So it's finally here.

After years of promises and preparations, Whole Foods has finally opened another branch in the city and it happens to be right around the corner (quite literally!) two blocks from our apartment. It's the first supermarket in the South of Market neighborhood in 20 years, and I have admittedly high expectations...not only will it greatly enhance our quality of life (there's currently not a grocery store or market within walking distance), but I'm hoping it will bring some revitalization to an area that's sorely in need of improvement. Hopefully Whole Foods will treat the SOMA neighborhood with respect, because we're sure happy they're here.

But enough about urban renewal...let's get to the food. M and I made our first trip to the new store on Thursday night to do a full shopping trip for the next two weeks or so. I drove (which I'm hoping not to do very often) so I could check out the parking (small, tight, annoying...just like the WF on California) and M met me on his way home from work. On his way home from work! A grocery store! Finally!

I'm ashamed to admit that in my first trip through the store I was wholly intimidated (no pun intended). I love grocery stores, but I'm most efficient when I know my way around and I spent the good part of an hour feeling out of my element and annoyed at myself for feeling that way. This store is a classic city layout: simultaneously gigantic and compact with lots of little nooks and crannies that you don't want to miss. Since the store had only been open for one day, everyone was equally ill at ease, wheeling carts around aimlessly and moving in circles around each department trying to find the best way in and out of the aisles.

Part of this discombobulation extends from the fact that this store offers expanded cheese, seafood, and prepared food sections. The prepared food area is as large as some food-by-the-pound sections in New York delis with a ton of hot trays, a huge salad bar, and a gigantic display of sushi. The cheese case is by far the largest I've seen anywhere in the city, at least triple the size of the other WF store. And the seafood...well...let's just say the only places in the city I've seen as many whole fresh fish are Asian groceries and Chinatown.

Of course, despite being thoroughly overwhelmed and excited, I managed to fill my cart rather quickly. The store reveals itself to be beautifully laid out; one can move from produce to fish to meat and then to the inner aisles and then back to cheese and wine without backtracking once. The meats looked outstanding (we'll have to compare to our current favorite Golden Gate Meat Co. in the Ferry Plaza market), and the produce contained many more Asian vegetables (there's an Asian retirement community next door) which I hope will inspire some cooking experiments soon.

I managed to find everything M and I need to survive (heh), and was very pleasantly surprised to find a few rare favorites - mini Epoisses cheese wheels (yes...I know it's not real epoisses, but it's a good substitute until I can smuggle more in the country) and Lillet Rouge (very hard to find in SF...Lillet Blanc is everywhere, but Rouge - my preference - is scarce). They're also selling local, non-hormone fed (Clover) eggs cheaply, which is a nice change from spending $3 on eggs each week.

My only complaint is that the freezer cases are in the back of the store (I like to hit these last, so nothing melts) and I wasn't overwhelmed by the breads (though it was the end of the day, so I'll return in the morning and reevaluate). I was also a little unnerved by all the little old Chinese ladies puttering around and poking their fingers in everything, but since I'll probably putter and poke myself when I am their age, I'll survive.

Already the new store has inspired various cooking ideas which I'll be sure to detail as they happen. For example, this week will be "new foods week" where I attempt to cook/cook with ingredients that are underused in our kitchen. Also, inspired by Clotilde (when am I not inspired by Clotilde?), I've decided to find and buy and use small delicacies when I visit the grocery store. (The key word here being USE...I tend to buy interesting little items and then let them rot.) This week's purchase? Dried fig spread, bought to go with some lovely brie, and already used in another somewhat successful recipe (more tomorrow).

Our verdict? So far, so good. I'm sure once the store becomes more familiar to all shoppers it will be less chaotic and overwhelming. For now, though, I'm just so glad it's open that I'll forgive the chaos.

And now, I'm done. M has just informed me we're out of beer and so we're going to take a walk to Whole Foods to grab some more.