On Monday I told the women working downstairs I was heading off for a walk. I intended on going to Tony's so I asked them if there is anything I can bring back for them. This question never fails to flummox because they cannot shift to imaging anything they might want in the future so I offer suggestions, "Like some top ham to nibble on, with some fantastic cheese, perhaps." They both lit up, "Yeah!" So off I went. Got to Tony's. Closed. For good.
Now I feel bad because I had promised.
So I come back. Hop in my truck and go to Whole Foods. Nearby but just too far to walk that day, having already walked. It's a small one. Sort of a mini Whole Foods. No cars in the lot and that's just crazy. It too is closed. For good.
Damnit.
I live in a top end food desert. Now there are only ordinary places around me. I sure hope something similar sets up in those places.
Trader Joe's set up just a few blocks away. I went there. They have only ordinary ham. I managed to get a few interesting thing and had a great time with the people there. So, no complaints. But what happened to Whole Foods? Did the Amazon team do a cost analysis and determine the place isn't worth the trouble? Did they want something better? Did they need a bigger place? I went online and searched Whole Foods Denver and discovered a new shop set up in the area growing rapidly clustered behind the Union Station.
That whole thing started with an urban renewal push to restore Larimer Square. That was so successful it expanded outward to the adjoining blocks. My favorite places were destroyed for bigger newer buildings. High rise apartments and new businesses filled the old run-down locations that could not be restored. Coor's stadium went in and there went more of my favorite places. The area beyond across the Platte River was built up with similar upscale apartments and shops. Now all the ugly railroad tracks are cleaned up. The Union Station was restored with new line added to the airport. The salvage yards behind the station were all scraped over and built up, a new street added where junky lots existed with a few busy nightclubs. And there went more of my favorite places.
A viaduct was built over the desolation, over the railroad tracks and over the Platte, then a ramp in the center of the viaduct took you down into the depths of that particular hell with enough flat undeveloped area for parking to service two very popular clubs. I used to stand in a crowd on the outside patio at the outer edge of the city beyond the railroad tracks and look at the city from the outside and imagine it as a painting. The composition was perfect. Ground-level railroad tracks crossing from two cardinal directions and an elevated track on an aged rusted bridge, with the new city shining beyond it like Oz, with the railroad cars and the tracks it was a harshly uncompromising super realistic scene. It would make an admirable painting. If that were happening now then my wide angle lens could bring it all. Too late. They're gone now. There is another newer upscale scene taking its place.
I opened Google Earth and pretended to drive there. It's going to be a real mess. Construction all over the place, judging by photos, malls where I need streets to be, construction cones right at the critical spots. I can approach from both sides as pincher movements, but direct access is denied both directions. Either way a last minute detour around the block is required due to some blockage or another. A straight direct path is also available, that one is the most exhausting. A straight walk down Broadway to the corner of 16th where the street bends to accommodate the downtown angle. It's like a large circle set into the grid and the whole grid of streets within the circle rotated 45°. Then take the free mall bus the full length of the mall and walk the remaining blocks behind Union Station. It would be a fun excursion. But I'd be limited to what I can stuff into my backpack.
The new Whole Foods there looks like food heaven. It takes the two floors of a new high rise apartment building. The new street is named Wewatta. Next to Wazee. See, the street needed to start with an X but they added the name of another native Indian tribe starting with W that nobody ever heard of. The new buildings are changing the edge of the city skyline.
173 photos on Yelp.
I got so far as the parking lot then everything changed. The lot was wide open with two attendants. I played around with the two people working there. Joked around with them and had a good time.
Then, very oddly, I encountered Ann Althouse's mother dancing. She was wearing black and looked exactly like Ann except older. I flattered her, but sincerely. My flatters are obvious and corny, but I fucking mean it. I tell her, "I'm going to get some great shots of you, and I mean GREAT!"
So I do. Ann's mother and I hit it off in a kind of stiff-arm remote sort of way. We both have our emotional barriers. We will not be good friends.
Then Ann comes from her work and joins her mother and that's when I get really good photos. They could be twins save for the difference in ages. They goof around together that allows for fantastic photography. I encourage them with the great shots that I'm getting. They're w-a-a-a-a-a-y up there together opening a gray locker and both dressed in black, they both pull out yellow printed umbrellas and open them together, and that black clothes, with two oval faces and two crops of blond hair and two yellow printed umbrellas is the best of all photos boink dream ended.
And all that told me I must hop in my truck and head down to the new Whole Foods. Why the truck? Because I'll probably buy more than I can carry. I tend to overthink these little errands. But I hate getting snarled in downtown traffic.
6 comments:
I'll bet there's a place nearby where you could get a food dessert in the food desert.
Whole Foods is just a horrible place. They have an abundance but it is all horribly overpriced. I shop around to a bunch of places to get what we need.
Now I was not sold on Trader Joe's. The one in Brooklyn is a horror show. I went once and I never went back.
But the one in Long Beach near my Mother-in-Law was a Revelation. The people are very friendly and helpful. Very. I keep telling them that they are in a cult. They just laugh and say it is true. The prices are very competitive. You can only get stuff with their label but that is fine.
For example we buy tons of Almond milk. In a supermarket it goes for $4.00 a container. That is for Silk or Almond Breeze the two main types. Trader Joe's sells their own brand for $2.99. You really can't tell the difference.
So if you do your main shopping in Trader Joe's you do pretty good. But just not for everything. I notice that their veggies are very overpriced. They sell them by the piece. So the banana's for example are 29 cents a piece. Why is that? Because the hipsters who shop in Trader Joe's buy them one at a time. Or buy three potatoes. They don't fill up the cart. So you get your veggies at a regular supermarket like King Kullen or Stop and Shop.
The Meats are much better at Trader Joe's because there is a lot of turnover. There is a limited supply and they are always putting out fresh stuff. So I load up on meats when we are there.
It is all about comparison shopping. You can't get everything in one place.
You mentioned olive oil before.
I remembered this time and bought some. But honestly, there were too many Trader Joe's brands to know with certainty which one is best. We'll see.
Also, there is no comparison between dates. The dates that I buy at regular grocery store are like biting through the carapace of a cockroach. Trader Joe's dates are delicate and luscious.
They have the best 80% ground beef that I've ever tasted.
And their fig Newtons are much better than Nabisco.
Also their parmigiano is a lot less expensive than anywhere else. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like the real deal.
Things at Whole Foods are priced properly. They take much greater care than anywhere else. Their cheese selection is simply extraordinary. Their seafood selection is very careful and so are their meats.
Their bulk bins beat what I can buy at the grocery. Short grain rice for example, semolina flour for another.
Other things you simply cannot find elsewhere. Compare their whole chicken, all very carefully sourced, with, say, Marczyk Fine Foods in Park Hill. $25.00 for a goddamn chicken raised in Boulder Colorado, they're out of their goddamn minds.
So I bought one.
Because I am out of my goddamn mind. I needed to compare. Guess what. It equates with a $5.00 chicken I can buy anywhere.
Whole Foods gets a bad rap. Their people, their customers are beautiful. I find them so. Extraordinarily helpful to genuine questions and open to discussions about food. I tell them what I do with things and they're all ears. They're very real. They love what they're doing. And I find this same thing is true all over, but especially so at Whole Foods.
Where else can you buy as many mustard seeds as you like, brown or yellow, pouring out of a bin into a bag? And have that be less expensive than had you bought half a dozen tins from a regular store.
Stop ragging on Whole Foods or I'll blow up your fucking car. I meant to say just now, please kindly reconsider, but that Freudian slip thing happened again.
Whole Foods serves a niche. I don't fill a shopping cart, I only buy specific items that they carry that I like and cannot find elsewhere. Elsewhere is a lot cheaper.
"Cleaning up" a city destroys it. You get gleaming and new but the special character that made the place a place is gone.
I'd hate to live or work in a building that sells food, retail or dining. When Cub Food opened up here I saw a fairly large rat scampering under the produce bins. If they can invade a store they can invade a home or office.
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