From Windows Virtual Earth an aerial view of the Glen Park Market Place site, probably Anno Domini 2000
It's only been eight years, but the Glen Park Market and Library project is almost complete. Former Oakville Market formaggisti Richard and Janet Tarlov's Canyon Ranch Market opened there yesterday. And apparently it's all good. As our Official Glen Park Informant reports:
I'm easily excited about a grocery store that I can see from my apartment, and Canyon Market didn't disappoint. While clearly they aren't 100 percent done with the place -- some shelves, particularly in the wine section, remain empty -- they were bustling on their first day. It's a brand-new building, so of course everything is nice and clean-looking. The store carries a variety of organic produce, fresh fish and meat (free-range, yadda yadda), the kind of non-Kraft packaged goods you find at Rainbow and Whole Foods, a small bulk foods section, a salad bar with both raw and cooked foods ($6.95/lb), a prepared foods counter, frozen stuff, vitamins, some pet essentials, and an impressive selection of Kombucha. They also sell what I hear are good prepared sandwiches, and they have a coffee bar up front that sells nice-looking baked goods, including some treats from Destination Bakery up the street.
I didn't do an extensive price check, but produce prices were very competitive with Whole Foods. Even if it turns out to be a little more expensive, it'll sure be nice not to have to jump in the car if I run out of radicchio.
Another tipster emailed us last week that residential condos in the building were expected to fully close escrow by the end of the month. After having been flamed by irate Glen Parkisti for the past few months for transgressions both real and imagined , we'll ignore the Library component altogether. In other feedback, the Hong Kong-Filipino waffle cafe across the street, Eggettes, was described as altogether slightly weird, although the Filipino arroz caldo got applause as both authentic and yummy. To their credit, the Shark's Fin Soup uses artificial shark extremities. And we wait for Gialina, the artisan pizzeria-rosticceria headed by former (or on-the-brink-of-former) Lime chef Sharon Ardiana, maybe opening in December.
· Pleasures of a Cheese Course [Taunton]
· Glen Park Nessun Dorma [Curbed SF]
· How to Turn a Parking Lot into Apartments, a Library, and a Grocery Store the Hard Way [David Prowler, SPUR]