We Could Live in These Gorgeous Artisanal Grocery Stores

A new breed of hyper-focused grocer is ready to restyle your pantry.
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Emily B. Hall

Welcome to Eat Like a Local! From late-night burgers in Nashville to a life-changing date shake in Palm Springs, we traveled across the U.S. to find the spots that are really hitting home.

Forget Whole Foods—a new breed of hyper-focused grocer is ready to restyle your pantry.

Photo: Emily B. Hall

The Southernaire, Nashville

Nashville’s downtown scene is blossoming, but there wasn’t a grocery store to serve the young folks moving in until local restaurateur Tom Morales opened this massive ode to all things Dixie. They’ve got Nashville-made Rooster Bar soap and Colts chocolate, a butcher that smokes pork in-house, and a fishmonger selling head-on shrimp to pair with the store’s selection of Falls Mill Tennessee grits, regional pickles, and their house-made rubs, hot sauces, and jams.

Photo: Ted Cavanaugh

Tom Morales's pick: Hot Chicken Spice rub, $12 and Southern Rib rub, $7 - “I catered on the set of City Slickers way back, and Billy Crystal came up to me and said, ‘I love your seasoning mix. How did you do that?’”


Photo: Charles Billot

Miscelánea, New York City

When Guillaume Guevara wanted authentic queso oaxaca, masa flour for tortillas, or excellent salsa, he often found himself traveling to the outer edges of Queens or Brooklyn—or even back to Mexico City where he grew up. That’s what inspired him to open Miscelánea in the East Village. Over the course of two years, he made dozens of trips home, then decided which products to stock up North. The results range from the high-end—artisanal mole poblano and a clay beauty mask from Tulum—to the candies, sodas, and dried fruits from the misceláneas (delis, in Spanish) of his youth.

Photo: Ted Cavanaugh

Guillaume Guevara's pick: Boing! guava soda - "It's the soda—non-carbonated, by the way—that reminds me most of my childhood. It's over-the-top sweet—about as far as it gets from cold-pressed juice—but the fact that it has 'real guava nectar' always makes me feel healthy."


Photo: Alan Weiner

Conserva, Portland, OR

When Manuel Recio and his wife, Leslie, turned 40, they decided it’d be more fun running a store than waking up at 4 a.m. to work on their Oregon farm, Viridian. There, they grew rare produce typically found in Europe, so it’s no surprise their tiny shop, Conserva, carries foods from across the Atlantic. They focus on Spain and France, particularly the Basque region, known for conservas, tins of canned seafood like sardines, squid, and cockles in olive oil infusions. They stock more than 35 varieties, along with cards teaching shoppers how to cook with them.

Photo: Ted Cavanaugh

Manuel Recio's pick: Jose Gourmet baby squid in ragout - "In Spain, they eat them with vermouth or a beer. You can incorporate them into a simple salad, or throw them on top of a slice of nice bread with finishing oil."


Photo: Hannah Hudson

Honeycomb Grocer, Washington, D.C.

This isn’t the only store that chef Erik Bruner-Yang runs: His D.C. restaurant, Maketto, includes a boutique that sells rare sneakers and underground streetwear brands. But Honeycomb’s inspiration is more family-run Asian grocer than fashion brand. Hidden inside D.C.’s Union Market, the blond-wood stall works as an R&D lab for fermented condiments and other ingredients that Bruner-Yang’s experimenting with on his menus. You’ll find small-batch soy sauce, sweet potato miso, togarashi spice blend, and kimchi, all of which he makes using mid-Atlantic ingredients. They’re stocked next to an array of locally made noodles—from ramen to udon—and an edited selection of fish sauces, black vinegars, and other Asian pantry staples.

Photo: Ted Cavanaugh

Erik Bruner-Yang's pick: House-made barley miso, $6 - “People want to cook with elevated ingredients—like this white miso we’re making from local barley for the restaurants—but don’t know where to find them. This is the kind of thing chefs have access to.”