If we have one niche in our food universe that needs filling, it's that of gourmet groceries. Yes, there is Whole Foods, Henderson's Prime Time and Village Meat and Wine on Eastern and Trop, but none go out of their way to serve food, nor do any serious baking on the premises. Happily, there is a new kid on the block, Julie Anne Hession. Her eponymous new shop, Julie Anne's, is primarily a bakery, but this energetic, attractive, young woman carries wonderful gourmet foods; makes a variety of picnic sandwiches; prepares a line of hearty, homemade soups; and will do outside catering.
She achieves this in a sweetly decorated space furnished with wooden tables and chairs, a hutch stocked with a line of specialty peanut butters, and a pastry case to beat the band, using a few of her friends as helpers. I only hope people will notice.
Julie Anne's is around the back of a new mall development on South Eastern Avenue, with no sign in front indicating she is there, and no visibility from what is a very busy street. She has modeled her store after a place in Durham, North Carolina, called Foster's Market and the Foster's Market Cookbook is for sale in the store.
Just a few of the products you can buy here, and perhaps no where else in town, are Elliott's Lemonade, Sparky's Root Beer, peerless Route 11 potato chips, hickory smoked peanut butter from Peanut Butter, Inc., and an entire line of salsas, salad dressings and sauces too numerous to mention here.
There is a lot of home cooking going on here, too, so fasten your seat belt—and prepare to loosen it. Breakfasts such as homemade frittata and huevos wrapcheros, a clever wrap concealing eggs, black beans, Monterey Jack and salsa, are just two ways to start the day. Julie Anne does her own crunchy granola, and bakes treats such as maple-pecan scones, blueberry streusel muffins and the darkest, richest brownies you have ever seen.
At lunch, the offerings turn to deli sandwiches, wraps and soups. Foster's Thai chicken wrap is a winner: roasted chicken breast, mixed baby greens, baby corn, cucumber, carrots, peanut sauce and a toothsome sesame-ginger dressing. Creativity is no stranger to this menu, either, as witnessed by the green-apple wrap, made with roasted chicken, Brie, apple wood-smoked bacon, candied pecans and a wicked, spicy vinaigrette.
There are several unusual sandwich choices, too. Curried chicken salad comes on toasted whole-grain bread with red onion, while the PLT is an elegant creation made with prosciutto, arugula, tomato and Parmesan cheese.The house specialty is the pressed picnic sandwich, sold by the inch, at $6.50 for about 4-inches, or a mammoth 2-foot-long feast, for $40. I've tried Greek roast beef with tahini dressing, with feta cheese and roasted peppers added for dimension; and also her vegetarian muffelata, a colorful jumble of roasted veggies, mozzarella cheese and grainy pesto sauce on crusty ciabatta bread.
Also on Julie Anne's menu—which varies daily—are Mediterranean tuna, an antipasto sandwich and one made with artichoke, mozzarella and salami. I've had several soups here, all thick and homey. My favorite is turkey Parmesan meatball, but the chicken with wild rice, and a spicy black bean redolent of cumin aren't far behind.
The deli case is stocked with salads made fresh daily, with choices such as chicken pesto, spicy sesame noodle, sun-dried tomato-pesto salad and orange wild rice. There are also individually sized chicken and vegetable potpies with flaky saffron crusts. They are meant to be finished in the oven at home.
You'll want to finish a meal here with one of the homemade pastries or cakes. The best one might just be raspberry crumb cake with maple glaze, a generous square for $1.75. A chocolate chunk cookie, only $1.25, came loaded with chocolate. Blondies, which are the brown sugar and butter version of brownies, are properly crunchy and uncommonly rich. The menu lists a number of specialty cakes such as double-chocolate layer cake and white chocolate-peanut brittle crunch cake, but so far I haven't seen either on the shelf.
Julie Anne's also does gourmet-to-go dinner specials daily, priced from $8.99 to $12.99 per plate. Call for more information, as the specials change daily. And for you clean-air purists, the bakery is no-smoking.