Eat Streets: Langley City’s one-way a hub of local food

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Exploring the restaurants that bring Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods to life.

When Antonella Green set out to open her first bakery and café three years ago, she searched for somewhere that felt a little bit like a Hallmark movie.

She found what she was looking for on a one-way stretch of Fraser Highway in the city of Langley.

“When I opened, I purposely wanted to make it feel small, cosy, quant and homemade,” she says. “I didn’t want it to be fancy baking stuff. So, this was a perfect place for it.”

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Tapping into her experience as an avid home baker, and using recipes passed down through generations, Green started the Cozy Bean Bakery and Café. Offering homemade scones, cookies, chocolate oat bars and more, the café focuses on baked goods that are made from the heart.

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“What I really, really like is homemade, because it just brings that comfort to you,” Green says.

Spanning just a few blocks, the one-way section of Fraser Highway in Langley is home to an impressive number of local restaurants, coffee shops and other assorted outposts for good grub.

There are also a variety of other businesses on the street ranging from boutiques and fitness studios to thrift stores and salons.

On a grey weekday, the kind blanketed with a light layer of fine mist, the one-way stretch of road was abuzz with activity. The Cozy Bean boasted several tables of diners enjoying baked goods and gossip.

And, on the weekends, that buzz becomes more like a roar.

It’s a busyness that local business owners welcome following a major slowdown in the area.

“During the construction, you didn’t know a lot of the places were down here,” says Marissa Hill, a Langley local and staff member at The Pie Hole café.

Long a traffic snarl for those travelling eastbound on Fraser Highway, the one-way section of street was the site of a months-long city improvement project. That construction, which included a $19-million upgrade and a parking pattern change, was a crippling period for many area businesses.

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“It was a very, very challenging time for us, as I feel like it was for any business down this road,” says Andy Slinn, executive chef at Don’t Tell Nonna Pizzeria. The pizza shop, which offers New York and Detroit-style slices and pies opened its doors last February.

Six weeks into operation, the construction began.

Run by a small group of Langley and Fraser Valley-based “pizza nerds” the dine-in, takeout and by-the-slice eatery is located in the space that was previously home to an area favourite: McBurney’s Coffee Shop.

It’s one of several newer food options that have joined the street amid the ongoing revitalization efforts.

“It’s grown quite a bit, especially within the last two years,” says Melissa Gallardo, who works at a busy hair salon off McBurney Lane called Black Orchid. “There’s definitely been new restaurants popping up, new coffee shops. There’s definitely more variation compared to what it used to be.”

Loyal regulars are what kept this section of street alive during the slowdown, business owners say. Customers like area resident Milad Alhamad.

“Every day, I come for a coffee,” said Alhamad, a small black-and-white coffee cup from The Pie Hole in his hand.

With the city project wrapped, business owners are hopeful that more people will come down to see what’s both old and new in the area.

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“Since it has been reopened, traffic has come back a little bit,” says Slinn.

The increase, they say, has sparked a sense of optimism among staff and owners.

“Business is better,” Hill says of the uptick that’s followed the road closure. “Even my manager … said that, if we survived that, we can survive anything.”

Tucked into a corner table in the recently opened Oldhand Coffee shop (a second location for the original outpost in Abbotsford), Judy Yoon is among that new wave of customers coming to the street.

Oldhand, she says, has become her new go-to after relocating to the area from Coquitlam.

“It has a really nice, warm and welcoming vibe,” Yoon said with a smile, a journal and assorted writing tools sharing space on the table alongside steaming cup of coffee. “I like to have a good coffee shop with a good corner where you can just sit, chill and read a book.”

Her exploration of the area, she says, is just beginning.

“I’m always on the hunt,” Yoon said.

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Eat Streets: What to know about this stretch of Fraser Highway

Location: Fraser Highway between 204 and 206 street.

Number of restaurants and food options: 23

What are the restaurant, takeout and café options located along the Langley one-way?

• Friends Indian Restaurant (20408 Fraser Hwy)
• The Katsu Japanese Cutlet House (5576 204 St.)
• Annora Restaurant (5572 204 St.)
• Donair Hut (20420 Fraser Hwy)
• Projekt + Blend (20436 Fraser Hwy #104)
• Obanhmi (20477 Fraser Hwy #1)
• Flourishing (20472 Fraser Hwy)
• Langley Buffet Restaurant (20488 Fraser Hwy)
• Cielito Lindo Mexican (20491 Fraser Hwy)
• Cozy Bean Bakery and Café (20493 Fraser Hwy)
• Adelicias Mexican Restaurant & Bar (20505 Fraser Hwy)
• Don’t Tell Nonna Pizza (20504 Fraser Hwy)
• Steven’s Cocktail Corner Bar & Kitchen (20526 Fraser Hwy)
• Oldhand Coffee Downtown Langley (20528 Fraser Hwy)
• The Pie Hole (20534 Fraser Hwy)
• Ashoka Indian Cuisine (20530 Fraser Hwy)
• Baba’s Resto-Bar & Lounge (20567 Fraser Hwy)
• Food by Fanta (20542 Fraser Hwy #102)
• Veerji Fish ’n’ Grill (5494 Salt Ln)
• Oxford Ice Cream (20581 Fraser Hwy)
• Chop Chop Chinese Takeout (20587 Fraser Hwy)
• Pho 777 Vietnamese Restaurant Langley (20598 Fraser Hwy)

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What are the options for parking?

The area has free street parking with time restrictions. Parking along the one-way has a three-hour limit between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

What are Metro Vancouver’s Eat Streets?

This article is part one of a series highlighting Metro Vancouver’s must-visit Eat Streets. With the goal of celebrating — and maybe even introducing you to — stretches of community around the region that have a notable concentration of local food businesses. Know of a great Eat Street in your community? Let us know where. Email us at artslife@vancouversun.com. Bookmark THIS PAGE to read the latest instalment every Wednesday.

Then and now: Fraser Highway in pictures

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