St. Patrick’s Day 2011 and I find myself home. It’s nice outside, so with all the buzz surrounding yesterday’s grand opening of the Market at Hartford 21 I decide to get on my bike and take a quick ride downtown for a late lunch. Let me preface these observations by saying I am vegetarian, organic-conscious, cheap, but Hartford-centric and hopeful about downtown. Here are my first impressions.
First some media observations: much has been said about The Market at Hartford 21 as the “first” grocery store in downtown. Some media outlets have acknowledged the small deli and convenience market across the street from The Market, Al’s Market, which carries some staple food and household items as well. None that I have seen have acknowledged Rose Gourmet on Pratt Street, which has been providing deli, snacks and a fair amount of everyday items like cleaning supplies, canned goods, and even some pet supplies for probably 7 or more years now.
My first reaction is to the location of the market, which is on the one-way section of Asylum Street west of Trumbull Street. I know that this was largely out of The Market’s control because they were compelled to fit into the predetermined space once slated for Bliss Market. However, why did Hartford 21 choose this spot in the first place? I would think the visibility of Trumbull Street, both during workdays and during events at the XL Center would be more appropriate. It would have likely opened additional parking options for market-goers, which is perhaps the reason Hartford 21 wanted it on Asylum, right next to the entrance for its own garage.
Some positive first impressions: aesthetically the market inside is very cool. Though it’s a bit dark lighting-wise and I couldn’t tell why, the design is open and accessible. It’s easy to see what sections are what. The coffee bar area is appropriately off to the far right and has its own cash register. The seating for eating in is in front of the store and out of the way. One of the most positive aspects of The Market is its localness. The owners are local, not a huge corporate chain, and many locals have been hired to work there. Even as I was wandering around, a couple folks were filling out applications. Local painter extraordinaire, Tao Labossiere, created a fantastic vintage looking collage of old food and product labels on the partial wall near the eating area. Hopefully, they will provide local produce from the many farms in our area.
Now, some of my complaints are probably due to my arrival time, around 2:30pm and the store was no doubt recovering from the lunch time rush. One slice of the white bean pizza was left. The pizza maker tells a customer that a new white bean pizza is in the oven. The one other vegetarian pizza option is Margherita and is all gone. The pizza slices are a bit small for the $3.50 price tag, and I will probably stick with other downtown pizza makers like the Asylum Cafe or Pietro’s where the portions are much bigger.
Additional notable critical observations: few organic options and a lot of mainstream brands, but some standouts – Amy’s soups and frozen items, Green and Black’s chocolate, Newman’s Own, and Bunny Love. Produce section is compact, but seemed fresh. Again, though, a notable lack of organics. I was in the mood for ready-made sushi, but there was no vegetarian sushi available (again, probably because of my timing), but they did have some brown rice sushi, which is a good sign.
For prepared meals, as a vegetarian, I was a little disappointed. Nine dollars for a salad seems a bit steep and why not just do it by weight? For nine dollars I’ll just go to a sit-down restaurant. I passed on the salad. For my lunch, I settled on the noodle bar which has two price-conscious options – 16 oz ($5) and 32 oz ($8). Lots of choices of ingredients, again picked pretty clean by the lunch rush. The noodles were hearty and delicious, as was the broth. The noodle bar has a nice variety of sauces as well. It was a bit heavy on the meat – three different kinds of meat, but only broccoli, snap peas, and sprouts as main veggies, and scallions, lime and ginger for flavor. The odd thing about the sizes, though, is that I was given the same amount of noodles when I ordered the 32 oz. as the previous customer who ordered the 16 oz., which seemed odd.
One huge pet peeve of mine is that The Market had many items without prices on them! I was reminded by a friend that the whole store was put together in five weeks, so I guess I should cut them some slack. But, as price is always a concern at upscale stores for downscale people like me, I don’t want to feel like they’re hiding something from the customers. Nobody wants to be unpleasantly surprised at the checkout counter. Speaking of which, there are only three checkouts outside of the coffee one, and not a lot of space for lines. Not sure if this is intentional. Certainly one positive of this arrangement would be that people might linger more and browse as they wait for the lines to thin.
Overall, the vibe of The Market is positive. I think many people, including myself, want it to succeed. I will be heading back to do more a grocery list test. A final note of optimism? As I was walking through the store, I passed by New Haven Mayor John DeStefano. Could it be that the mighty New Haven is a bit jealous?
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