Thanks again for making a local choice!

(ed. note)Please feel free to leave a comment and your email address using the form below.  We will keep your information confidential and respond to you just as quickly as possible.  Of course, you can always let us know in other ways:  call us, social media, email us, tell one of our staff at the market and send smoke signals.  Please note- we may not be able to respond to smoke signal messages. 

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You might have noticed something new has taken the front-and-center spot on our juice bar menu: ginger shots and wheatgrass shots. And some of you have been wondering: what? Why? What will this do for me? Does it taste good?

Well, we could tell you how much the Local Choice staff loves them, but we thought we’d get a professional (nutritionist) to answer your questions. So we gave Maria Zilka a call. She’s one of the practitioners at Nature Cures Clinic, a naturopathic and Chinese medicine healthcare facility in downtown PDX. Maria and her colleague Dr. Greg Eckel actually designed our smoothie and juice bar menu, to have options that are healthful and regenerative in addition to being delicious!

Local Choice: Thanks for chatting with us, Maria! So let’s get right to it: why are ginger and wheatgrass so healthy in general?

Maria Zilka: No problem! To start with, ginger is a great anti-everything. It’s anti-inflammatory, anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-histamine, and it’s really powerful stuff. It’s actually an herb, but we’ve use the root part (rhizome) for centuries for pain reduction. It’s used in all kinds of conditions, like in cancer patients for nausea relief—its good for motion sickness and pregnant women because of that, too. It’s very safe.

Wheatgrass, on the other hand, is effective in improving digestion and detoxing. And it’s great for helping circulation and blood flow in the body. It’s rich in vitamin b12—interestingly, this comes from a microorganism that lives on wheatgrass rather than the grass itself. B12 is good for boosting energy, too.

LC: Sounds great. How should the average person go about taking a shot—is it better with food?

MZ: Absorption on an empty stomach is definitely easier with either wheatgrass or ginger, but ginger is powerful so I’d recommend they be prepared!

LC: Right, ginger has that spice to it.

MZ: Exactly. Some people might prefer to stir a little apple juice into the shot. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s also incredible—with any kind of inflammation, such as arthritis, there will be immediate pain reduction. You can get used to the heat of the shot, you just have to be ready for it with that first one! [Ed. note: this is one of the reasons we give fresh orange slices with both shots.]

LC: We definitely have our ginger shot regulars! And how about wheatgrass?

MZ: Again, I’d recommend the empty stomach for full absorption. Some people love it though, and some people might feel nauseated the first time around. It’s always kind of an individual thing. But wheatgrass has been used in alternative medicine since the 1930s, actually, so it’s been around for awhile! It’s so rich in phytonutrients. Since we can’t actually digest grass, the extraction technique allows us to get to these nutrients, which is pretty great.

LC: Agreed. How often would you say is healthy to take these shots? Every day, once a week?

MZ: You really can’t overdo it—there are no side effects to either ginger or wheatgrass, but it’s really such an individual thing. I probably wouldn’t do a wheatgrass shot every day. They can be powerful stuff, taste-wise! Some people love to do one every day, some people won’t like that.

LC: Any suggestions for alternative ways to take the shots, other than just straight up?

MZ: They’re great to add to any of the smoothies and green juices Local Choice has on the menu for an anti-inflammatory or a digestive boost. Ginger pairs really well with apple, pear, or citrus, for example, and wheatgrass will be great thrown into any of the green juices. [Ed. note: try adding ginger to the #2, and wheatgrass to the #4!]

LC: Yum. Are we trendsetters by offering these shots? How long have you seen this kind of thing take Portland by storm?

MZ: Well, these kind of nutritional boosters have been around since the 60s. [Ed. note: Ok, no trendsetting here.] The hippie movement started it, really, with the natural food movement as part of the rebellion against government-imposed industry. This kind of awareness faded out in the 80s, but is back now, especially in a place like Portland. This is a pretty unique city! The foodie industry here is both culinary and focused on health and well-being. It’s about education—on what’s happening to the food supply, but also about eating healthy food that tastes good!

Check out Maria’s Nature Cures Clinic here. And make sure to stop by Local Choice on Friday afternoons to say hi to Maria! She’ll be here talking about naturopathic medicine and advising customers about juice and smoothie bar choices optimized for their specific dietary and curative needs. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates on Maria’s visits and other news!

The post Good Question! Ginger and Wheatgrass Shots… What? appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

Web Guy, sure. More like a Web Renaissance Man.

If you’ve heard of our events and sales at the Market through ads, flyers, or emails, you’ve seen (some of) Dylan’s work. Willamette Week Beer Guide ad? Dylan. Neighborhood Market Dinner flyers distributed throughout the Pearl? Dylan. Programmable keychain fob for our Loyalty Program member? Dylan. You get the idea.

An example of Dylan’s ad design.

So who is the man behind all this work?

A bass player, a videographer, and an ardent Portland enthusiast, for starters.

Dylan’s side projects include designing the website for Murderbait, his dark-ballad-crooning accordion band that performs at bars like Lovecraft and the Alberta Rose Theatre. You might catch him “in vests and long sleeves” rocking a “steampunk, old-timey, Portland chic” with his bandmates.

Some lucky days you might catch him at the Market like that, too (see picture above!).

Dylan’s typically juggling a few projects and a coffee, as pictured here.

A native of Idaho, Dylan moved to Portland in ’00. “I love this city. It’s what I call a ‘walking distance city’—I love that if you want to walk from one side to the other, you can.” Dylan adds, “It’s full of kind-hearted people not caught up int he rush. They’re nice, they’re happy to stop and tell you where to go.”

Like a true Portlander, Dylan takes TriMet from his SE home to the Pearl—at least until it gets nice enough to break out his “beast” of a touring bike, a treasured, pewter-colored 1984 Miyata. “It’s got what I call a don’t-steal-me paint job,” he says with a laugh. “It’s all faded and dull, with a rust spot or two. I even put a commuter handlebar on it. It’s a highly functional, non-pretty bike. No one’s taking that thing.”

Dylan has a few things up his sleeve for the next few months at the Market, namely, bringing in his love of videography to the Market’s social media projects. “It’s an artform that hasn’t been pushed to the max yet,” Dylan says. “There’s artistic breadth left there.” His all-time favorite movie? “Terry Gilliam flicks,” and adds, “Brazil has the best movie ending ever. It’s not for everyone, but everyone should give it a try!” [Ed. note: probably not youngsters or the particularly squeamish!]

Another example of Dylan’s graphic designs.

What video work will you be seeing from Dylan at the Market? “I’m excited about the summer. I plan on filming on-site interviews with local farmers and producers, spotlighting them in their own environment and showing how close our food producers are to us.”

Until then, come in and say hi to Dylan. You might find him programming the registers, sitting with his laptop at the bar, or enjoying lunch at a community table. Just look for the stylish fedora!

The post Spotlight on: Dylan Croft, Web Designer appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

A three-day party at that!

So we did. Our official Grand Opening, March 22-24, came two months after the first time we rolled open our garage doors. It was a weekend bonanza of vendor tastings, product specials, live music, and meeting even more of the neighborhood. We had a great time!

Check out some photos of the event below, and thank you to all who came and participated!

So the party begins!

We tapped some sparkling rosé for the occasion.

A montage of the products we had on special all weekend. Such a big hit!

Hard at work, repping the Local Choice team.

We had Sons of Malarkey play during Happy Hour in the sun-dappled Market!

Portland PediCab offered complimentary rides to Local Choice guests all weekend.

Don having a coffee with First Lady Nancy Hales and her husband the Mayor of PDX Charlie Hales.

…and here they are signing up to for our Loyalty Member program! Yes, Ms. Hales is sporting a Local Choice hat here.

We packed the Market out with vendor tastings all weekend. So many wonderful local businesses participated!

Tyler from Olympic Provisions made an appearance! Here he enjoys a beer next to our salami display.

We ended the weekend with something sweet…

…of which this booth was a big hit! $4 pints all weekend!

What a great weekend. Thanks to all who came, and we’ll see you in the Market soon!

The post Local Choice Produce Market’s official Grand Opening weekend appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

Have you ever walked into Local Choice and found yourself lingering over the department signs we have hanging throughout the space?

It’s hard not to—hand-painted on reclaimed wood and featuring typeface in the style of the year our building was built (1931), they’re a distinctive part of our open-air, European market aesthetic.

Have you ever wondered who’s behind them?

Meet Shazi Smith, our in-house signmaker.

“It’s about conveying more than information to customers,” Shazi says of her collection at Local Choice. “It’s about inspiring people, to try a new recipe, throw a party, or just think something is lovely.”

Shazi’s own inspiration came from typefaces of the early 1900s art nouveau and art deco eras, and she admits to loving fonts that “scream what era they’re from.” She was conscious of tailoring the ornate decorative aesthetic so distinctive of that era to fit the industrial space of Local Choice, creating entirely new typefaces in the process. “I didn’t want to clutter anything up,” Shazi says. “I simplified them to match the clean lines of the subway tiles.”

The subway tiles were one of the only things in place at Local Choice during Shazi’s 14-hour days making the signs in her parents’ garage, which doubles as her studio. Without the lighting fixtures and produce stands that are now part of the Market, she relied on the feel of the raw, huge space as the foundation for the look of her signs.

“One of the greatest things about the market in my opinion is that you can see through it,” she says. “Not wanting to block off light and keeping it airy was a priority, especially with signs hanging in the middle of the space.”

Having already decided to work with reclaimed wood to mirror the Douglas fir of the bar top, Shazi went to the Rebuilding Center to find solid doors and planks. There, she also found the perfect element for the airiness she was looking for: old multi-paned windows.

One of those became the Dairy sign, which she claims as her favorite. “It looks like butter, with the light shining through it. I just want to eat it!” She laughs. “It gives it a county fair feel, reminds me of blue ribbons and fat-pig competitions.”

Shazi has had both formal and informal art training, and most recently worked as an in-house chalkboard artist at another local grocery store. “I’ve been making things my whole life,” she says. Combining creativity with a sense of history in making work is important, she goes on. “I try to pay homage to culture.”

The signs’ retro, polished look is a result of that attention to history and detail, and Shazi has plans for many more to come. “Big plans, especially as we get more produce and product in.”

For now, you might find Shazi sitting at one of our community tables designing new work, or taking a few barista shifts behind our coffee bar. Come down and say hi, and by all means, take those few moments to linger in front of the signs!

The post Spotlight on: Shazi Smith, In-House Signmaker appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

Starting this weekend, March 8, we’re offering our Chicken Dinner specials from 4pm-close, with some beef and veggie options, too. Choose either herb-roasted chicken, meat loaf, or veggie farm roast as your main dish, add two sides from our deli, and enjoy the meal with us at the Market or taken to go!

And one more thing: if you’re dining at the Market for Chicken Dinner, your first round of house wine or pint of draft beer is on us.

Happy weekend!

Chicken Dinners at Local Choice
$14.95
Loyalty Members enjoy $2 off!
Not a Loyalty Member yet? Sign up with us next time you’re at the Market!

The post Chicken Dinners at Local Choice appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

Local Choice is looking for an acoustic solo musician or small band to play at our First Thursday event on March 7th! We’ll be hosting tastings and inviting the neighborhood to come through, have a drink, meet new friends, and enjoy the tunes of local musicians.

To continue our community involvement, we’d like you to nominate some of your favorite local bands. We’re looking for everything from your friend’s two-piece banjo duo to your own Bill Withers cover band. We’re happy to have such great musical talent in Portland, and we want to highlight it! Once we have your application in, we’ll choose the best fit for our Market event.

How to apply/nominate: Acoustic bands only, please. Send us a brief bio and an audio clip at events@localchoicemarket.com with the subject heading First Thursday Music. Audio clips can be embedded, attached, or linked.

Deadline: Monday, March 4th

The post Looking for a band of Locals! appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

“You’re Local Choice Produce Market. Why isn’t all of your produce local?”

At Local Choice Produce Market, we define “local” as being grown in either Oregon or Washington, and during the winter season local produce is very limited because of our climate.

If we carried only locally grown produce right now, we’d have a very limited selection to offer to the neighborhood. This includes staples that our customers eat every day, like cucumbers, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, berries, that perfect fresh yellow bell pepper for your mushroom sauté tonight—even lettuce isn’t grown locally in the winter. So when we can’t get local, we get organic.

You heard that right. All of the produce at Local Choice that isn’t currently available locally, is certified organically grown. As far as we know, we’re the only daily market in town making this commitment. (If we’re wrong, please tell us!)

We share Portland’s love of seasonal produce and we’re also happy to be able to offer some wonderful seasonal fruits and vegetables that are certified organically grown—like blood oranges, to be sliced on your morning French toast or included as a lunchbox snack.

So what can you eat in the wintertime that is locally grown?

We’re working hard to give the locavores plenty of options in these months. Produce lady Mallory suggests our Savoy cabbages from Washington, and is enthusiastic about turning the neighborhood onto edible sprouts that can be grown in the home windowsill: radish, broccoli, and baby pea shoots, to name some. Add a baguette, local butter, our fresh Frog Eye wasabi (just grate over the butter!) and you have a meal fit for a locavore king.

Washington’s wintertime apple season is well underway, and we’re fully stocked with Galas, Empires, and of course, a mountain of Fujis—our co-founder Don’s favorite.

And speaking of dining like locavore royalty, venture over to our root vegetable section, where beautiful parsnips, baby turnips, and beets abound. Pair these with a few local spuds and half of a Washington red onion. Dinner is served!

Last but not least by any means, what to pair that delicious dinner with?

Just steps away from our produce department, you’ll find our butcher shop with incredible, locally raised grass feed beef, our cheese case where every drop of milk in the cheese is from local animals, and the beer fridge stocked with Oregon ciders and brews. We might suggest Upright’s fantastic dark rye (look for their #6) or Caldera’s mellow IPA… but the beer pairing post is for another time. Come on in, take a look, and let us know how you used our fresh produce in the comments below!

For an in-depth look at how we define “local,” and to read about our standards and mission, please see the links below:

Our Market

Standards

About Us

The post Good Question! Local Choice, Local Produce? appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

The beauty of winter produce isn’t necessarily in the types of vegetables that are in season, but in the variety within each type. While butternut squash and kale are lovely, branching out will keep your kitchen repertoire fresh and give you the widest range of nutrients. If you’ve been roasting sweet potatoes all season, switch in parsnips or Japanese yams. Love kale and chard? Try mustard greens and collards. Replace butternut squash with acorn or delicata squash, and swap crimini mushrooms for chewy shiitakes or earthy chanterelles. All of these cold weather treats pair terrifically with one another, so you can’t go wrong mixing and matching. Try combining a root, a green, a gourd, and a mushroom, and topping with a savory sauce or strong cheese. If you need inspiration, come browse our produce department—you might find new varieties you didn’t even know existed.

The post Winter Harvest appeared first on Local Choice Produce Market.

What unique perspective and experience do you bring to the Local Choice Advisory Board?

My perspective comes from the blend of being a native Oregonian, a food lover, an entrepreneur, a marketing professional, a working mother, and a supporter of locally based organizations—both for-profit and nonprofits. I was brought on as the food hat. They really wanted somebody who brought a deep knowledge of marketing combined with food, so that’s where I bring a lot of strengths. And having built businesses in Oregon before, I know the ins and outs of what it takes.

How have you participated in the development of this exciting new market?

As an advisory board member, I have provided ideas and feedback as they’re gearing up to roll out and advised on some of their planning. I also occasionally provide public and political support.

What is different or exciting to you about Local Choice—what are you most looking forward to?

Local Choice is a great concept. I was excited to be a part of it due to the mission, which was to source and support everything local. I think there have been similar concepts but they’ve done a wonderful job reaching out to the community and getting people on board. I like the idea of supporting the local economy through Local Choice. Consumer dollars spent here at Local Choice stay here in the local economy to support local growers, farmers, producers, distributors, cooks, and employees. I am selfishly most looking forward to being a customer of a market whose focus is on locally produced food, that is handled, sold or prepared by talented local artisans and food-lovers.

How do you plan to help Local Choice with their expansion plans?

What’s most critical to me right now is helping Local Choice succeed as a single location business. My expertise is going to be focusing on helping them learn more about their customers’ habits and lifestyles, and giving them advice on that consumer experience. I will also help to provide feedback on their products, and their channels of business. To me, it’s so important to get a good strong model for this market and look ahead as we do our planning. I think that a great business could emerge from what they’re on to.

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