By Becky Spaulding
Collegiate Staff Writer
If the couch and coffee table don’t make the Grand Central Market feel homey to you, then the homemade soups, sandwiches, salads and wraps should do the trick. The friendly atmosphere certainly doesn’t hurt either.
The workers there are always on their game, smiling and ready to take an order or offer advice quickly. And while checking out, you can peruse the bulletin board loaded with fliers for local shows and events, grab a newspaper or Recoil magazine, and check out the daily Chuck Norris quote from their desktop calendar.
There is a cozy area with four or five small round tables with a few chairs each situated across from the deli counter. The couch and coffee table are near the window, and there are paintings and other art hanging on the walls. The clientele ranges from students to businessmen and women.
The family-owned market and deli has been open since July 2010, dishing up made-to-order sandwiches, wraps, and salads, with ice cream, a variety of deli salads, and homemade soups on the side.
The deli is small, but the food is memorable. There is a wide variety to choose from when it comes to sandwiches ($4.49 half, $6.49 whole): They sell turkey, chicken, ham, corned beef, and vegetarian sandwiches.
With a small breakfast menu, over 25 sandwiches to choose from for lunch, plus a build-your-own sandwich option and two daily specials that aren’t included in the regular menu, it’s hard to go wrong.
A variety of deli salads are available – curried broccoli, tuna, chicken, deviled egg potato, and steakhouse redskin potato, among others. These are pre-package so that customers may buy them as side dishes.
Their bread selection, while tasty, is rather limited – sourdough, rye, honey wheat, asiago, and cherry walnut. They do also have a wrap option though; they offer wheat, spinach, and tomato herb.
I tried their grilled cheese sandwich: Three different cheeses, pesto, and tomato on my choice of Stone House bread (I went for rye). All sandwiches come with a side of Lay’s chips and a pickle spear. They grill the sandwich on a Panini press, and the results are divine. The pesto mixes with the cheeses for a great, warm, creamy taste, and the tomato gives it just the right amount of coolness.
Along with my small bag of potato chips, I grabbed one of their pre-measured half pounds of the steakhouse redskin potato salad ($3.99/pound). The salad was filling, but sold in a resealable container for easy leftover transportation.
The salad has redskin potatoes, ranch dressing, egg, red and green onions, parsley, garlic, pepper, shredded cheddar, bacon, and some other seasonings. The bacon was a little chewy for my taste, but overall the salad was surprisingly light tasting and enjoyable. The potatoes were firm, but not too firm, and the ranch added a little something extra. I am no onion lover, but didn’t find the red onions flavor overwhelming in the slightest.
As for the vegetarian sandwiches, I like the #22: Classic Veggie Sandwich. Like the others, it comes on your choice of bread or wrap. It has provolone, sweet potatoes, avocados, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, and hummus.
The sweet potatoes are my favorite part of this sandwich; they give it a totally different, lightly cinnamon flavor than any other veggie sandwich I’ve tried. This sandwich I had on the sourdough bread.
In addition to sandwiches, the deli also offers two varying soups-of-the-day ($2.99/cup $3.99/bowl). They also sell Hudsonville ice cream, quiches, pre-made salads, and other dishes behind the deli counter.
The Market is not only a deli – they also sell groceries. They focus on local and Michigan products – there is an entire shelf full of Michigan products and gift baskets in front of the cash register. They also sell locally made bread and cheese, as well as fruits and vegetables from local farms. There is a fairly large wine selection, and they sell local and world beers in single bottles (ranging from $2-$4). The basic groceries are offered – snacks, paper towels, plastic silverware, milk, soda, nuts, candies, jerky, and so on.
They do have organic milks and juices for sale, as well as Boxed Water (which, they say, is better for the environment), and they sell hot tea, flavored hot cocoa, and coffee.
As you walk out the door, you can drop your recyclables in a bin that they have sitting near the exit.
Where: 57 Monroe Center
Hours: Mon-Fri 8a.m.-7p.m., Sat 10a.m.-5p.m., Sun closed
Wait to be seated: None
Dress code: Casual
Parking: Street
Delivery: No
Take-out: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Price range: Sandwiches: $4.49 half, $6.49 whole
Soup: $2.99 cup, $3.99 bowl Sides: $3-$5
Credit cards: Yes
Alcohol: Yes, in the grocery store section
Reservations: No
Contact them: (616) 454-5300
