Summerhill Market Bathurst
Summerhill Market now has a Bathurst St. location in the Annex in addition to other locations in Rosedale and Mount Pleasant.
The boutique grocery store is known for their prepared foods, especially meat pies, and for stocking rare imported products.
This store is the first to have a self-serve salad bar and hot bar.
Famed chicken pot pies (among many other meat pie varieties) are made with huge chunks of King Capon chicken, peas, celery and a cream base, and there's actually no bottom crust, just puff pastry on top.
A prime rib dinner ($26.99) is one of the most popular and impressive pre-made high end meals available here, still made in a smaller kitchen at the Rosedale location.
It bakes right in the pan for less than 30 minutes, and seems like it could easily feed at least two people, maybe even with a little left over.
Summerhill Market also makes their own products like legendary cheese straws ($11.99), which are airy and crunchy with a bit of a spicy kick.
They also make their own chips, including a pricey truffle variety for $11 a bag, but they feel almost (luxuriously) worth it. Real truffle along with truffle oil gives the crunchy chips a heady fragrance and rich flavour.
A pastry section stocks Summerhill's own line of pies in varieties like apple and strawberry rhubarb. Made from scratch using all real butter and fruit, even the dough made by hand, the hefty suckers can weigh up to two pounds.
Just look for the logo to find their own brand of products, with other goods provided by local bakers like Epi Breads.
Lavva and Kite Hill make plant-based yogurts, and other specialty dairy yogurts include imports like one of my personal faves Chobani.
This is one of the only places you can find Oatly oat milk, along with oat milks from producers like Minor Figures and Califia, along with other milk alternatives.
They also stock Oatly's brand of frozen desserts, along with plenty of other low-calorie and plant-based ice cream options.
A salad bar for $8.99/lb is exclusive to this location, and is stocked with salad options like green lentil, Greek orzo pasta, sundried tomato and feta, French potato and beet and orange made by a dedicated in-house chef.
A hot bar is priced the same and also stocked by a house chef, and offers options like jerk short ribs, pork dumplings, mac n' cheese and BBQ chicken.
Produce is delivered fresh every day to Summerhill, and like the rest of the store includes the most pedestrian and much more exotic options. The 6,000-square-foot location designed by Pencil and constructed by Bolt features two brand new skylights as well as local textile art.
Hector Vasquez