Calgary

Vegetarian Bakeries

BYBLOS BAKERY

Byblos is pita in Calgary; its name is synonymous with all things related to pita, virtually. Byblos has been here since 1975 and went from being a small enterprise baking pita breads by hand and selling their breads locally, to individuals and then eventually to the food industry and retailers, to a large, state of the art operation that is the largest baker of pita and like products in Western Canada. They have since branched into other baked goods, including bagels and tortillas, as well as baking baklava.

How large an operation are they? In their 45,000 square foot bakery they can bake up to 12, 000 bagels per hour, up to 18,000 pita bread per hour, and up to 6,000 tortillas per hour, working off of four separate production lines, not including some specialty baking such as naan and panini. Byblos bakes breads for a number of grocers and restaurants, sometimes using proprietary recipes for specific clients such as certain restaurants.

The pita breads come in many sizes as well as a ‘pocket less’ variety more suited for a pizza shell. As well they have quite a selection of flavors, eleven so far, including the white and the wholewheat varieties, as well as Sundried Tomato, Greek, Garlic, Meusli and Low Carb, to name a few. They bake three different kinds of naan as part of the pita line as well as a ‘dessert’ or breakfast variety, the Apple Cinnamon.

Seventeen different kinds of bagels are made here, ranging in size too, from the mini-bagel to regular in a variety of weights. Other than the poppy seed, sesame, multigrain, whole wheat & honey varieties they have a selection of cheese varieties, blueberry , meusli, pesto, garlic, and even a chocolate cappuccino variety.

Byblos makes five varieties of tortillas in two sizes a 7“ and the 10“, Plain, Tomato Basil, Spinach Pesto, Multigrain, Cheese and a Low Carb Plain. A recent addition to Byblos has been their Panini breads, two varieties, Plain and Whole-Wheat.

They make Baklava here as well, a large variety of it, using pistachios, almonds or cashews as the stuffing for these exquisite morsels of honey drenched phyllo packets, baked to a golden brown.

Byblos is a bakery, first and foremost, one that has through years of consistency, built first a loyal following and through the growing needs of their customers, an expansion that saw the needs of old and new clients and customers seen to.

Along the way they did open a small diner on 17th Avenue SW, the Byblos Kitchen, where one can sit down to some excellent falafel, either in a platter or wrapped in their own fresh baked pita, a variety of dips like hummus and baba ghannouj, Labaneh, also known as tzatziki, and more.

The Byblos Kitchen is located at 1449 17th Avenue SW. Phone: (403)541-1788. Their hours are 10am-10pm daily.

EIFFEL TOWER BAKERY AND BISTRO

The Eiffel Tower Bakery and Bistro is an offshoot to the main Bakery, located on 17th Avenue SW. There the breads and patisseries are baked, prior to being delivered daily to the downtown location, where breakfasts and lunches are served. Except for one bread, egg bread, all of them are vegan. The breads are crusty and delicious, in the style one would expect from a French bakery, a perfect accompaniment to any style of spread, roasted garlic, and sandwich…. In the Bistro one can order vegetarian sandwiches, vegan if one chooses, as well as a vegetarian quiche, crepes, made from buckwheat flour and, twice a week they have vegetarian soups available, such as a Cream of Broccoli soup as was being served when I last paid them a visit. They have an excellent array of patisseries and brioches as well, all of them vegetarian too.

And while it may not seem important to some, its important to me to know that the coffee they serve is Fair Trade coffee, so one can feel comfortable knowing that the coffee is ethically derived. The Eiffel Tower offers catering as well, especially important for its location, being situated amongst the downtown business establishments and corporate headquarters.

LAKEVIEW BAKERY

Lakeview Bakery’s Mission Statement is, “To provide special dietary needs bakery products to consumers across Canada.” To that end they are, and have been very successful, providing nutritious breads and baking for people from virtually all walks of life. Those who suffer from allergies, or who are seeking low-carb breads will find them here, along with organic baking, free from the pesticides and other additives found in some of the commercially grown wheats and grains.

Here Brian Hinton, the baker and president of Lakeview, has dedicated himself to meeting the needs of his customers, be they seeking gluten free baking, diabetics-friendly baking, yeast-free as well as vegetarian and vegan baking. Lakeview is certified Kosher as well, and they offer tours of the bakery to schools and groups, for educational purposes and because of their confidence in their products being able to meet the expectations and requirements of those with special needs.

Organic grains and flours are used here, including Spelt, one of the original seven grains as mentioned in the Bible, a very healthy grain high in vitamin B and proteins, and Kamut, an ancient grain thought to have its origins in Egypt, related to wheat but is well tolerated by those who cannot digest gluten, along with organic oats and others. Other grains used in include Quinoa and Amaranth. They use unbleached white flour, pea and soy flours to make their basic bread recipes, along with sea salt, wheat and oat bran and sunflower oil.

Product ranges include a variety of gluten free breads, rice baking, buns, cookies, muffins, cakes and pies, along with bread mixes, pie crusts and more. They make Christmas cakes for those suffering from celiac during the Yuletide, and they also make energy bars, organic ones yet. Of course, for some special requests they ask for advance ordering.

As with most bakeries, most breads here tend to be vegan, so there isn’t an issue here; one could recommend virtually any bakery to a vegetarian/vegan seeking foods they can safely eat. What sets one bakery apart from others will be in the approach they take, the interest they show, and the little extras they have. Lakeview features all that and more: the approach they take is to focus on providing foods that people who have special needs might not normally have access to, due to being a ’niche’ group. They are interested in their business by having and maintaining such a vast selection of quality baked goods for a variety of tastes and needs, including organic baking, and of course, those little extras they feature, such as vegan treats like the sunny seed cookies from organic grains and seeds, and also baking dairy free dark chocolate cookies. Their pizza crusts are also vegan, incidentally.

All in all, for so many reasons, Lakeview is a bakery well worth visiting.

VILLAGE PITA BAKERY

Village Pita may not be the most well-known name in pita bread bakeries in Calgary, but for my money they are the best. I need to throw in a qualifier here though, since Byblos is much more widely known, being available in a variety of major grocery stores, and they too have been baking an excellent bread, and Shamsane Pita Bakery is relatively new and of yet untried by me. However, anyone will tell you that bread is to die for when freshly popped out of the oven, and Village Pita tends to have still-warm pita, freshly baked, at their locations, and it is absolutely incredible, melting in your mouth as it unleashes its gooey baked wheat goodness on the taste buds….having sat in my car in front of Village Pita, ripping into a still warm pita, then devouring a few spinach pies before reaching the house.

Village Pita isn’t known only for its breads though, since it has a grocery section as well as a sandwich and deli counter where falafel sandwiches and savory pies and wraps are prepared for the hungry set that wanders in. A favourite of mine is the Spinach pie, a triangle shaped stuffed bread, similar in shape to a samosa, filled with herbed spinach; I usually buy a dozen at a time. Their falafel is excellent too, made in front of you at their sandwich counter right by the entry into the baking room. Theirs is a very good version with its garlic and chickpea flavors melded with the tahini and mixture of onions and tomatoes, and accompanied by some hot peppers and parsley if desired. Stools line the window counter for people to enjoy their fare before fetching back to their work commitments.

Here one can browse the shelves for different foods, canned goods such as fava beans along with other varieties, or stuffed grape leaves, packaged halvah, desserts such as baklava and Turkish delight, the genuine kind shipped in from the middle East with flavors such as lemon and rose. They have tubs of olives for those who want to buy in bulk, scooping out the quantity sought, as well as other bulk items, spices, nuts, such as pistachios, both shelled and unshelled. In the end though, with all the groceries and the other veg-friendly goods available here, people come to Village Pita mainly for the pita bread, which is available in different sizes, the spinach pies and, after having expended so much energy deciding the size and quantity of pita bread sought, the delicious falafel sandwiches. Makes perfect sense to me.