When I was single and later newly married, Central Market was where you could buy a teaspoon of a new spice to try in a recipe without investing in a whole bottle. A place to try new meats and cheeses, and ingredients from around the world, then return to your non-descript and unworldly apartment. Later, as a personal chef in town, it was where I shopped for clients' weekly groceries and the ingredients for meals to be prepared and frozen. When Janie moved to Austin, she worked in Central Market's bakery department bagging challah and slicing loaves for eager customers.
Then, we moved to suburbia and Central Market was but a delectable memory . . .
Here are recommendations for a lovely Saturday morning at Central Market on North Lamar in Austin with the kids (www.centralmarket.com).
- Before leaving home, make sure everyone goes potty, and has on comfortable clothes and shoes.
- Arrive at the store before it's hopping--by 9 or 9:30 should work. The parking lot will be filling up, but maybe you can find a space close to the family parking section that features a covered cart awning. If you have more than one child, we highly recommend a cart with a big green plastic modification and seat belts for two on its front. Don't forget a modest diaper bag with changes of clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. Wipes are important if you have to clean up messy hands from food samples!
- Buckle any children under age four into the cart.
- Enter the store and make a stop at the customer service register on the right. Pick out some balloons and tie them to the cart or to each child's wrist.
- Proceed through the doors to the produce department and feed the pig immediately on the right. Place a quarter in the pink piggy bank, and each child can choose a piece of fruit as you start your adventure.
- If you are in an educational mode, show the children exotic fruits and vegetables, or varieties of those they are familiar with. Let any unbuckled child load items into the produce bags, i.e. "please get four carrots", then let them punch in the product codes on the scale. If you aren't in education mode, just gather a few appealing things you can't get at your own local store, and proceed. Do not let unbuckled children hang from the suspended produce scales, or eat the crushed ice that is nestled around the veggies.
- In the seafood and meat departments, be sure to check out the crabs, lobster, and on the day we were there, the live crawfish. I picked up some "Fantasy Rolls" in the sushi department.
- Be very, very careful as you make the turn right out of the Seafood/Meat departments. You are about to pass near the hazardous, glass, wine aisles. Unless a bottle grabs your eye on the end displays, or the kids are completely quiet and calm with their hands in the cart, do not go down these aisles. You are asking for trouble.
- Head on to the bulk section on the right. Scoop and weigh anything that catches your eye, and make sure any child walking does not lick the scoops, or try to push his/her arm up the chutes in the bin. Here is a real mom trick for any bulk section. Since you don't want to steal anything and since the kids want to taste, let the kids pick out something they want to try. This snack should get you to through the rest of the shopping trip. Go ahead and scoop out a serving of the bulk snack item each kiddo picks out, then weigh/price it. There--snacking without stealing, and in an individual serving bag. Be sure to save the bag(s) for the checkout aisle when the snack has been consumed.
- Proceed to the health and beauty department. If you like, go to the beauty bar (like a salad bar, full of facial masks and such), and give the kids a sticker for their shirt. These are actually labels for product that say things like "mint julep mask", but who cares?
- Head on to the general grocery items--canned and jarred items, bagged snack foods, baking items, oils. There are usually a couple of samples here. Note the frozen foods section to the right, and just ahead, the glorious, and stinky cheese department. Nectar of the gods . . . manna from heaven. Try some gritty Parmesano-Reggiano cheese, some manchego, whatever the poison of the day. The kids may hold their noses, who cares?
- Make a left out of the cheese department, salivate over the Le Creuset cookware and other beautiful kitchen gadgets to your left. Move on through the dairy department.
- Head to the bakery. There are usually a few great samples, but you can also watch the bakers working and weighing dough. Load a beautiful bread into a brown paper bag, and maybe pick up some warm fresh flour tortillas.
- Pass through the deli, and if you plan to try something new from this department, be sure to ask for a sample.
- Next will be the olive bar, salsas, sauces, and prepared foods. Try the Love Dip or perhaps the Mango Salsa; your tasted buds will thank you. This is a great place to pick up a little pesto rather than buying all of the ingredients to make your own since a little goes a long way.
- Pick up some beautiful flowers for home in the floral department, and maybe a dark chocolate bar for outside.
- Proceed to the checkout.
- Push your cart, and your items out the door, and head into the cafe to the left. Don't give up your cart yet--no need to wrangle the kids just yet. If you need to do a bathroom break, there is a bathroom just inside the cafe.
- Pick up all of the latest free local publications, including Central Market foodie literature. Place in your grocery bag.
- Order lunch at the cafe, and just to the corner of the cafe cashiers, there is a coffee bar if you so choose. The kid portions are very generous, and the kids have snacked all through the store. On the day I went, for four kids I ordered the grilled cheese and fries and the chicken tenders and fresh fruit. Both came with huge drinks that the kids shared. Pick up your drinks, and wheel down the ramp to left side of the cafe.
- Pick a table and unload everyone to wait for your food pager to go off. Tie balloons to the paper shopping bag handles. Take the cart quickly back up the ramp, past the cafe cashiers, and leave cart just outside the entrance to the cafe. Note: While eating outside seems lovely, the day I went was windy and I didn't need to chase napkins. Additionally, the kids find it hard to eat when they keep focusing on the giant playscape and the kids already on it!
- Eat, enjoy sushi, don't let anyone be excused until everyone is done and your table is cleared.
- Proceed outside to play on the playscape. There are lots of kids, so it takes true monitoring to stay on top of where everyone is. I find this is not the time to sit and read a book or the latest issue of "The Chronicle" (http://www.austinchronicle.com/). Save that for home when the kids are napping.
- Play for 30 minutes or so since you don't want any perishables you purchased to spoil, then take the kids to ring the large bell on the deck by the parking lot.
- Head to the potty in the cafe for a potty break and/or diaper changes.
- Load up in the car, and see the drowsy eyes in your rearview. Tune your radio to KGSR, 107.1, and enjoy the ride home. If anyone is available at home, alert them that you may need help carrying the bodies of sleeping children.
