With a space filled with hip-level freezer cases full of ready-for-your-microwave meals, Eat Local’s Capitol Hill location debuted Thursday night on Broadway with a pre-opening party to show off its new space in the Joule building — and, hopefully, get another part of Seattle hooked on the idea of cooking something at home a little more often.
A visit to the new store earlier this week (Image: CHS)
We first told you about Capitol Hill resident Greg Conner’s plan to bring his market concept featuring locally-sourced, sustainability-minded prepared meals and foods to Broadway earlier this year.
“We’re doing things pretty much the way we have being here now,” Eat Local founder Conner told CHS in a visit earlier this week.
That means Eat Local, which made its name with a very successful store in Queen Anne, hasn’t — yet — adjusted its inventory for Capitol Hill demographics. No, the single-serving section isn’t doubled or anything like that.
Conner said what has changed are prices. With the addition of the Capitol Hill store to the Queen Anne store and the Burien production headquarters, Conner says Eat Local has been able to lower its prices and make some sustainability-minded adjustments.
“We’re expensive,” Conner said. “But {scale from} expanding has allowed us to make things more affordable.” Conner said prices are now around 20% lower with the opening on Capitol Hill. You’re still going to pay more than twenty buck for beef wellington for you and a few friends or the family — but you’ll pay a few bucks less than you would have before.
Eat Local also does a healthy online business — you can peruse the full menu and price list here.
One item you might notice in the Eat Local case is a selection of local cheeses. For cheese-minded consumers in the area, it’s a further boon as the Broadway Market QFC also debuted its new Murray’s Cheese counter this week.
Meanwhile, another local company is hoping to get more of us to eat at home more often. Madison Valley-based Dinosaur Takeout lets you take credit for the cooking:
We’re a locally owned and operated business delivering freshly prepped and ready to cook meals every week. What makes us different from other delivery services is that our meals aren’t frozen or pre-cooked. We wash, chop, portion, and box all the items needed for a delicious dinner; our customers follow a three-step recipe for a homemade meal.
Customers can either subscribe to a weekly delivery service where meals are automatically brought to their office or home every week, or they may choose to order individual items. Every Monday, we email the week’s menu which has rotating dishes and seasonal items for customers to choose from.
You can learn more at dinosaurtakeout.com.
Back at Eat Local, Conner said the new scale has also allowed Eat Local to perform a nifty flip. Most entrees and dishes are offered in either disposable packaging or reusable glass containers. With its new cost structure, Eat Local can now offer the reusable container items at a discount to the disposable versions.
The Capitol Hill store will celebrate its grand opening next week:
Grand Opening
Thursday, June 21st
5:30pm – 7:30pmJoin us for live Music, hors d’ouevres, and wine! Members receive a total of 20% off at the Member’s Party.
The new space on Broadway designed by Prentiss Architects features a big, roll-up door, a wall of tree prop sticks from Conner’s family farm and reclaimed display shelves from the 1962 World’s Fair’s craft center. It also features a prominent turf cow who will sprout a shaggy coat of grass through the summer. Conner said the company has added about five new employees for the shop with a few shifting over from Queen Anne so they can walk to work.
The store joins a Joule retail mix that is finally on path to 100% capacity. We told you about a new yoga studio destined for the largest retail component of the Broadway strip here. Meanwhile, Eat Local will soon have a Menchie’s frozen yogurt shop as a new neighbor later this summer.
but oh man, I started using Dino Takeout somewhat recently, thanks to another CHS comment some time back, and love it. I buy 3-4 meals whenever I’m away from home for a week or more (about 50% of my life is doing my second job – pet-sitting). Really reasonably priced (even for someone who is poor enough to have to take a second job) and the food is fresh and delicious.
I’ve been getting 3 meals a week nearly since they started, and they are all delicious. The variety amazes me. Definitely recommend.
Cant wait to try these things, since I am rich and alone!
Also, no riff-raff.
I am 100% serious :-)
I haven’t heard of Dino takeout. From what I see it’s cheaper than Eat Local. Have to check it out. We used to buy from Eat Local on Queen Anne but started to think it was overpriced for what you got. The one standout is the chicken noodle soup. If you are a decent home cook you can probably do better and just freeze leftovers.
Their gift certificates are 20% off right now so it’s a good time to try Dinosaur.
If you’re doing this instead of cooking yourself because of sheer laziness or ignorance, fix that. It’s cheaper and everyone likes a good cook.
Don’t knock laziness…I’m an excellent cook and I very enjoy cooking for friends and family. But I am excited to try both these spots because when I come home from work and am ill prepared/too tired – I go straight for takeout. This sounds interesting and another healthy dinner option for single folk like me.
I too am a fantastic cook and do it all the time at home but I spend most of my time in a neighborhood without grocery stores, in strange homes without proper cookware, and hate hauling my luggage plus bags of ingredients all over Seattle via bus. This works for me.
The people I know who generally use these services work 60-70 hour weeks and would otherwise be eating unhealthy food (pizza delivery or bowl after bowl of cereal) because they’re simply too exhausted to plan, shop, and cook. I was thrilled when my boyfriend signed up for Dinosaur because the leftover teriyaki and pizza boxes were threatening to topple and crush him.
Various kinds of takeout, including high-end places like this, cater to people who think they are “too busy to cook.” But that’s just a rationalization for laziness. There are alot of dishes with just a few ingredients that can be cooked at home in a short amount of time, and most of the time the results are far better than any takeout can offer…..and, of course, less expensive.
Cooking is fun…try it some time!
Thank you for your neighborly comments. Yes, per your definition, I am lazy. My sin is sloth. Does this make you happy?
I may be lazy, but I’m not an idiot. I understand that the big, hot thing in the center of the kitchen can be used to boil water. Sometimes I enjoy trying other people’s food and the convenience. It’s really not that hard to understand.
But while we’re at it:
Do you ever buy tortillas? Stop being lazy, I make mine in about 3 minutes
Do you ever buy bread? Stop being lazy and get some yeast.
Do you go to Jiffy Lube? Stop being lazy, get a couple blocks and change your own oil.
Do you ever take an elevator? Stop being lazy and walk those six flights.
Do you use chairs? Your legs being tired is just an excuse for laziness.
I’m a 4 meal per week subscriber. I do the cooking and the meals come out great! It combines the joy of cooking with the ease of having the ingredients ready to go. And to be honest, I like having someone with the time and creativity plan the menu. The variety of Dinosaur meals inspires me. Someday I’ll give up my start-up ways (60+ hours per week). Until then, I’m hooked on Dinosaur.
There’s a big difference between not baking your own bread and not taking a few minutes to whip up a tasty omelette.
You can choose not to cook if you want to, but it’s your loss.
My problem with the new “Eat Local” prepared frozen meals store that just opened on Capitol Hill. WAY OVERPRICED! For a product that has no need for a commercial store front in a high-rent area with employees…how much of that cost is embedded in the product people pay for?
After a quick look, I can buy compatible items at Whole Foods frozen section for half the price. FAIL. Do these people like the smell of their own farts?
What a waste of prime space. A Specialties Bakery or other decent deli would have been much more welcome.
Eat Local looks like they’ve got some tasty stuff, but I was definitely put off by the prices. I agree with some of the comments below that you can whip up some of that stuff on your own quite easily and for a lot less money. But I can see how this place would be handy for anyone working long hours. It’s nice to have a “real food” take-out option. I got out of the “take-out all the time” rut by signing up for a CSA. I plan my week’s meals in advance based on the veggies in the week’s delivery. I’m saving a lot of money and eating healthier, but it’s easy enough for me since I rarely spend more than 40 hours a week at work.
Thank you for your interest in Eat Local
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to some of the above commentary regarding our pricing.
All of our meals are made with organic ingredients and grass fed beef. We believe the quality of the ingredients and care that we take to prepare our meals represents good value. We make everything by hand from scratch (including our pasta, pastry and stocks) Our entrees (single serving between 10oz to 14oz) start at just over $7, including our organic chicken tagine at just under $8;(our website retails are currently out of date as we have lowered our retails by up to 20%, we are working to update the site as quickly as possible). We work continually to deliver the best value possible.
Thank you to all of the Capitol Hill residents that have supported our small family owned company, our employees and the local family farms that we buy from.
Sincerely,
Greg Conner – Eat Local, Owner
Sometimes I think all of these articles are just misplaced ads for businesses. Mostly food and drink and condos.
Please, do tell me why your “organic” meals cost so much. $7.50 for a small portion of macaroni and cheese? $25 for a cheese quiche? This is basically highway robbery. But hey, I guess you’ve found your little niche: ripping off poor, sappy “progressives” who think they’re saving the planet or extending their lives by eating an egg that came from a chicken with a name instead of a number.
I literally laughed my ass off walking through your store the other day. I applaud you for being a capitalist. And I hope you’re making money hand over fist. Because I support and encourage capitalism. But at least be honest about it instead of couching your business in the latest buzzwords.