Episode five:week One-Vine Ripe Market and Cuisine

Vine Ripe Market was closed in 2008 and re-opened January 1, 2010...updates soon. (Hint-fresh hot flatbread at the bakery when you walk in, hot foods, Boars Head meats and more...and the restaurant is great too!) 

 

mmm-yoso is on vacation.  The part usually played by Kirk will be played by Cathy in the interim.

OK.  Another day and I continue to blog. I like variety in my life and try not to repeat certain things, like the nationality of food I eat daily...burrito for breakfast, then veggies and cheese for lunch and then probably something best eaten with chopsticks for dinner.... you know... I do like fresh fruits and vegetables, and have a small garden for that, but I find myself stopping at whatever fresh produce place I can find, daily, looking for munchies when the garden is winding down. One of my regular stops is Vine Ripe, in La Mesa.

The "official" name I see on the flyers I get in the mail is "Vine Ripe International Market and Cuisine" and its website is very well put together. It shows the weekly specials, the daily specials AND allows you to sign up for a text message of the daily specials, as well as having the menu for the adjacent, wonderful restaurant which serves Halal meats and everything else fresh from the market it shares space with in the building.

I took a few photos inside the market. (You can click onto any of them and they enlarge).

This is part of the produce section.  Lots of selection, good prices, daily specials AND always a shopping cart of marked down packaged veggies and fruits that are right on the edge of ripeness and will only last a day more.

  Bulk feta cheeses (this is about half of what is available) and bulk olives (there are 12 tubs like this- these are Moroccan oil cured @ $2.69/lb)

Refrigerated cheeses-3 different brands of Halloumi...and an aisle of sauces, mustards, purees, pickled vegetables. The products sold here are from all over the world- Germany, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece.  There are canned and jarred varieties of just about anything you can think of.

Then, in this aisle of mixes, there is this  "Cheesecake Aid" stuff.  I am unsure what kind of  aid a cheesecake might require, but next time I make one and think I need aid, well, I know right where to look.

Apparently, there is a need for it.

These are the selection of frozen filo doughs.

Those are the frozen lamb heads, $1.29/lb.

The selection of Halal meats is all inclusive. People were milling about in the Meat Department and I didn't get a photo.

Now remember the name, its a Mediterranean market, not "Greek"...

The vegetarian plate- Spinach pie, falafel, hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanouj and a feta cheese salad with pita bread. ($8.95) Excellent, fresh made everything and quite enough food.  Its spinach pie, not spanakopita.  The dough is more of a piroshki type and the filling is mostly fresh spinach and mild spices, no feta.

The gyros sandwich ($4.95)..not your typical. Its stuffed lavosh bread, gyros meat, a "graecian" sauce and greens- meaning lettuce and pickle..(you read that right-pickle).. Then the bread is grilled and the sandwich served with a salad.  It is not huge, but it is quite enough food to make a meal, filling and wonderfully flavorful.

Oh, here is the menu, but you can also view it on the website.www.vineripemarket.com

Ah, Mediterranean food...dessert...

They make them all in the in-store bakery.

The menu includes  lamb kafta, beef or chicken shawerma kabobs (shawerma is *sort* of more slouvlaki than gyros, as far as spices go), chicken and beef gyros, salmon, tilapia, trout, catfish and shrimp dishes.

Nothing is bad here. Really.

Vine Ripe Market 8191 Fletcher Parkway (at Jackson-same parking lot as Chili's and one parking lot north of the LM Costco) La Mesa 91942 (619) 462-9900

Comments

[dave]

good post! after moving to san diego from astoria, queens a couple years ago, i have missed good fresh feta and good olives. i recently discovered north park produce (via this blog), but this place looks even better!

thanks!

[cathy]

Hi dave. I do go to NPP when I am in the area, but I do like Vine Ripe a little bit more of course because of the restaurant. Plus, I like the website and the way they are making an effort to communicate their stuff in so many ways.

[Alice Q. Foodie]

I have been curious about this place but haven't made it in - it's in my neighborhood though so I will have to check it out now that I know they have something unusual. Nice pinch hitting for Kirk Cathy!

[cathy]

Hi Alice...Thanks for the nice words. I seem to have occupations that are seasonal/short term/part time, so I figure why not have my hobby be that way, too....

Don't be afraid to stop in any store or restaurant ever. Its always an adventure, and there are no rules. You can always walk out.

[mizducky]

Cool. Vine Ripe is a regular stop on my grocery-shopping circuit--great prices on produce, frequent bargains in the meat department, and of course all those mediterranean groceries. I love North Park Produce too--they sort of complement each other in their offerings, though Vine Ripe does have more stuff simply by virtue of having a bigger building. :-)

[cathy]

Hi MizD- The NPP in Poway seems pretty large. The meat counter there is much smaller though...The building that houses Vine Ripe used to be an athletic shoe store..the high ceilings and all..and I do shop at both....try to hit a fruit/veg market a day....only when my own garden is in full swing do I not have to go daily...Thanks for visiting.