Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2007 > February > 28 > Entry
It’s beginning to look a lot like SoHo
Just a few short years ago, you could buy a car (or a prostitute) on the 1400 block of South Congress (SoCo). Oh, how times have changed.
SoCo has become home to myriad boutiques, restaurants and hotels, a shift that was propelled by Liz Lambert’s development of the Hotel San Jose. Most recently, construction on new condos has begun along the avenue. Once the next wave of young, upwardly mobile professionals moves in, they, along with the families and DINKs living in Travis Heights, are going to need a place to shop for their groceries and specialty items.
Enter Cissi’s Market. I stopped in for a sneak peak at the market, located at 1400 Congress Ave., Wednesday to sample some of their goodies, have a look around and chat with store management and employees before the store opens to the public Thursday.
San Francisco transplant Victoria Lynden, who named the store in honor of her late mother, met Craig Thibodeau two years ago at a fundraiser and told her future general manager of her idea to bring a market to South Austin that offered convenience and quality in a community environment.
Owner Victoria Lynden, right, chats with
confectioner Tracy Claros
Cissi’s Market, a sleek, urbane space designed by architect Michael Hsu, will offer SoCO residents and visitors a wide selection of gourmet foods, beer and wine, coffee, household items and skin care products. Whether you want to pop in and pick up a sandwich for $6-$8 (albacore tuna, eggplant and prosciutto, pulled pork panini, to name a few), or if you are in need of hard-to-find specialty goods such as Urbani Tartufi white truffle oil ($41), or some organic frozen foods for the next day’s meal, Cissi’s will have you covered.
Among the delicious treats we sampled was a fine piece of Akaushi Beef produced by HeartBrand Beef. Chef Michael Pearce explained to us that the Japanese meat is a healthy solution for meat lovers, as it helps to lower cholesterol, fight some cancers and prevent coronary heart disease. Looks like somebody knows their target market.
For all of your dinner-party or quiet-evening-at-home needs, the market also offers a fine selection of wines (from the $8 Moillard Fontagneret to the $52 2004 Joseph Phelps cabernet Sauvignon), as well as an assortment of the finest beers (Duvel, Chimay and Spaten).
Tracy Claros offers up the sweets.
Before I headed out, I stopped for a little coffee and desert and was pleased to discover that the market will be carrying Kohana Coffee. In fact, Cissi’s is the only store in Texas that carries the delicious Hawaiian beans. The bold flavor of the coffee was a great complement to a heavenly desert. Brit Tracy Claros, proprietor of The Sticky Toffee Pudding Company, was on hand to serve up some of her restaurant-quality sweets. Claros returned to Austin, where she received a masters degree more than a decade ago, three years ago with the sole purpose of delivering her confectionary masterpieces to Austin. If you have not tried the Molten Chocolate Baby Cake or Sticky Toffee Pudding, you don’t know what you’re missing. Warning: If you double up on desert and coffee at Cissi’s, expect a horrific sugar crash a few hours later. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Some Austinites will vehemently complain that Cissi’s is yet another example of uber-gentrification targeted at California and New York transplants, but progress is progress, and, as with any new place marketed to a high-end clientele, if you are offended by someone taking a financial risk and bringing quality goods (regardless of price) to a neighborhood, don’t go, but please save your gentrification arguments. Capitalism is as capitalism does. Personally, while I can’t afford to shop for my groceries at the new market, I can definitely envision hitting up Cissi’s for a sandwich (during non-peak hours, if that even exists any more on SoCo) or maybe a little Sticky Toffee on my way home from work.
Cissi’s Market opens to the public on March 1st.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Food
Comments
By Pip
March 1, 2007 9:52 AM | Link to this
Thank God the MO is back.
By Booger Presley
March 1, 2007 5:14 PM | Link to this
Great. Now that we’ve oversaturated the market on high-end epicurean delights, howzabout we focus on building a real grocery store in the 78704? You know, where normal people go to buy normal food at normal prices. HEB, with its dust-bunny ceilings, perpetually unstocked shelves, and lack of parking, among many other deficiencies, is our only option — and that ain’t saying much.
By Terp
March 3, 2007 2:06 AM | Link to this
I eyed this mug for weeks from my Home Slice post and you told everyone before I could.