Dispatch from Mid-City
Two big things happened in the past couple of days. First off, Sav-A-Center on Carrollton & Conti is now open and it is GREAT! They spent millions on flood remediation and more millions on upgrading the place to have “fresh market” status, which is basically Sav-A-Center’s way of competing with Whole Foods and other upscale grocers. So it has a juice bar, a gourmet cheese bar, a walk-in beer cooler (can’t wait to loiter in there once summer rolls around!!!), some lady who gives out wine samples, a nice bakery with a self-serve bread slicing machine, better produce, etc. It’s nice. It’s exciting. That place used to be kind of a dump, and now it’s nicer than the one on Tchoupitoulas. I’m psyched.
On my way there I noted the traffic light at Canal & Carrollton is now working, which is nice. It’s nice to have a traffic light where twelve lanes of traffic intersect, you know?
The other advancement is the re-opening of Finn McCool’s Irish Pub, which happened today, St. Patrick’s Day. Finn’s is a stone’s throw from my front porch, so I’m very happy about that. The place is nice, seems bigger and brighter, and they have more beers on tap. Even more exciting is the addition of a kitchen that will be serving pub grub- fish & chips especially.
In short, I can’t wait to move back to the neighborhood.
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That business is certainly exciting…especially Finn’s reopening.
I hope they’re still doing trivia!
hey you driving wrong
thinking you can push me out of the crosswalk
i’ve got a rock in my hand for your windshield
stop; because after that i have another surprise for you
think about it
The new Sav-A-Center truly rocks. I went in there Thursday and it was indeed a whole new store from how it was. There was also much discussion around Parasol’s yesterday of going over to check out Finn McCool’s so I hope they had a good crowd.
I’ve moved my operations back to Mid-City (on Lafitte Ave.) and it’s great to be back. The resurgence in that part of town has been nothing short of wonderous over the past two months. Now if they’ll just get the Popeye’s operating on Broad, I’ll truly feel at home again.
I went to the new Carrollton Sav-A-Center on Sunday morning (inspired largely by Chris’ post). It really was glorious, inspiring, and other-worldly. I literally stopped just inside the entrance and said (mostly to myself), “Wow!” It took a few seconds of gazing out through the delicate lighting at the shiny produce, the sushi display, and the fresh cut flowers to be able to figure out where to go first. (To help me with my decision, I stopped for coffee at the little coffee & juice bar).
Ok, so by and large it is mostly the same Sav-A-Center stuff that was at the previous one (and I may be disappointed when the novelty wears off), but there is something new and enjoyable about this one: the dark lighting around the wine section, the curves of the new prepared food section (with employees thrust welcomingly out into public view), and the quaint (but not too quaint) tables at the entrance that beckon people to stop, eat and linger. Most importantly, it is not Whole Foods, which, I have come to realize since it re-opened in February, is too crowded, too faux trendy, and definitely not worth the expense.
I don’t know how often I will venture all the way up to Mid-City for my grocery shopping, but I definitely will when I have the time. Also, I have now added, “The Sav-A-Center on Carrollton” to my list of GOOD THINGS THAT HAVE COME OUT OF KATRINA. “Civic involvement” still tops the list.