bit more expensive than the Natural Grocers that’s also near my office but that makes sense because they’re smaller. Go check them out, and tell the cute guy behind the counter that I said hi 😉
Want more Denver-area restaurant reviews? Check out my Mile High Vegan Eats page!v
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OMG, that is the BEST FIND EVER!!!! And the food looks amazing. That beet reuben!!!!