[table for two]

Sacred Lunch Hours:
Pine Valley Market makes that midday break exciting again

By: Shea Carver

Many times we find ourselves taking a lunch break as an autopilot response to midday hunger—the time to refuel so we can take on the rest of the workload that is piling up on our desks. What and where we eat often doesn’t play into the overall desire of eating itself. More so, it’s the necessity of only having an hour to dine.

That this is often how we live Monday through Friday makes encore’s Lunch Bunches so much more enjoyable. It’s the staff’s one day a week to look forward to and anticipate a great meal, taken leisurely to catch up on each other’s lives and business as a whole.

Pine Valley Market (PVM) off of South College Road, near the 17th Street Extenstion, hosted us one bright Wednesday afternoon, as our hunger pangs mounted every so slowly with each ticking of the clock that inched closer to the noon hour. I had been a patron to the establishment on numerous occasions: for lunch, for fine wine, for gourmet groceries, for meats, and I had even had the pleasure of attending a few of their caterings. What made this day a bit different, however, was the fact that the ladies of PVM—Christi Ferretti and Kathy Webb—had recently turned their to-go eatery into a dine-in café.

As we pulled up to the establishment, two picnic tables were situated outside, shaded by large umbrellas to quell the fiery sun that so often tends to score our skin during peak hours. Walking inside, I noticed not a whole lot had changed with the airy space. The same great brands were perched on the neatly aligned shelves. The butcher case was stocked with fresh cut meats, including Angus prime. The deli cases were filled to the brim with twice-baked potatoes, cold salads, mac and cheese, even meatloaf. Yet the space seemed more open, thanks to the six to eight tables that were now awaiting customers.

As Kris Beasley, Lani Minihan, Emily Rea, Sue Cothran and our newest intern, Tiffanie Gabrielse, and I shifted a few of the tables around to accommodate our small party, Christi, always greeting customers like friends she’s known for years, smiled and immediately welcomed us with refreshing waters and sodas. The back-of-the-house staff, Smokey Masters and Paul Smith, began prepping our meals.

Perhaps I should start off by noting that when the Lunch Bunch heads to local eateries, many times we request that the restaurateurs feed us what they feel is a comprehensive sampling from their menu. We ask that they serve us family-style, ‘cause frankly, encore-ians are basically family, wherein we certainly don’t mind picking off of each other’s plates. We have also discovered that this gives restaurants a chance to showcase what they feel is the best of the best. Although, we had no doubt that everything at Pine Valley Market would appease our taste buds, we wanted to be surprised.

Showcasing a full menu made up of sandwiches, soups, salads and daily specials, it would have been too much of a mind-boggle for us to choose between the masterly prepared lunches. Starting off our meal was a heaping helping of chicken salad, broccoli salad and orzo pasta. The chicken salad was Southern-fied to near perfection.

Creamy mayo mixed with shredded chicken, hard-boiled eggs, sweet relish and onion held my tastebuds captive with every bite. The orzo pasta was cool and unlike the typical mayo-y pasta salad other establishments serve. Orzo is one of my personal favorites (ya know, the kind that looks like kernels of rice?), and this particular salad was tossed with calamata olives, fine-diced red onion, red pepper, feta, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, as well as fresh basil. Every taste tickled our palates wonderfully, offering a tangy and sweet finish.

Next, Christi hand-delivered a slew of sandwiches, including a sweet treat that everyone agreed was simple decadence. A dark rye hoagie was piled with peanut butter, bananas, honey, sesame seeds and golden raisins, and every single nibble took us all back to our childhoods happily.

“This is too good!” Tiffanie noted, with a slight eye roll and a huge smile that paired together as if she had just eaten her first meal off a deserted island. “It’s like grown-up comfort food—only better!”

She was right. Nothing could have topped it except its indulgence with a cold glass of milk. But we had no time to request pairings.

Other sandwiches were calling our names quite loudly, such as their daily special, the tenderloin caprese—a perfectly grilled tenderloin (medium rare, although they’ll cook it to order), between two crusty slices of baguette, topped with roma tomatoes, mozzerella and mayo. The freshness alone could not be matched, especially since all of the meats are cut in house.

We also had a gourmet variety of cold cuts that most would expect from a fine gourmet market. A turkey, brie and apple sandwich was served with a cranberry mayonnaise, which solidified Kris as a fan forever-more. “I could eat this daily” were her exact words. It was only matched by the next sandwich on the menu: the Italian hoagie.

Because Christi’s Italian roots run rampant with every flip of a spatula or roll of a pan, it was only natural that the staple be on PVM’s menu. Fresh, garlicky salami was layered with cappy ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onion, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, Italian seasonings and balsamic vinegar. While I’ve never been a true Italian hoagie fan, this particular sandwich converted me. But it was the cup of lasagne soup that really captured all of my senses at once: from sight to scent, flavor upon flavor, the lasagne noodles floated in a red broth, hearty with ground beef, tomatoes, garlic and cheese.

As we were noshing along, more food kept creeping its way to our table. A BLT, made with my favorite brand of bacon, Nueske’s, was served with thick applewood slices. It had the best savor of smokiness backed against a shallot aioli, fresh, farm-raised tomatoes and lettuce, between thick honey-wheat slices of bread.

“Emily, you just don’t know what you’re missing,” I said, looking to my assistant editor who is quite the healthful eater and has avoided bacon since childhood. “But I respect your will-power to stay away from it.”

“You don’t eat bacon?” Christi asked, overhearing our conversation. “I’ll tell you what: If I were a vegetarian, bacon would be the hardest to do without.”

I nodded with a mouthful of it, shaking my head in agreement.
“But here’s one of our vegetarian wraps that are popular,” Christi said, putting the plate in front of Emily to enjoy first.

“Wow! It’s spicy!” Emily exclaimed after sipping her soda. “But it’s really, really good!” She continued taking the heat, which came from the jalepenos, accompanied by a fiery hummus, roasted seasonal vegetables and crumbled feta cheese.

Just as our bellies began expanding and our waistlines transformed into muffin tops through our jeans, the Market Burger was presented. “More!?” Kris asked, which mostly came across as a proclamation of appreciation. We were all full, but we couldn’t resist.

And I must say, I am glad we did not. Through the many years I have been going to the Market, I had no idea how great of a burger they served. The 1/3 pound patty (also served as a 1/2 pounder for the hefty appetites) was truly perfect: moist inside and crusty on the edges, just like a grilled burger should be. Topped with aged cheddar and other standards between some of the best bread I had ever tasted on a burger, it was succulent. In fact, with every bite, juices were covering our hands. It trumped everything else.

“I guess this is what they mean when they say ‘save the best for last,’” I said.

“I love it when the edges are crispy like this,” Kris noted of the perfect grilling technique.

“The best is definitely being served last!” Christi happily interrupted, serving up PVM’s rich, sinful Chocolate Obsession, which truly, utterly lives up to its name. Layered with chocolate upon chocolate, brownies and crunchy toffee, as well as whipped cream, it was like heaven landed in all of our mouths. Spoonful after spoonful we all concurred we could bathe in it.

When lunch is this good, it’s absolutely something to look forward to, even in the midst of the humdrum days of a heavy workload. Pine Valley Market’s new dine-in café makes an hour lunch break more like a lunch vacation—and, really, who couldn’t use a vacation every now and again?