Gus's Community Market

Once upon a time (in 1981 to be exact), a family of immigrants opened a produce market, Haight-Ashbury Produce, that did quite well.  Well enough that the family opened a second location, Noriega Produce.  And then, after further expansion to the Haight location to add a deli and meat department (and rebranding as Haight Street Market), a third location, Gus's Market, sprung up in the Mission. And then another, in Mission Bay.  

Guy's Community Market: Mission Bay

Eventually, all adopted the Gus's branding.  And yes, Gus was the real human involved in the expansion and success.

 "Gus’s Market has been a local neighborhood staple for almost 40 years. In all that time, we’ve worked out how to serve best: you like to find the highest quality version of what you’re looking for, at great prices. Our family still heads out on the floor to make sure you’ve got everything you need, because we don’t just call ourselves mom n’ pop – we strive to make you part of our family."

In addition to being a well curated neighborhood grocery store featuring many local vendors, Gus's Market has a deli/cafe with made-to-order sandwiches, salads, desserts, etc.  They also offer catering, which is how I was able to try a few items.

For breakfast catering, which is what I had, Gus's offers just the basics: bagels and spreads, pastries, a salmon platter, fruit, and overnight oats.  The event I attended had the bagels (from House of Bagels), along with overnight oats bowls and fresh fruit.  Everything was individually packaged to be extra COVID friendly.

I was quite pleased with the quality, and plan to seek out Gus's sometime on my own.

Peanut Butter, Blueberry, Banana Overnight Oats.

"Oat Milk, Rolled Oats, Peanut Butter, Banana Chips, Maple Syrup and Black Chia Seeds."

The first overnight oat bowl I grabbed had what looked like a blueberry topping, so I went for it.  I had no idea what else was it in, besides the obviously banana chips on top.

The banana chips were a great element in that they stayed perfectly crisp, and added nice crunch factor to the bowl.  (Note: I did save half my bowl for the next morning, and by then, the banana chips were soft, as I would have expected.  They weren't bad, just a slightly different eating experience.

The berry element was two forms - a blueberry compote on top, and then, whole berries throughout.  I really like blueberries so I was pleased by the berries, although I think strawberry would be a better match given the other ingredients in the bowl (banana, peanut butter).

PB, Blueberry, Banana Oats: Side.

Below the toppings was the real surprise.  It looked like just some chia and some kind of dairy (or non-dairy), and some mushy oats?  I wasn't particularly excited for it.

But one bite, not even, one tiny tiny taste, and I realized that these were not just chia-oats!  The flavor was intensely peanut butter.  Mmm, peanut butter.  The base was very creamy, and I liked the soft mushy overnight oats, and wasn't bothered by the chia (I'm not a huge chia fan).

I love peanut butter, and this was basically a fun play on a pb & j meets pb & banana, two wonderful sandwich combos, but, as a overnight oat bowl.  I wished the "j" was strawberry though, even though I like blueberries more in general.  That said, the peanut butter was quite rich, and this wasn't a bowl that made you feel healthy, rather, it really weighed me down.  A half a bowl really was plenty, although I found it addicting in small doses.

****.

Strawberry Almond Overnight Oats: Top.

Next, I grabbed one that looked to have strawberry and sliced almonds on top.  Again, I didn't know quite what lay beneath.

The strawberry compote was even more generous on top of this one compared to the blueberry on the other.  It was fruity, sweet, and seemed made from real fruit.  This bowl did not have fresh berries in it in addition.

The almonds on top were thin sliced, and much like the banana chips in the previous bowl added a great crunch.

Strawberry Almond Overnight Oats: Side View.

Once I dug under the fruity layer, I found another base of creamy mushy oats with chia, again a really pleasant texture.  And this time, no surprise peanut butter.

But instead ... surprise almond butter!  The almond butter complimented the almonds on top and the berries quite well.  Again though, the nut butter did make this a very heavy bowl.  These are clearly not diet food bowls, but rather, will keep you powered up and sustained for hours, if you eat one all at once.  The almond butter flavor was good, but, I prefer peanut butter.

This one also seemed to have a final layer at the base, a ground almond crumble.

I enjoyed this combo too, and honestly, I can imagine squirting some whipped cream on top and calling it dessert, it really is sweet, creamy, and decadent.

I preferred the blueberry/pb/banana bowl because I like peanut butter more than almond, but again, what I really wanted was the pb/banana elements of the first bowl, with the strawberry compote from this one.

Gus's also makes an "Apple Pie a la Mode" version, which I'd love to try as well.

***+.

Fancy Fruit Salad.

"At Gus’s Fresh Produce is everything to us. We hand select the finest fruit from the season and cut it, mix it and portion it into 5 ounce portions."

We had a large variety of fruit bowls to pick from, some with more melons, others with tons of berries, others entirely without berries, and some even had nectarines!  Really, every one was quite different.  I appreciated the variety, and it didn't seem random.

The fruit was all far above average.  All perfectly ripe, juicy, and quite flavorful.  For March, this was quite a feat.

****+.