FOOD&WINE
I FOODIE SPOTLIGHT
70
san joaquin magazine
satisfy everyone’s needs.” Add an unexpectedly friendly environment—When was the last time you were asked how your kitchen remodel was coming while picking up some arugula for dinner?—and grocery shopping has suddenly become a welcome luxury. Exchanging countless life experiences and stories with Podesto’s long-term staff throughout the years, customers are embraced and treated as extended members of a happy and valued family—one that we’re betting they’ve never once tried to avoid. As homey a destination as Podesto’s is, it is the store’s competitively-priced selection of specialty foods that has generated its coveted base of regular customers, a great many of who frequent the store from out of town. Fine foods and ingredients, a USDA choice meat market, fresh organic produce, a famous deli, and milehigh stacked sandwiches have made the store a frequent topic of local conversation because, let’s be frank—there’s good, and then there’s Podesto’s good. Committed to the community it feeds, Podesto’s runs weekly advertisements
and coupon books so that anyone can afford to experience the pleasures of gourmet fare without going into sticker shock. So with three different remodels already completed to expand and diversify its offerings, what’s in store for Podesto’s future? More expansions if that is what it takes to keep his customers satisfied, says Morgenstern, adding that such projects are ongoing in order to keep improving Podesto’s singular shopping experience. Whatever Podesto’s is doing is working—the market has been recognized numerous times as San Joaquin’s “Best Store and Deli.” For now, Podesto’s will continue to do what it has done exceptionally well for nearly three decades: be the area’s premier and most popular grocery store, and keep the people of San Joaquin full and happy. If you go: Podesto’s Market and Deli, 104 Lincoln Center, Stockton, (209) 951-0234, www.lincolncentershops.com
MARCH 2010
Brenda Hartshorn
Quality at every level—the specialty foods, the personalized service where everyone knows your name, the unique selection—best defines family-operated Podesto’s. Originally founded by Max Podesto, proprietor of Don Quick supermarkets, the market is now owned by Bernie and Debbie Morgenstern, with Mark and Jeff Podesto still holding down the fort day-to-day at the store. With an unrivaled deli and sandwich menu, staple food items, hardto-find artisan fare in all departments, and an attentive staff adept at delivering second-tonone customer service, Podesto’s has done the seemingly impossible in the age of bigger, faster, and cheaper. Although a niche business that appeals to serious gastronomes, Podesto’s is also accessible to those who enjoy scrumptious comfort food just as much as refined chutney and artisan cheese. “I think many customers consider us much more as the ‘ideal size’ upscale supermarket,” notes Bernie Morgenstern. “We’re not too big so that people can’t find items easily, but we carry enough variety to