Fetch: Grand Central Market

Some people hate to shop. I am not some people. Even though I have no problem searching stores for clothes, shoes, tennis racquets or Charlie Brown memorabilia... what I really love to shop for is groceries, foods, sundries, cheese. I like to go up and down every aisle and often spend inordinate amounts of time in produce sections. Before the expansive Whole Foods and Trader Joe's began popping up all over Manhattan, most grocery stores were cramped and had very little choice. Not that fun, really. When we finally moved out of the big apple a couple of years ago, I was so thrilled to walk the wide aisles of Westchester County's numerous gigantic grocery stores. And, whoa boy, when I take a rare trip back home to Oklahoma... they're mostly Wal-Mart Superstores, but a grocery store there literally takes up hectares. It can be an all day affair for me.

Now, that move to Westchester I mentioned made it necessary for me to take a commuter train into the city to my office. Because my Metro North train often arrived every morning on the same track, there was a long time, perhaps a year even, that I never wandered around Grand Central Terminal. I just got off the train and headed for the first exit out. I had a very specific route and it didn't cover much ground in GCT at all. Then one day, one glorious day, my train arrived on a track on the near opposite of the one I was accustomed to and I discovered the Grand Central Market. I stood at the door, mouth agape.

The fact that I had been in the same building as this heavenly place twice a day without darkening it's door nearly brought tears to my eyes. I'm serious about food shopping. Serious. This place had my name written all over it. Have a gander at some of my favorite parts:



This is just a taste of what you can find there. I'm going to be profiling some of the fine purveyors here so you haven't heard the last of the Grand Central Market.