Burdy, known for their chicken parm sandwiches, were serving out of a food truck at Container Brewing before they closed in July. Now they’ve got a brand new home in Granville Island’s Chain & Forge building.
Brand New Food Venue
In fact, Granville Island is welcoming six other new food establishments alongside Burdy to the newly revitalized Chain & Forge building in an exciting new development. Granville Island is already known for incredible food, mostly because of the Public Market, which includes such beloved and renowned vendors as Oyama Sausage Co, Benton Bros Cheese, and the original location of Lee’s Donuts. Also already serving delicious eats on the island is Michelin-recommended Alimentaria. This Mexican eatery will actually also be expanding with a new space in the Chain & Forge building.
Counting Burdy and Alimentaria, that makes two of the seven spots claimed in a development that has been in the works for a number of years. Five of the spaces have been leased, leaving two still available. I’ve been told by the folks at Granville Island to expect an announcement of the other businesses “soon.” They go on to explain that the “Chain & Forge building and plaza will be an extension of the Public Market District with seven food and beverage businesses or merchants all open late into the night.”
Later Nights, Longer Hours
The plan is to invigorate Granville Island’s late night scene. And, as someone who regularly attends Arts Club productions on the island, I very much appreciate this effort. It can sometimes feel very quiet when arriving for a show, and especially so when leaving.
To aid this push, Granville Island recently closed off West Anderson Street which runs alongside the Chain & Forge building to vehicle traffic. Now, the pedestrian street will pass beside the vibrant community plaza where Chain & Forge businesses will also have patios. Granville Island expects the building, plaza, and patios to be fully activated by summer 2026.
Previously, Burdy never worried about beverages given their proximity to a brewery. But this new space, with its communal patio and desire for a nighttime crowd, necessitates them getting their own liquor license. They’ll be serving beer at this new Burdy so that the quintessential pairing of Chicken (or Eggplant) Parm and brew won’t be disrupted.
Beloved Burdy Classics Live On
The food menu at this new Burdy location won’t change too much from what the team was serving on the truck. The Burdy team consists of husband and wife Anthony Perre and Natalie Carmichael, as well as their friend Maxwell Aldrich.
Their menu was already well-honed, and they prefer to keep it tight. “I’ve learned that people don’t like options,” Carmichael says.
The Parms will still be the mainstays, except now the previously limited-time Braised Beef will be offered full-time. Specials, and rotating soups and salads will round out the old/new menu. And, the team are taste-testing a Breakfast Sandwich which will initially only be available on weekends.
It says a lot about the tricky logistics of cooking on a food truck that the Burdy team are rejoicing over having a still rather small 1,100 square feet to play with. “The food truck was too small for us,” Carmichael admits, and, she adds, “a little chaotic.” Plus, they will now have luxurious features like climate control. “Air conditioning and heat, it’s a crazy concept,” laughs Carmichael, reflecting on the cold winters and sweltering summers spent on the Burdy truck.
“It’s going to be a dream to design exactly what we need,” Carmichael reflects with gratitude. On the truck, there were “so many little things that should’ve been easy that were hard,” she recalls.
More Space to Play
Carmichael shares with me that the space is “mostly kitchen”, but it does afford 14 seats for customers. Even more people can be accommodated on their outdoor patios. They’ve got a corner spot in the Chain & Forge building so they’ll have two patios in addition to the shared communal one.
The Burdy team first heard about this up and coming Granville Island space from a customer two years ago, and it was then they first started thinking about a brick and mortar. They already knew when they closed in July 2025, that they were moving into the Chain & Forge building — but they couldn’t tell anyone yet. Now, the chicken is out of the bag.
“It was perfect timing.”
