The Market opening

We popped in to check out The Market on Saturday morning. I’ll admit, I had VERY high expectations and as we all know, that never ends well. It was cute and it’s exciting to have something like this in the ‘hood. But a so cal Ferry Building it is not.

I do love that they’re landscaping with edibles. Very cute touch. And the wine bar/gift shop is very great (bonus points for having baby stuff!). The new Curious Palate space is really lovely, it’s exciting to have a sweet cooking school in the mix, and a checkered-cloth, handmade pasta italian spot, but by far the most delicious bit was the Artisanal LA pop-up shop. Le Bon Garçon? Amazing caramels. I don’t even really like caramels and these were so divine I bought and ate an entire bag.

I’m sure we’ll be back often and all, but they clearly should have consulted me when selecting their purveyors! Or at least should have more of them. It does seem a bit sparse. I wanted there to be artisanal pickles and woodfired flatbread and inventive pastries, and Peets coffee, and some sort of awesome taco bar, and… I don’t know. I was picturing (unrealistically) something like Slow Food Nation. Sigh, like I said, high expectations can only end in great big crocodile tears.

All the same, props to Santa Monica for taking the plunge with something so lovely in spirit!

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