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The first thing you notice once you walk into
Bom Dia Market is that it’s modeled after that gold standard of neighborhood markets: Bi-Rite. It’s a little more low-key, though; you can move about freely without anyone bumping into you, their attention consumed by the pedigree of an organic watermelon radish, but there isn’t a cheesemonger fielding queries, either. (Wine experts, though, they have.)
This section of Noe Valley, on 29th and Sanchez, is much quieter and more residential than the commercial strip five-blocks north, so this newcomer ought to nestle in nicely, especially for anyone who loves Whole Foods but loves shopping local even more. Ordinary grocery shopping is getting more and more Europeanized.
See Also: The Hall, Featuring the Whole Beast and Little Green Cyclo, Now Open on Market Street
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Beyond the small produce section full of winter veggies, and the panoply of upwardly-mobile foodie staples (4505 Uncured Hot Dogs, Drunken Goat Cheese, Hodo Soy everything, INNA Jams, and Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning products) and the microbrewed beer selection (hand-written, by row) and the 150-plus bottles of reasonably priced wine, Bom Dia has some highly appetizing prepared foods. A bell jar full of stacked pomegranate tempeh sandwiches, for example, could not be more inviting if it had an anthropomorphic baguette greeting customers.
All the take-away goods have that kind of Middle Eastern-Mediterranean vibe (some with cooking instructions indicated), which might make the Portuguese name a little confusing, but who can quibble with being told “Good morning,” really?
“We went to the farmers market so you don’t have to,” said one Facebook status update, reinforcing the idea that this is a place you can and should stop in every day (and maybe again at night, for demos from such peeps as
Bread Srsly, makers of San Francisco’s first gluten-free sourdough). There’s something about an all-in-one corner grocery which is actually on the corner that’s just too charming.
Bom Dia Market, 1598 Sanchez, 801-5519.
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