During our kitchen remodel P&K Grocery has become one our favorite places to pickup a quick dinner for takeout. Their hot sandwiches are incredible. I’m fond of No. 3 (tomato, mushroom, spinach, cheese and basil) which tastes a bit like a margherita pizza stuffed inside a ciabatta. AJ has been driven to ecstacy both by No. 5, the Cuban and No. 2, hot salami. Each only $5.95!

Last night while waiting for our order I noticed the most luscious roma tomatoes I’d seen all summer, firm, deep red, and shiny. Turns out they’re from a local grower and only $1.00 a pound. What a bargain! This week Central Market was selling pasty-colored romas from Mexico for almost twice that much. And tomatoes at Whole Foods Market can run $5.00 a pound (organic from California).

P&K is also carrying fresh eggs from a neighborhood supplier. Could they be from the hens across the street? I can hardly wait to try them out.

I’ve been wondering how boutique groceries like P&G and Farm to Market could compete with CM and WFM. I stopped in at P&K initially just to support local entrepreneurship. I keep going back. Not only is the food excellent, the prices are suprisingly competive. And there’s such neighborly atmosphere about it. I feel like I’ve been transported into my grandparents’ small-town America. Zipping into the corner grocers is so much more convenient than navigating the bowels of the WFM parking garage and battling the crowds.

Small is beautiful!