Fresh Market

While Good Foods Coop offers some great stuff, it doesn't carry everything you need in life. Neither does Fresh Market, but in the buffet-style shopping that we prefer, Fresh Market has a niche.

Good Foods really doesn't specialize in meat. I don't know whether most of their members are vegetarians, or their food standards aren't easily met, or what. But they only carry a small selection of local/organic/grass-fed etc.

Fresh Market, by contrast, provides an enormous meat counter stuffed with yummy things. Some of the products are organic, etc., but most are not.

The best options are poultry and pork, because although Fresh Market's beef is gorgeous, it also costs the moon. They almost never run serious specials on things like steak, so if you want affordable beef you'll have to buy a chuck roast or something. When it comes to pork, though, you can get a really good roast, chop, or loin for a reasonable price. Chicken is nearly as good, though the breasts often look a little tired. The roasting chickens are excellent, and usually relatively small (which we like because it's just us eating and even a 2.5 pound chicken is a lot for 2).

The fish counter looks great, but I haven't purchased anything except some shrimp there. The shrimp were bad. I prefer wild-caught American shrimp (for both health and political reasons), and I failed to clean them before boiling. Oops. They were nasty. But this is really my fault, so you can't blame the vendor. If you're looking for fish in Lexington, I think this is the best choice, by far.

Fresh Market sells other things, but they tend to be more eye-candy than real groceries. This is true for two reasons:

1. FM has some inventory problems. One week, there will be buffalo burgers in the freezer. Next week, only buffalo steaks. Then there'll be a sign at the butcher counter saying "ask for buffalo burgers, we'll get them!" and when you do, the butchers claim they're out in the freezer section. "Uh, no, they're not. And what about this sign?" So they go look. Some weeks, they've got them (at the butcher counter), some weeks they don't. The sign remains. Ditto apple juice in certain containers. Ditto certain frozen pizza items. Ditto snow peas (or, really, any green veggie in a smallish package). etc. So one reason to shop elsewhere for other groceries is that you can't count on FM to have them every time.

2. FM is expensive. Seriously expensive. Sometimes, veggies will cost twice the price elsewhere, but I have not seen a massive improvement in quality. On something like a peach, this is a problem. I'd rather wait and buy my peaches at the Lexington Farmer's Market than spend too much to buy poor peaches at FM. And an ok apple is an ok apple whether at FM or at Meijer. Dry goods can be much, much more expensive. Carolina rice? Sounds great! But not at $8 a pound.

So you probably wouldn't want to shop exclusively at Fresh Market. Especially if you like to buy shampoo once in a while. But for meat, seafood, and a few other things (the breads are good, and they carry organic milk and good yoghurt), you'll find the quality high and the selection pretty good.

Best of all, Fresh Market is located just off New Circle Road, on Tates Creek Drive. From town, just drive south on Tates Creek, and it will be on your right before New Circle (4). From New Circle, exit at Tates Creek and turn to head into town (right, from the inner loop, left from the outer loop). It'll be on the left at the second light.

Wild Oats is a nice store, and hopefully nicer soon thanks to being purchased by Whole Foods. But you have to risk your life (or sanity) to get there because the exit/merge off of New Circle is terrifying. Fresh Market offers much the same experience and product, with a lot less white-knuckled-horror.