Whole Foods comes closer

A monumental day in our happy Chicago gaybourhood: Whole Foods is open and doing business. And what business it is! So many samples to snack on tonight. It's a wonder we even bothered with dinner!

Yes, I know some of the criticisms of Whole Foods. Expensive. Anti-union. And more. But I gave up on Treasure Island's meat a long time ago because of the smell in that area of the store, and the night I bought salmon from Jewel and had to sauce it heavily to mask the odor I swore off all but chicken from that store. And barely that. We've been buying produce and meat from Whole Food for some time now. Add in cheese and dried goods and even wine, and, well, there's not a lot we need from other grocery stores.

Whole Foods was a bit of an expedition for us, however. A trip there required a car. Now I can get off the Red Line at Addison or the Halsted bus at Graceland and just walk over to the new GLBT community center. The store - and all credit to them for this - anchors the new center.




Ah yes, Whole Foods knows of the power of the gay dollar. Smart.

It opened this morning, and we made plans with Rachel
to stroll over, buy our dinner, and eat on the deck at her apartment building. This was a good decision. The evening was so pleasantly warm, and it was easy to put things on plates and dine. Some turkey meatloaf; a baguette and a wedge of Cocoa Cardona cheese; a little antipasti selection of garlic marinated olives, cornichons, roasted red pepper, and an artichoke spread with little balls of mozzarella; Marcona almonds; something of a Greek salad. We sipped a Babich Pinot Noir and capped the evening with Rainier cherries and a Vosges Barcelona bar (my favourite!).





So, no more big journeys for groceries every couple of weeks. Now it will be stopping in to buy some meat and veg for dinner, maybe a bit of fun cheese or some other treat. The neighbourhood will change and adapt because of the new Whole Foods, but I, for one, am delighted! As is Conrad!

;-)