Cookin' in the 'Cuse

Dey's Market--A dream whose time has come

If you enjoy the funky and urbane atmosphere of Armory Square in downtown Syracuse with all of its independent businesses, great restaurants, and cool apartments, then you can thank Bob Doucette--one of the visionaries beyond this Syracuse gem.  Bob didn't just visualize this downtown district, but working with other imaginative leaders, he put his real estate developer money and moxie behind it to make it happen.

Now its time for Bob to make another of his dreams come true--the opening of a full-time market in downtown focused on providing local and sustainably grown produce, meats, fish, cheese and dairy products, baked goods, pasta, coffee and tea, and other food stuffs.  There will also be a teaching kitchen.  If you've been to Pikes Place market in Seattle or any of the great public markets like Reading Terminal Market in Philly--then you get the idea--just on a smaller scale.  Here's how he puts it:

Our goal is provide fresh food that comes from goods grown or raised within a 100-mile radius whenever possible.  In addition to promoting sustainable living, an important part of our mission is to increase the growth of Central New York’s agricultural economy as well.  We as a community are extraordinarily fortunate to have access to have such high quality food grown close by, and so we must support our local farms by buying their products and opening up new markets to them.  As such, we intend to showcase many quality foods grown or raised locally at the market. 

Dey's Fresh Market is poised to be game-changer for downtown Syracuse.  There are increasingly good options for obtaining the great local foods of our area but none downtown.  Folks who live downtown currently have no place to shop where they can reliably purchase food to make a meal.  I live a block west of downtown and have to get in the car to get milk--that's crazy. 

Dey's Fresh Market will bring the fantastic vendors of our farmers markets to one location all year long.  But to make it happen, Bob is looking for creative and visionary vendors who want to invest in this dream.  If you are interested in selling at the market--or know someone who would be a good fit--contact Armory Development and Management for more information and a tenant application.  Note, if the products is not food related, it will not be permitted for sale at this market.  

Armory Development
108 W. Jefferson Street
Syracuse, NY 13202
Contact: Robert Doucette
Telephone: 422-5381

Green Planet Grocery Opens in Fairmount!

Consider this Grocery News Week.  This is the first of several postings on all the exciting news happening on the grocery store front.

So you know "these times they are a-changin'" when an independent grocery store specializing in healthy, local, and organic opens on the west side of town.  This one caught me off guard but I couldn't be happier about this new addition to the food scene here in Syracuse.

Located on West Genesee Street in Fairmount (across from the Wegmans, Target, etc.at Fairmount Fair and next door to Metro Mattress) Green Planet Grocery opened last Saturday.  A quick run through yielded some pics and the following observations about what is on the shelves:

• Shelf space for Flour City Pasta--now you can get them every day of the week!
• A bulk selection with more flours than I've seen in one place  in a long time (it could go toe to toe with Whole Foods and even the Berkeley Bowl on that front).  There were flours I'd never seen in bulk.  They have panko bread crumbs in bulk--I'm impressed.  As for cereal, they carry Mu Mu Muesli in bulk too.
• Remembrance Farm greens (Trumansburg)

• Other things of note:  A juice bar is on the way and a raw food chef is on deck so I'm imagining delicious juices and smoothies!  Also, lots of parking (which given the area, matters a lot.) 

Their hours are Monday-Saturday, 8am - 10pm and Sundays 10am - 8pm.  Check them out!

The store has a bright and airy feel.

Do you see this bulk aisle?  Those are the flours on the bottom--makes me want to bake like crazy!

Recess Coffee is among several roasters they carry.

There it is--Flour City Pasta--now you can get it when you can't get to the Regional Market--any day of the week!

Love the chalkboard signage.

Green Planet Grocery, 3514 W. Genesee Street., Syracuse NY 13219

The Cooperative Difference

Talk about homegrown and too cute! This video, recently produced by folks at the Syracuse Real Food Co-op explains what makes co-ops different from "just a natural food store". What makes it cute is that it features some of the youngest members of the store--as well as some of the farmers, pigs, and chickens who supply the Co-op. Great job Stacy, Marty and all involved! Full disclosure: I serve on the board of the Syracuse Real Food Co-op.

Market Saturation

I was fascinated by two news stories that came out this week related to natural groceery stores.  The first was the announcement that Whole Foods is buying its smaller competitor Wild Oats.  (reg.req. Member ID:  Cookin; Password:  intheCuse)  This is not the first instance of Whole Foods gobbling up other stores, can we say Bread and Circus?  But as Whole Foods continues to expand and wrestles with slowed (stock) market expectations, this expansion seems like their most logical course. 

When I lived in Morristown, NJ I remember being thrilled when a Wild Oats store opened in Madison--the next town over.  But the store didn't work for me.  Things were constantly being rearranged and items were hard to find in stock on a regular basis.  So I took to driving thirty minutes in a different direction to shop at Whole Foods in Montclair or Millburn.  It really was worth the drive because Whole Foods was offering not just a better shopping experience but consistent stock.  The same is true for my experience of the Wild Oats in Berkeley--I'd practically drive right by it to get to Whole Foods (well, I really passed it to get to the Berkeley Bowl where I did most of our shopping that filled out our CSA and farmers' market purchases). 

Well it will be interesting to see what impact this has on the natural foods grocery business.  Whole Foods will need to answer the question of whether bigger really is better.  With this buyout, Whole Foods will increase to just over 300 stores nationally.

Speaking of Berkeley...I was interested to hear of the flack a group of folks are getting in their efforts to start a food co-op there.  Again, I was always fascinated by the fact that despite all of the progressive food politics to be found there, Berkeley had no food co-op.  The last one had closed shop decades before I lived there in the mid 1990s and early 2000s.   So a number of former Brooklynites who used to belong to the 12,000 member strong Park Slope Food Co-op want to set up a similiar shop to make good, sustainable food accessible and affordable to everyone. 

But naysayers argue that the market is saturated and cite the existence of Whole Foods, Wild Oats, the Berkeley Bowl, Monterey Market, three Farmers' Markets, Berkeley Natural Grocery and several Andronicos (an upscale supermarket) in addition to Safeways and a nearby Trader Joe's as a sign that there isn't any more room.  But The Cooperative Grcoery, aka The CoG, with several hundred members on board already wants to be an alternative. 

I was able to visit the Park Slope Food Co-op a few months ago with a friend who is a member (the only way you can get in the store is to be a member or be accompanied by one) and I was astounded at how low many of the prices were.  Every member of the Park Slope Co-op must work a shift so their set up is very different from our own Syracuse Real Food Co-op and, indeed, most other co-ops nationally.   But like other co-ops, The CoG isn't interested in being just a grocery store--they're interested in being a community.  And that, as members of co-ops know, is a big difference.

While presenting a lower priced alternative to healthy food is always a good thing, many say that the money to start a new store would be better put to use to fund the People's Grocery in West Oakland--a neighborhood where groceries can be purchased in liquor stores and fresh produce is hard to find.  It will be interesting to see if The CoG's efforts come together or not.  I've always suspected that there was a reason there were no food co-ops in Berkeley but couldn't figure out what it was.

As I've said before, when we moved from Berkeley/Oakland to Syracuse our food bill grew greatly.  Though we could never own a house in the Bay Area (not without a miracle donation of some kind, anyway) we could certainly afford to eat very well.  So if The CoG is going to work they may want to push the community over affordability angle.

Meanwhile...back here in Syracuse, we have wholly different market issues.  I realize we are a much smaller city/metropolitan area/region than Berkeley but c'mon, I can't be the only person who wants the following:

• A larger Syracuse Real Food Co-op
• a Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Room in Armory Square
• an artisanal bakery/cafe near the Syracuse University campus
• a gourmet cheese shop featuring local and regional cheeses as well as imports
• an organic farmers' market in the Westcott neighborhood

Now, what will it take to make it happen? 

Vince is Open for Business!

 

Thanks to all for the heads up but in case you haven't heard, Vince's Specialty Imports is open on Route 11 in North Syracuse.  Think all the good stuff about Lombardi's with lots more light and space to appreciate what's in stock.  This week is the soft opening of the store but Vince expects to be fully up and running before Thanksgiving.  In the meantime, this is a great place to stock up on bulk spices, fantastic charcuterie, oils and vinegars, and dried pastas.  Vince is working out the details to sell fresh, house-made pasta as well as frozen desserts imported from Italy.  Resistance is futile--check it out. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

Vince's Specialty Imports, 440 South Main Street, North Syracuse, NY 13212-- 315-452-1000

Lombardi's Update

So wouldn't you know it--I finally get around to posting about Lombardi's and now there's real news to report.  I was surprised to read in some of the comments posted by a member of the Lombardi family and others that Vince had "moved on to other ventures".  In my distraction I didn't follow up on that comment and then over the weekend I was alerted to an article from last month's Post Standard about just what Vince's new venture is all about:  a new import store in North Syracuse. 

You can read the details below.  There will be a follow up post to come.

Importer to open in North Syracuse

Sunday, October 15, 2006
BOB NIEDT
RETAIL NOTEBOOK

Lombardi Fruit & Imports Co. has been doing the import thing at Butternut Street in downtown Syracuse for more than 30 years.

Now, North Syracuse is importing a Lombardi.

Vince Lombardi, a co-owner of Lombardi Fruit & Imports, soon will open an import grocery similar to Lombardi Fruit & Imports, on Main Street in North Syracuse, in the former Crystal Photo building.

Vince Lombardi is opening the store with his son-in-law, Sam Mondello Jr., according to Lisa Mondello, Sam's wife (and Vince's daughter).

The new location will feature many of the imported food and other items that made the location at 534 Butternut St. famous. That includes pastas, olive oil and olives, meats and cheeses, beans, coffee, balsamic vinegars, fruit baskets and more.

They're looking at a grand opening around Nov. 1, with a soft opening coming as early as Oct. 23, said Lisa. The opening date and the name of the new business have not been set.