Epicurean Mercantile opens near Findlay

The doors opened Tuesday at the Epicurean Mercantile Co., a grocery store and restaurant on the 1800 block of Race Street near Findlay Market. 

With a full selection of canned groceries, paper goods, ethnic and baked goods, it will serve to complete a Findlay Market shopping experience. But it's much more than that.

Its 5,000 square feet are packed with groceries, produce and meat, a Brita water bottle filling station, wine, cheese, local baked goods like Busken, Servatii and Sixteen Bricks, a mini pop-up general goods store, a check-out counter under chandeliers and a restaurant. 

The restaurant, called The Counter, serves casual foods like meatballs, quesadilla, chili, salads, burgers, and club sandwiches. It operates with no service staff. Customers put in their own orders on Ipads, which print out a ticket to the kitchen. Food is brought to the diner at the counter by the open kitchen, to inside tables, or to tables in the outdoor patio. 

Louis Snowden and Meredith Trombley, who own Fresh Table in Findlay Market, are the owners of EMC. They are keeping that store, which has a line of upscale prepared salads and foods, as a separate concept.

Though the menu at The Counter doesn't use Fresh Table ingredients, it incorporates many foods acquired from Findlay merchants such as Eckerlin's, Busch's and Mackie's meats.

Snowden said they are employing 24 people; 85 percent are from the neighborhood.

"We believe in giving jobs to people who've had a hard time getting a job, who've had bumps in their life," he said.  

Trombley's design background is evident in the look of EMC, with pale green walls and bold lettering, chandeliers, and several living walls, including two in the restaurant with a variety of herbs. Platte was the architect. 

"I wanted it to be a very pretty atmosphere with no regular grocery store cliches," Trombley said. She says they'll be adding to the selection as they go forward. "We've kept things loose, to accommodate customers' wants."

One section of shelves is empty, with an invitation for customers to write their suggestions on how to fill it. They concentrate on complementing Findlay.  "We have full lines of things Findlay doesn't have," she said.

The building, and the entire block it's in, was developed by the Model Group.

"This whole block was vacant," said Bobby Maly, principal of Model. "We decided to either do the whole block or nothing."

He said they see their role as a good steward of the Findlay Market area.

"There are few places as organic, as special as Findlay Market," he said. "This is an amazing anchor for a Findlay Market district. They have created office space, above the grocery store, 10 condos and 23 rental apartments on the block."

The restaurant will be open 11 a.m.- 7 p.m., while the store will be 8 a.m.- 8 p.m.