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The new restaurant, coffee bar and mini-grocer comes from the team behind Published on Main and Bar Susu—so yeah, it's going to be good.
Claiming a restaurant has “something for everyone” is cliché, sure. But combine a coffee bar, brunch menu, fresh bread and pastries and a wine program, and it’s tough to find someone who isn’t on board. So, we’re calling it: the only haters Novella Coffee Bar, Mount Pleasant’s newest restaurant, is going to have are people won’t make it there. Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m—a little tricky for those of us working 9 to 5 (what a way to make a livin’).
Novella is the latest concept from Boxset Collective (the same team behind Vanmag‘s Best New Restaurant winner Bar Susu and the newly Michelin-starred Published on Main). According to Cody Allmin, co-founder of Boxset Collective, awesome coffee (a cup of ambition?) was the first priority—so Novella’s coffee program is run by House of Funk, the North Van small batch coffee roastery that’s not afraid to get a little, well, funky. Expect espresso, rotating drip coffee, cold brew and limited-edition roasts (a collab between Novella and the roastery is in progress).
The daytime menu, dreamed up by Vanmag‘s Chef of the Year Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson and Ashley Kurtz (also of Published on Main and Bar Susu), includes a “Turbo Breakfast Sando” with a fried egg, sausage patty, hash brown patty, smoked cheddar, and “turbo” sauce on a potato bun. There’s also Novella Yogurt (seabuckthorn, yogurt mousse, seabuck berries and hemp/flax heart praline) and savoury Steel Cut Oats (wild and cultivated mushrooms, poached egg, and mustard greens).
In addition to coffee and breakfast, there’s fresh bread baked in-house by Ward Van Donselaar, a fully stocked pastry cabinet with ButterBoom goods (think croissants, donuts and cream puffs), a wine program from Jayton Paul and a grocery section. The grocer won’t be open at the time the restaurant launches, but the team plans to have it up and running soon—according to a press release, there will be “a selection of curated goods, including housemade sourdough and beloved community brands.”
Novella opens in late November 2022, and the opening hours are 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m, Monday to Friday. I’ve already joked about calling in sick this week to attend Herschel’s warehouse sale so I’ll keep the “fake an illness” ideas to a minimum—but if Novella’s hours do happen to line up perfectly with your workday, I suggest pitching an offsite meeting to your colleagues. Maybe at a place with great coffee and brunch. I’m sure Dolly would approve.
Opening late November 2022 2650 Main Street novellacoffeebar.com
