This is Andru Moshe, in her new produce market Regionale at Quarry Pond Town Center along Douglas Boulevard in Granite Bay. For 10 years, she was the produce buyer for Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. Then she left for Market Hall Foods in Oakland. After a year there, she returned to the Sacramento area, and in December opened Regionale, where everything, from the asparagus to the chocolate bars, is organically produced. Most of her produce is from small family-owned farms in California.
Currently, she stocks a half-dozen varieties of apples, perhaps as many varieties of citrus and mushrooms, baby artichokes, Meyer lemons, asparagus, kumquats and numerous other fresh fruits and vegetables. She has an organic salad bar, breads by Acme Bakery of Berkeley, and pastries from Filaki Farms in the foothills between Grass Valley and Marysville.
"People are very educated about food up here," Moshe has found. "They're very into cooking, and they's willing to spend money on quality foods." With her asparagus at $8.99 a pound, they'd better be.
Douglas Boulevard is lined with all sorts of shopping plazas, but Quarry Pond differs from others in its emphasis on individually owned businesses, a disproportionate number of which have culinary themes. In addition to Regionale, there's the restaurant Pizza Antica (see below) and the wine shop WineStyle. Today, Vande Rose Farms Meat & Fish opens, and coming up is the restaurant Hawks, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Sammy Sausage, and Toast, a breakfast cafe. Also notable is that Quarry Pond has persuaded midtown Sacramento boutiques Dora Denim and Shoefly to open branches in Granite Bay.
The center is at 5550 Douglas Blvd. Regionale is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily; (916) 797-8333.
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