Andy’s Pure Food is a new, healthy, vegan eatery in Copps Hill Marketplace.
Andy Ozgur opened his first café in Rye, N.Y., in 2008. Since then he opened a second one a year ago in the Equinox Health Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., before opening up here.
The 103 Danbury Road store, in the former Sucré Salé location, offers vegan soups, salads, sandwiches, cold fresh pressed juices and smoothies.
The store will have a ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration on Thursday, Aug. 27, on the patio.
Having grown up on a rural farm in Turkey, Ozgur said that as a child he had no idea that food existed outside the farm. At age 12, Ozgur visited his first supermarket and was shocked — he told his parents that “those people have a big kitchen with a lot of food,” not realizing that all that food did not belong to just one person and could actually be sold. In 1993, when he moved to the U.S., Andy brought his knowledge of fresh food and opened a fruit and vegetable store that eventually became a gourmet market selling fish and meat.
In 2006 Ozgur began having health problems, and a friend suggested that he try a vegan, or plant-based, diet, excluding all animal products. This meant no meat, fish, dairy or eggs. After a couple of months he said his health issues were resolved, and that’s how he got into the healthy food business.
Andy’s opened in June and has a deli case filled with an assortment of salads include foods from the vegan four food groups; fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, nuts and seeds. Some salads include avocado tomato salad; quinoa, leek and broccoli, beet and carrot, zucchini noodles with pesto; spicy cabbage and kale with avocado dressing, which the owner said is particularly popular. Protein-rich offerings include parsley and chickpea salad and butterbean dishes.
Next to the deli counter is a case lined with fresh cold pressed juices that the owner said are rich in nutrients and enzymes. Several of the juices are infused with the pressed juices of “superfoods” ginger and turmeric. Customer favorites have been Refresh, a juice blend of watermelon, cucumber, lemon, mint and Himalayan Sea Salt, and the Green Monster, cold pressed juices of kale, celery, apple, cucumber, parsley, spinach, lemon, ginger and romaine lettuce. There are several fresh lemonades, all of which are made from fresh organic fruit and include no added sugar. Juices can also be freshly pressed for custom orders.
Smoothies are popular with the “post-workout crowd,” the owner said. They includ the bright pink and strawberry-filled Energizing smoothie, Buggy Banana, and Jumping Jack. There are also assorted nut milks.
Managing Andy’s Pure Foods is Maddie Sobel, a Ridgefield local and certified nutrition and health coach. Maddie trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and is an instructor/educator for plant-based nutrition with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. She will be teaching several classes in plant-based nutrition as part of the Andy’s After Hours Program, along with other topics on health, wellness and and vegan cooking. She is available at Andy’s to offer nutrition information. Maddie created and managed the original So Good Vegan Café, also in Copps Hill Marketplace.
Starting in the fall, Andy’s will host a series of education programs called Andy’s After Hours, focused on the health benefits of eating vegan.
Andy’s is online at andyspurefood.com, on Facebook, and available at 475-215-5168.
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