A VERY Special Place

Two weeks ago, on  Saturday, Craig and I drove 61 miles to our favorite grocery store.  

A grocery store unlike any we have ever experienced before. 

 A grocery store that is like Whole Foods on steroids!

What Quartzside is to RVers, Berkeley Bowl is to Foodies! 

(Except I understand that some of the things for sale in Quartzside are not exactly the best.)

 If you ever come to the San Francisco Bay area, go see the Golden Gate, eat in China Town, visit the corner of  Height and Ashbury, then go across the bay to Berkeley, and see this phenomenal store.

Note: there is no place to park an RV.  But you can park your car or truck in the parking lot or on the street.

You may be wondering, what can be so exciting about a grocery store?

All I can do is share a few pictures:

More than 25 kinds of apples

          

                      SOME of the Melons. 

 Notice the entire back wall area is varieties of oranges and tangerines.

 

Bananas:  Perfectly ripe, or very green.  

The Organic ones were in a different part of the store.

Part of the pepper selection. 

AND   The prices are less than a regular store's!

These are all mushrooms!  

We were disappointed to find the Morel bin empty, But we did get some dried. 

In the tropical  fruit area there were the usual than pineapple, mangos and papayas of many different varieties, and many exotic fruits that you don't usually see at Safeway. 
 I've written about the Dragon Fruit and Chimoya we bought that day. 


The fruit in the picture above is called a Buddha's Hand.  
According to the web it is  not for eating, but is used for decor and fragrance.

In some stores you might find a sad little box of fruit or vegetables that are a bit to old to sell at full price, but not quite ready for the trash bin. 


 At the Berkeley Bowl there is a large stand full of bags of ripe, but still very nice produce.  There was a crowd around it filling their baskets with bargains.  The bald guy in the back looks like a University Professor to me!

The above pictures are only a small part of the produce section of the store.  There are huge selections of salad greens, potatoes, root vegetables, herbs, and of course a large Organic selection.  

Many stores are offering  Bulk  foods these days.

 This is one side of the Bulk Foods area,

This is the other.

You will have to come yourselves to discover the rest of the store.  Meats, seafood, deli, cheeses, breads, and even mundane things like canned goods and laundry supplies.

For us it's worth the 122 mile round trip. 

Not every week.   But worth the drive every couple of months.  It's one place we will miss when we leave this part of the country that for sure!


Was (or still is) there a special store in your home town?