I first met La Valentina at a foodtruck event, where I tasted and judged their authentic Mexican cuisine. I have since learned they also run a catering company as well; one that they have recently rebranded into its own entity as “Lettuce Entertain You, Everyday Kitchen”. They provide chef-made weekly meals out of North Vancouver. Family own and operated, they focus on food that is fresh, balanced, and delicious.
Every Tuesday they release the following week’s menu, and orders are taken until Friday of that same week. All the meals are then cooked from scratch every Sunday. These are then vacuum-sealed and flash-frozen to lock in their flavour and freshness. The menus rotate, but each set globally inspired.
Delivery is available in North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Downtown Vancouver, and North Burnaby. The information on to order is at the bottom of the page.
The food can best described as homestyle and casual. Cooking that you can pass off as your own, without having to do any of the actual work. I used different reheating methods from sous vide, baking, pan frying, and microwaving. Not one method better than another, more just what I had time to do.
You get five complete meals, intended to be enjoyed one per day. However, each packet had enough food for 2-3 meals or enough food for two. Therefore at $90 CAD total, it comes to only $18 per package, $9 per meal. The following is what I had in my meal prep set of five, in the order I had them.
My favourite was the Thai green curry with jasmine rice. This generously came with two large pieces of chicken breast, a little dry after the reheating, but helped by the beautiful and mild curry it sat soaking in. The curry was slightly on the sweeter side, and was very approachable for those who are unfamiliar with Thai cuisine or such flavours.
The rice would have been better fresh, or turned into fried rice, as is it was broken and crumbly. I am not a fan of the texture of leafy greens, but there was plenty in the mix for those who do want the vegetables. I also could have used a thicker sauce, here it was runny like soup. Although, this could have been in part due to the reheating process.
Day two was Smoked pork chops with apple sauce & mashed potatoes, a classic and another meal that was a winner in my books. I liked how thinly sliced the pork chop piece were. It felt like I was getting 6 pieces instead of just one large whole.
Each slice still tender enough, with the char of the grill marks still coming through. It was easy eating, juicy with a ham-like quality. A little on the salty side, but tempered by the skin-on mashed potatoes side. They were a little runny, but manageable and I found they needed some salt and pepper out of personal preference.
I am not a fan of having applesauce with porkchops, as I don’t appreciate the salty and sweet, meat and fruit combo. Therefore this became a dessert for after the meal.
I found the Mongolian style beef and broccoli too salty for my tastes. It would have been nice with a base like fried rice or even just plain steamed rice. Or if they didn’t want to double up on another rice dish, maybe a plain soy sauce fried noodle instead.
Regardless you get plenty of beef and each strip had a nice chew to it. Whereas I found the broccoli soggy. It would have been nice to have a starch to help carry this, and wick away some of the excess salt. As is, it felt complete, and I found myself having it with instant noodles anyways.
I am not a big fan of cooked fish, therefore the Fish filet in citrus velouté & buttered vegetable was not to my taste. I found it bland despite the amount of sauce smothering it, and had to drain the steamed vegetable bag.
And any flavour of butter seemed to have been washed out in the process. A little salt and pepper here also did wonders. I liked the use of chestnuts for crunch, and found there to be a good variety of vegetable. This was the healthiest meal of the set.
I liked the flavour of the Risotto alla primavera with roasted chicken thighs, but it was a lot of the same flavours between chicken and rice; and I got flavour fatigue. I thought it needed a fresh element or a side of acid to cut into things. If at a restaurant this would be a side salad or some garlic bread.
I did like now the chicken was neutral enough to not overpower or distract from the mashed rice product. And was extremely impressed by how tender the chicken came out, still soft to parallel the chunky and cheesy risotto. There was so much cheesy goodness in the risotto that it reminded me of Mac and cheese and I couldn’t taste any of the visible vegetable chunks.
In conclusion, this is a great solution for the busy professional, or an individual looking to save time in the kitchen. And at these prices a lot cheaper that ordering from any food delivery company.
lettuce entertain you
778.680.2716
hello@lettuceentertainu.com
www.lettuceentertainu.com
