Usually I stop in here for my veggies and other grocery items that I forgot or couldn't get at the Saturday market. I had yet to stay and try any of their deli or food that they prepare on site. Don't ask me why it's taken so long but I finally decided to stay for a bite to eat.
Again in one of my indecisive moods, I scanned over the chalkboards to see if anything jumped out. OooooH.....the Market Sampler $9, soup, sandwich, snacks, cheeses, salads. When I asked it was described as a nice variety of many of the items they offer in smaller portions. Sweet! The lady behind the counter let me know that this option would take a little more time to prepare, but I was not in a hurry. Also had her serve me up a glass of a Lemongrass [Agua] Fresca. I took a seat with my Fresca and watch them go to work.
Sipping my lemongrass fresca I wasn't sure what to expect as I read the ingredient list while waiting....lemongrass, celery, lime juice, sparking water and simple syrup. I was skeptical about the celery flavor in particular. WOW! This was super. Not to sweet and the celery was not over powering and just added to its bright, fresh and invigorating flavor.
The Sampler was huge. Easily shared , this is a BIG meal for 1, a light meal or nice appetizer for 2. I could see this being kind of like chef "surprise" as you really don't which of the sandwiches, soups or cheeses they may put on the board. [I guess you could have more say but I liked letting them just do their thing.] The soup on the board was a chilled spinach cucumber.
My board had 3 varieties of cheese, a espresso lavender cheddar, a sheep's milk parmigiana type, and some cheese curds with a light dressing.
There were also 3 salads on the board a cabbage based "slaw" with toasted almonds n stuff in a light vinaigrette type dressing (on the spicy side), a roasted potato and veggie salad and a brown rice salad (a little salty).
There were 4 sandwich portions, 2 were a roasted veggie with a balsamic dressing on rustic Italian type bread and the other 2 were a peanut butter banana with a mango pepper jelly on multigrain. The final treat on the plate was a some corn chips and tomato based/salsa like dip.
[Yeah i told ya....a lot of stuff!!] All of it was soooo goood. I ended up taking half of it home for brunch the next day.
This place has me spoiled. Another one of the reasons I love living downtown.