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East Bay Eats: Holy New Whole Foods!
What would Batman and Robin think? With its chic industrial/gothic design, the new “market hall” style Whole Foods that opened recently near Lake Merritt in Oakland certainly could be used for a set on the next Batman flick.
(Note: we won’t be defending or condemning the corporation itself here. We instead refer you to Mark Morford’s sharp analysis of the friendly giant.)
We wish we’d known about the opening day festivities, what with an appearance by Paul Bartoli, and free reusable shopping bags to the first 5,000 customers, we would have stood in line. As it was, we made it to the store about 10 days after the September 26 shindig.
On one visit, our husband’s response to the expansive layout, high ceilings, pod-like arrangement of products, and high design was this: “It’s the first Whole Foods I’ve been to that doesn’t make me want to chew my leg off.”
Well said. Although the circular layout could also potentially make us a little stir crazy. As it was, we got dizzy on our first few visits. On one occasion, we were halfway around before realizing we needed a hand-basket, and had to backtrack all the way round to the start to retrieve one.
The main focus of the store seems to be ready-to-eat. There’s so much prepared and ready to be prepared food -- giant steam tables, a pizza and salad and smoothie bar, a Japanese food bar, the much-touted Bistro where we have yet to try the steak frites. Somehow we can’t quite picture either sitting down inside the store to eat such a dish, nor schlepping it home for take out as it seems a shame for such lovely fresh fare to sit and sweat in a box, as compared to the pre-made items which have been sweating a bit already.
Perhaps if we worked nearby? When we visited during the day, the only people enjoying the Bistro were employees themselves, apparently on lunch break.
Some aspects of the layout are confusing. Bottled sodas are on a side wall, facing diagonal aisles of body care products that seem to abruptly switch to crackers. And only this one segment of the store is actually arranged in aisles. The gourmet cheese selection seems inordinately small, and the packaged cheeses are too far from the fancy cheese area. Chili and stews (hot) are by the butcher area (raw) and not with the other prepared foods. Speaking of the butcher area, we have to say that we, being meat fanatics, absolutely love the gigantic glass-doored display case full of sides of cow with the gigantic signage above proclaiming “Dry-Aged Beef.” Amen!
For your sweet tooth: Not only cakes and pies, like other Whole Foods stores, but also artisanal chocolates, and freshly scooped gelato (from Gelateria Naia).
There is a huge seating area with free wi-fi. It’s just too bad that your view is the corner of 27th and Bay streets, looking out on a 7-11, an Acura dealership, a Wheel Works, and a not terribly architecturally interesting old church.
We ourselves had been keeping an eye on the development of the new store for years. We’d heard rumors long before ground was broken that this mountain was coming to Mohammed, witnessed the careful dismantling and salvaging of various parts of the long vacant, cool old Cadillac dealership building set to house it at that spot.
For many years, we lived just a few blocks away, on Harrison Street. Back when we first moved to the area 18 years ago, gunshots and drug deals were de rigueur, and long after those activities died down some, our neighbors were still getting mugged.
It will be interesting to see how this new entity affects the neighborhood.
At least one woman we shared an elevator with expressed her feeling that this store is good for Oakland, that it will build community, and pride. We hope so.
But back to the food: So far, we’ve enjoyed the potato pancakes, meatloaf in tomato sauce, grilled asparagus, and macaroni and cheese. Pancakes were decently crisp, meatloaf well spiced, asparagus tasty, if a smidge more blackened than we would have liked. Overall, our feeling so far is that the take-out food is good here; better than the Whole Foods on Telegraph, about the same as the one in S.F. on Fourth Street.
Now that we’ve read the official press release we’ll have to go back and hunt down the Everett & Jones BBQ station, as that wasn’t perfectly evident on our first few forays.
Do we love this new store? We love the décor. We love the big OAKLAND sign, and all the nifty earth-friendly building materials, especially the recycled glass counters. We appreciate the creative re-use of the old Cadillac building with its elegant façade and giant windows. We’re curious to learn if the Everett & Jones BBQ being served there is made with naturally raised meat. We like the sink in the Body Care section that allows us to test-drive facial cleansers. We appreciate the large parking areas.
But we’re not totally sold. The entrances to the parking lots are on a quirky side street, and people get testy trying to get in and out. The steam table food was way past its prime by 8 p.m. It doesn’t feel like a supermarket to us. Nor is it a restaurant. Maybe this new high-concept hall will just take some getting used to.