There's been quite a bit of buzz about the market on Market Street that happens to be called The Market, and the 22,000-square-foot food hall-slash-gourmet grocery opened recently. I got a whirlwind, T-minus-19-hours tour that involved hurried handshakes, dodging carts full of products destined for the shelves, and a peek at the butchery's debut cow, which was being sawed apart. (That's a polarizing sight, sure, but I was mesmerized.)
The main takeaway is that this flagship store, the first and largest of a planned three, is more like a Whole Foods than a Bi-Rite. Hours are 9 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, although Four Barrel and its lounge are pulling shots starting at 7 a.m. weekdays for the rise-and-tweet set.
Once inside, you realize just how large 22,000 square feet is, as the interior, not unlike a casino, goes on and on: a pizzeria, a wine section, a taco bar with spicy rock shrimp and llano seco carnitas tacos, and aisle after aisle of locally sourced, upscale or otherwise delectable goods. There's a massive cheese section where everything's cut to order and all the wheels have explanatory pennants poking out of them. (No more paralyzing confusion du fromage!)
Among The Market's many subtenants are San Rafael's EO Products (complete with a refill station, where you can load up on rose and chamomile bubble bath or organic skin care products by weight) and the entrancing, nigiri-heavy Sushi Oyster Bar, positioned in the building's most visible corner for maximum pedestrian envy. Artisanal chocolatier Nuubia, previously an online-only affair, is opening its first brick-and-mortar, as well.
Azalina's Malaysian opens on Feb. 2, and Blue Bottle follows in March. (I was a little awestruck by how they managed to wrangle both Blue Bottle and Four Barrel under the same roof, but they're situated in opposite corners, and Blue Bottle can only be accessed from 10th Street or Stevenson Alley, to minimize any territorial Chemex-rattling.) While the tapas bar and its house-cured meats and sausages won't be serving grilled cheese with burrata or a tarte flambé just yet, the beer and wine taps will be open.
And everything is conspicuously sustainable, as you might expect, but The Market has gone the extra mile by hiring some 60 percent of its 110-member staff from within District 6, which comprises SOMA and much of the Tenderloin, which ought to undercut the argument that this building represents nothing but gentrification on hyperdrive. And speaking of which, don't call it the "Twitter Building"; it's "Market Square." The tech giant was always just one tenant among many, and now it's an even fuller house over there.
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