REVIEW: Powell Avenue Market in Healdsburg
Powell Avenue Market
Today, Sunday, October 23, 2011, my wife Joyce and I went up
to Healdsburg to experience some friends of ours Rob and Ann, who over the past
few months have been putting in some pretty fierce overtime creative action to
get their new local and personal Market open, hoping as Ann has told us, to get
that feeling that she had when she was a kid, growing up and she headed on down
to grab a quick slice of local Healdsburg color.
As we drove in the parking lot to acquire a spot before the
crowd would fill the area with lots of chatter and some great music being
scattered out into the atmosphere, from the band known as Rovetti and the
Meatballs, we already could feel some anticipation in the air.
Ann is the full-time caretaker, along with a few wonderful
people who help build the character that Ann wanted so much to bring to her
community. Rob has a normal working hour job, and comes and adds a little
spice to their local market when he arrives late in the afternoons.
Today, they were getting acquainted with what they hope will
be a steady local crowd, looking down the road as they try and establish a
reputation throughout Sonoma County for everyone to come and experience her
attempts for culinary road trips that take you thru various flavor profiles,
combined with home style cooking and that multi-generational family atmosphere.
The range of samples today was quite diverse, taking in
Sliders of a number of different meats, Deli salads, three different soups,
including white bean, tortellini with sausage, and a third that I couldn’t put
my finger on, that had a spicy finish and contained large chunks of pulled
pork. They also had a number of different sweets and lots of different
drinks out near where the band played including Henry Wienhard’s Root Beer and
Some pretty fancy green tea drinks. There was a High School Booster’s
Club under a tent, selling Corn Dogs for two dollars that had some famous type
of hotdogs with a really light texture and a thin, light and non-greasy batter that
went down quite smoothly.
Rob took Joyce and I for a tour of the cooler, and Joyce
took numerous furtive glances of the diverse liquid refreshment they were
offering their customers. I tried to get a cross section of the crowd
that soon developed after our own arrival, and later came in contact inside as
Joyce and I were going around to say goodbye to Rob and Ann, and Robs Parents,
with an Irish accented woman, who was introducing her friend that writes for
the Healdsburg Tribune newspaper.
After we left, we both agreed that we could of just hung out
there all afternoon, tasting the culinary diversity, and listening to the band
play their collection of eclectic music. We also enjoyed all the
pleasant, useful and colorful trinkets they all seemed to be circulating around
the crowd with, like personal grocery bags with their logo on them, little
stakes with Daisy seeds on them, and bottle opener’s. We hope the best
for our friends Rob and Ann, and love the idea of having local color in all the
little Markets we have around Sonoma County.
The Powell Avenue Market is located at 555 Powell Avenue, in
Healdsburg, their phone number is 707 - 433-2958 and is open all seven days.
Monday thru Thursday it opens at 7:30 in the morning and closes around
6:30 in the evenings. On Friday and Saturday they open at 9 in the
morning and close around the same time, and Sunday they are open from 9 in the
morning, until 3 in the afternoon.
Joyce and I hope all of you will take a shot at showing up
and getting to know Rob and Ann and the people they offer for your hospitality
needs, so we can keep these people in business for years to come.
Steven L. Child
Windsor, California 95492-8930
(707) 838-0480
