All of a sudden, after years of Daily Grocery and Los Compadres but not much else, a couple of other market options have popped up on the west side of downtown, each offering its own kind of thing. Once you figure out what works for what, you might be able to reduce your use of a car for grocery-related reasons, if you live or work in the area. None is as efficient or as affordable as a single big-box trip, but they’re not to be discounted either.
PRINCE MARKET (100 Prince Ave., 706-850-0711): Taking up a chunk of the 100 Prince Building adjacent to The Chapel, formerly St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, on the northwest corner of downtown, this is the most well-rounded option. If you drive, there are convenient parking spaces set aside for quick trips in, and there are doors on both the front and back of the building. Inside, you’ll find something along the lines of the Target downtown, only a bit more interesting and with some extra features. It’s not as big as Kroger or even Bell’s, and name-brand products are most of what you’ll find, but if you need a place to get Doritos and ground lamb and nice oranges and laundry detergent and dog food, here you go.
Prince Market, which is not a chain, also includes a Starbucks, a prepared food counter and an ice cream counter, all on the side of the store that faces Prince Avenue. The ice cream is Hershey’s brand, no relation to the chocolate company, and features 14 flavors, including one vegan and oat milk-based and one Italian ice. The prepared food counter offers soups (not made in house), pizza, salads and sandwiches, and you can order ahead for pickup through the website. It’s fine, not stellar, but the sandwiches are $7 for subs and $8 for toasted ciabatta, which counts as a bargain in the current age. You could also browse around and make yourself a meal out of other stuff in the store, which does carry some local products, like Watkinsville’s Satisfied Food Co. pimento cheese (the smoked variety, known as the Gentle, is tasty) and charcuterie from Atlanta’s Spotted Trotter. Scoops of Alumni Cookie Dough’s products are in a refrigerated case in various flavors. Veggies from Diamond Hill Farm are in the produce section, including beautiful hakurei turnips, daikon and baby lettuces, and there are locally foraged mushrooms.
The store has a better than expected beer and wine section, going beyond Josh and Sutter Home, and unlike Target, sells ways to get your nicotine in the back corner. Wednesdays are student discount days; show your ID and you’ll get 10% off. The store is open Monday through Saturday 8 a.m.–9 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m.–9 p.m.
BIRDIES (497 Prince Ave., 706-850-1711): This is a different critter entirely, not a place to do all your grocery shopping, but a fancy coffee shop with a meticulously selected array of gourmet products (Rancho Gordo beans, Fly by Jing chili crisp, Jose Andres olive oil, Rustic Bakery crackers) and a swanky lunch counter. The former hair salon space has big windows and plenty of elbow room, with seating in both the front and the back. The atmosphere is peaceful, light filled, carefully arranged. Looking for a cheese source to replace the much missed Half Shepherd? This is it, going far beyond brie to things like garrotxa and petit vaccarinus. Want some lovely little anchovies to add to your snack plate? You can find those here, too, as well as good pasta, nuts, olives, chocolate and so forth. The coffee counter serves Methodical coffee and has a selection of viennoiserie from Independent Baking Co. (you can also snag its bread elsewhere in the store).
Lunch comes from a small menu of sandwiches, soups, tartines and salads, and although the prices are not inexpensive ($14 sandwich, $8 cup of soup), they are made with excellent ingredients. And they are very good. A porchetta sandwich with onion jam is softly insistent on the quality of its main ingredient but could benefit from a more substantial roll. A salad made with chicory from Woodland Gardens farm evokes the season, cool, with bright, peppery, bitter notes suggesting early plant growth. A vegetarian leek and wild mushroom chowder is simple but refined. The tartines are Instagrammable (pretty ingredients piled on toasted triangles of good bread) and fresh, but a little hard to eat neatly. The menu changes all the time, according to what’s good right now, and it’s wise to follow along on Instagram at @birdiesathens to see specials and new stuff in the shop. It’s comparable, in terms of price point and cred, to Athens Cooks, across the street under Prince Market, but with more food options to take home and a cheese selection that is better than just about anywhere in town. Birdies is open Tuesday through Friday 7 a.m.–6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.–6 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
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