Overview: The Market Place
And there’s good reason why some customers have been coming back for decades.
Who knew that making a trip to the corner liquor store for a bottle of booze could put you face to face with salads, soups, sandwiches and pizzas of restaurant quality?
The Market Place at 2601 Fifth Avenue has been around for more than 50 years. It has always had grocery staples and a sandwich counter, but it wasn’t until 2000 that co-owner David Brown installed a full kitchen, which resulted in the availability of hot foods such as grilled sandwiches, burgers and house-roasted beef.
Even the alcohol selection has grown significantly. The store today carries around 150 brands of liquor and 200 different wine labels.
Fresh pre-made salads hit your eyes immediately upon entering. The refrigerator case is stocked daily with a dozen types.
The balsamic-chicken and Cobb salads are the biggest sellers. In my sporadic purchases, which included salmon, asparagus and spring greens, nary a wilted leaf of lettuce or pale piece of protein ever emerged.
House-made soups include minestrone, albondigas and a soul-warming lemon-chicken soup brimming with orzo and veggies. There’s also chili with beef and beans, not as kicky as I prefer but a decent value at around $4 for eight ounces.
This is where you can score a no-nonsense Reuben sandwich for under $12.
The corned beef is stacked in thin, fluffy layers along with sauerkraut and oozy Swiss cheese—all captured on buttery, grilled rye bread.
You’re given a choice of mustard or Thousand Island dressing — though as any trusty back-Easterner knows, the latter gives the sandwich its necessary tinge of sweetness.
The plump albacore tuna melt with a pickle spear also keeps me coming back. It sells for an easy $11, which is below the average price of $14 at several places within metro San Diego. I always get mine on sourdough.
The tuna inside is tossed with a respectful level of mayo, and topped with a thin slice of American cheese.
Brown sources his breads and rolls from Frank’s Bakery in Spring Valley and Bread & Cie in Hillcrest.
Quality carbs sing to other reasonably priced sandwiches such as the “vegetarian delight” with avocado, Jack cheese and veggies; the turkey-bacon “Californian;” the “Bobby” with roast beef, peppers and three cheeses; and a decent third-pound burger with creamy mustard-based “messy sauce.”
The Market Place makes and bakes its pizza dough onsite. The pies are sold whole or by the slice.
In my most recent visit, I practically launched into a happy cartwheel when discovering that Brown started using cup-and-char pepperoni. These little meat cups each hold an eye drop’s worth of flavorful grease, as opposed to flat discs. To hell with fretting over cholesterol when eating only one or two slices on rare occasions — although as with all of the pizzas here, they’re mantled with hefty payloads of mozzarella, compared to most pizzerias.
Customer traffic at the store is heavy at times, which is why Brown is able to keep prices a notch lower than many other delis.
Service is swift. The food choices are vast.
There are good reasons that some customers have been coming back for decades.
