FOOD GLORIA'S FOOD - March 2017 - Kansas City

New Cafe Provides Nutritious Food and Good Vibrations to 'Enjoy'  

By Gloria Gale

 

Look around.  When it comes to fast food vs healthy, clean food in our area it’s no contest. Short of buying organic and preparing it at home, the scales are tipped in the wrong direction. 

 

Leave it to Stacie Cross to step up.  She’s filling the void with a nutritious café called Enjoy in Johnson County.

 

The former vegan realized she needed all the energy and vibrancy that eating well would provide. Cross acknowledges, “I have an entrepreneurial spirit.  Traveling across the country for years with my previous work left me stressed and exhausted.  Opening a clean, fresh food cafe that would nourish mind body and spirit with every meal became my goal.”

 

Vision to reality

Her intention grew from a spiritual awareness guiding her not just to open her petite café, Enjoy – Pure Food and Drink, but the right location in Mission Farms. 

 

“We’re more than a juice bar– although cold pressed juices abound. We also serve full breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

 

Yes, you can grab and go but why not sit, sip and eat.  With a menu crafted by stellar chef, Michael Smith, you can expect a rainbow of healthy recipes.

 

The salads and bowls filled with hearty, vegetables or wild-caught salmon, small plates, soups, sandwiches with names like Feelin’ Groovy, Open Seas, and Gobble it Up are tantalizing. In particular, the juices, designed by the Blender Girl and The Juice Goddess, feature Cleanzing, Oxygenizing, Vitalizing, Metabolizing and Energizing for a healthy start.

 

As are smoothies that taste like ice cream but are actually made with kale, banana, cashews, dates, vanilla and ginger.

 

Personally, the breakfast served daily from 7:00 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. is my fav.  A Toast to Health, avocado mash topped with a poached egg, is a perfect starter for the day. 

I’ve also tried the oatmeal; large enough to feed a family of 4, is filled with chopped apples, hemp seeds, coconut sugar, vanilla protein and almond milk.

 

Beaming from behind the counter, Cross is delighted with the traffic that filters in throughout the day.  “We are located right next to Fusion Fitness so the moms, with kids in tow, work out then meet here.  In addition; there’s always men who want something quick and those who will come for our BulletProof Coffee with brain Octane MCT oil or a Green Mojito for detoxifying and hydration.”

 

The important thing is this, here’s a place that makes their own hummus, spreads, guacamole, granola using extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oil and grapeseed oil.  They do have sweets like a lime tart and coco Brownie Bliss but instead of white sugar Enjoy sweetens with local honey, organic coconut sugar, organic agave and organic maple. 

 

There’s no intimidation here.

 

The laid-back atmosphere with so many good for you selections gives you the perfect excuse to try something new and delicious. 

 

Hey, you have nothing to lose.  And if the kale that tastes like ice cream?  I’m in.

 

Enjoypurefood.com

913-544-1515

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Kansas City writer, producer, and photostylist Gloria Gale is a sleuth when it comes to discovering interesting features for the media.

 

As a native she's compiled a burgeoning collection of editorial features on food, travel and lifestyle for national and local magazines, books, individuals, and corporate clients. 

 

Most recently, Gloria profiled area restaurants as a columnist for 435 Magazine and was one of KCUR's Food Critics radio program. 

 

Want to know where to find the best tastes in town? Contact Gloria: ggale@everestkc.net