City Market Co-op in Burlington, VT

I am a big fan of City Market. It has a great location right in town, although the parking lot suffers a little because of this. Their produce section is great. They have a place to order sandwiches, and their prepared foods are pretty good. My favorite is probably the curried cauliflower. They have a pretty good meat section, although there is not as much of it as you would get other places. In addition to this, it is not the best place to get fish. Most of the time, the fish is pretty good, but sometimes there is not a good variety or it has been there a couple days. When Healthy Living first opened, I was not the biggest fan, and I was very loyal to City Market. Healthy Living’s aisles were not filled, and they were still adjusting. As they became fully staffed and fully moved in, they surpassed City Market, and I now take the extra few minutes to head over there 90 percent of the time. The meat and fish and produce here, as well as the wine and cheese section, are not quite as impressive as those at Healthy Living. Yet it is still a market where one can find quality ingredients, and it is most certainly better than most.

07/25/2009

Healthy Living Market in South Burlington, VT

Considering the fact that this is a grocery store, I believe it is as good as it gets. Or at least as good as I have seen it. Maybe an open air market somewhere with many vendors could one up it.

eI go here a lot. Yes, the aisles can be a little confusing. But that usually means I end up somewhere unexpected, and even after shopping here since it opened, I still find new things. The produce (very fresh), cheese, meat, cafe, and bulk sections are all great. The butcher there is a trained chef, and he provides many things that you cannot get at a place like City Market. For example, I was there today (as I am pretty much every day), and I walked out with fresh, wild caught sardines, a live blue crab that ended up in a sandwich I made for lunch, and a complimentary serving of some excellent head cheese made with spring garlic. I had it at dinner, along with a little in the afternoon, and it was great.

There are more cheeses here than I have time to look through, a great wine section, and in the prepared food section, I can always find something I want to eat. The only problem I have with the store is that I can’t spend as much $ as I would like there. There is always something I have to leave without because I am a struggling student. Poor me…?

07/07/2009