Alameda Marketplace features artisanal foods
With gourmet offerings from Baron’s Meat & Seafood, The Beanery Coffee Co. and Farmstead Cheeses & Wines, the elegant brick-trimmed Alameda Marketplace houses more than just an upscale grocery store. Think, instead, of a boutique co-op uniting a handful of meticulously selected vendors, each locally owned and independently operated, and all focusing on natural, organic, sustainable and artisanal foods.
Configured as an open air, European marché-style design, the Marketplace encourages not speed shopping, but lingering over everything down to the specialty cookware and utensils found at The Pantry kitchen store.
At the center’s Sushi King, you can buy a Cherry Blossom roll to go, but even better, you’ll want to sit at the counter and savor the crab meat, avocado and masago wrapped in tuna, alongside a bowl of soba noodles and an ebi sunomono salad.
And you will want to pick up some dinner ingredients at Alameda Natural Grocery. In keeping with the Marketplace vision, it’s not a typical supermarket, but stocked with organic and fair-trade produce, natural diet supplements and ecofriendly products.
Where else are you going to find a grocery store that’s 100 percent powered by renewable energy and home to its own collection of rooftop honey bee hives?
EAST END
Owners Paul and Michele Manousos keep things seasonal at their stylish bistro and cocktail emporium decorated in a rustic, weathered wood and industrial open kitchen theme.
Just added for spring, for example: a King Thistle pizza scattered in artichoke hearts, fire-roasted leeks, fresh mozzarella, goat milk gouda, truffle oil and olive oil, fired in the centerpiece wood oven. The homemade pizza dough is hand stretched to order, pastas and breads are crafted in-house and recipes turn convention upside down (witness the delicious squid, doctored with pickled goat horn peppers, sea beans and frisée).
There’s whimsy here, too, such as the City Paté of duck liver with balsamic figs, not to be confused with the Country Paté of pork with cornichons and whole-grain mustard. Yet still, one of the most popular dishes is the simple but ravishing wood-oven roast chicken, the skin all crispy and the meat extra-rich with a ladling of natural jus.
And to whet your whistle in a hip way, the mixologists keep busy crafting cocktails, including a potent Afternoon Delight of tequila, St. George green chile vodka, fresh strawberry, yellow chartreuse, simple syrup and spiced cherry bitters
Keeping the market theme going, pizzas can be purchased par-baked, to finish in your home oven, and many of the lounge’s beers, cider and wines can be had by the bottle to-go.
FEEL GOOD BAKERY
You eat good food with good-for-you ingredients, so you will feel really good about this great bakery that impresses with an elaborate array of handcrafted breads, cookies and pizza dough. Founded by talented baker Rick Kellner in 2002, the bakery is so popular
now that it also has a location in Alameda’s Encinal Shopping Center and sells at numerous East Bay farmers’ markets.
As we’d expect, the core is organic, non-GMO, locally sourced ingredients, including flours, nuts, fruits and cheeses. But honestly, it’s the flavor that has everyone so excited for classics like crusty sourdough baguettes that break into moist crumb in the middle or specialties like gluten free teff loaf.
This is not a place to count calories, not when contemplating the joys of a sourdough cheese loaf, a chocolate croissant rich with butter, red velvet cake, or vegan ginger molasses cookies. Offerings change frequently, but some particular favorites include a double olive loaf, torte Milanese and Parisian macarons.
Feel Good fans also swear by the cheese sticks, which are big, crispy wands rolled in a cornucopia of different crunchy seeds, and crafted with a different daily cheese like gouda or Swiss.
GREENS & GRAINS
The chilled display case beckons with fluffycrunchy farro, the healthy grain tumbled with creamy white feta, walnuts and banyuls vinaigrette, made with the French dessert wine originated in the Catalan Pyrenees. It’s just one of the temptations at this shrine to healthy salads, inspired after founder and Culinary Institute of America-trained chef Jackie Riley said she found it difficult to find high-end salad bars showcasing locally produced organic ingredients.
Forget wilted iceberg lettuce and cardboard tasting carrots — everything is garden fresh and seasonal, with inventive recipes such as roasted beets with horseradish in sherry vinaigrette, braised chard with lemon, pickled raisins and almonds, or red quinoa and deep green kale tossed in spicy ginger vinaigrette.
For a heartier meal, the kitchen crafts sandwiches like the tofu banh mi, on a French baguette dressed with Asian slaw, miso aioli and pickled daikon. And don’t miss the star signature, Mary’s roasted chicken, delivering a takehome feast including optional side dishes (salads, of course).