World Café

Where: 4102 S. Meridian, Puyallup, 253.435.8759, www.worldcafes.net

Hours: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Cuisine: Simple and healthy, breakfast, lunch and dinner with global flavors.

Scene: A casual, family-friendly, very inexpensive ethnic-inspired cafe.

Drinkies: All non-alcoholic: Lassi fruit smoothies, hot tea, coffee, espresso, juices, Nantucket Nectars, Izze sodas

Damage: $1.85-$6.95



ANNOUNCER: A strip mall in Puyallup’s South Hill area certainly doesn’t seem like a destination for soothing, healthy dining. However, that’s exactly where the recently opened World Cafe sits. A well-utilized earth tone color palette for the walls, booths and tables; instrumental world music, high ceilings and an abundance of live greenery complete the vibrant visual appeal that masks South Meridian’s five lanes of madness lurking outside.



The health-conscious, environment-friendly eatery offers a menu designed by the Northwest’s own culinary professional “The Galloping Gourmet” Graham Kerr along with Johnson & Wales University dean of culinary arts Karl Guggenmos. World Café and Day by Day Gourmet Dinners were co-created by Brad Vorhees, Kerr and Guggenmos. Remember Dinners Ready!? Vorhees is the founder and styled Day by Day to operate in much the same fashion. The café is symbiotic with Day by Day, a home valet service providing nutritious, prepared meals with a focus on global flavors.



JASON: Do they serve falafel? If so, I’m not in. The name says it all; it makes you “feel awful.” Get it? Do you get it?



JAKE: You are impossible. I get it. Even without falafel on the menu, skepticism runs high on this dining adventure. Healthy food that tastes good? I have heard whispered tales of this fabled thing. We strolled in; traffic noises instantly absent. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes inhaling baking scents and listening to the world beat music.

JASON: Yeah, you stood there blocking the door. Good job, dorkosaurus.



A bit confused if we order at the counter or take a seat, we grabbed a brightly colored booth. The server was plenty gracious, but obviously we should have gone to the counter. The menu held items for breakfast and lunch, though the trumpettes, or wraps, and grain-meat-greens dishes that constitute entrees seem more fitting for a dinner menu.

I dig the FABIS soup idea. The name stands for “fresh and best in season.” Genius! On our first visit, the FABIS was a pureed mix of rutabaga, sweet potato, carrot and other root vegetables. Eaten in conjunction with the grilled, thinly sliced pannini bread, no salt was needed.



I had hearty minestrone on our second visit. Sans the oil slick that usually floats on top, I was sure it would be bland. Surprisingly it didn’t need extra seasoning either.



JAKE: Millet? Quinoa? Nope, not South American women’s names. They’re grains not widely used in the United States. Along with cooked brown rice they were served atop a mixed green salad with tangy, lemon vinaigrette or sweet miso on the side.



The salad accompanied my Pork Yucatan trumpette, a sun-dried tomato tortilla wrap filled with orange and achiote braised tender pork chunks. Achiote, or “poor man’s saffron,” is a spice common in West African, Brazilian and Caribbean recipes. It lent a subtle nutty essence to the wrap; citrus flavor was stellar. The low-fat Swiss cheese and garlic bean spread that the menu said came on it was missing the cheese and the garlic. The wrap also had a handful of spring greens in it and was messy to handle and eat, but that’s what napkins are for. Overall it reminded me of a really great fusion pot roast drained and ladled into a tortilla with side salad rolled into one.



JASON: My Thai Chicken trumpette was missing the same things and more, namely the coconut and curry. Still it was very flavorful and definitely spicy; I’m guessing that to be the cilantro and possibly red pepper powder. Chicken pieces were very tender. We’re saving the Greek Chicken, Tofu Delight and Beef Barbacoa trumpettes for future visits. Not that I count calories, but I do try to pay attention to what I graze on. Cheeseburgers and colas make it hard to go to yoga or the gym. Supposedly, this menu has nothing on it with more than 500 calories.



JAKE: The wonderful scents were muffins baking. Moist zucchini-cranberry ones got their sweetness from plentiful berries. It didn’t even occur to me to ask for butter. And oddly, my thoughts of dessert were fleeting though cinnamon coffee cake, banana bread and more muffins were displayed near the register.



JASON: I always get a dessert, and sometimes two. This was a different experience. I didn’t really want sweets on either visit. Does this mean all my nutritional needs were met and so my usual cravings never surfaced? If so, hello, fabled healthy and good-tasting food. You do exist.