Good news for suburbia. Whole Foods just opened a new location in Sudbury on Saturday. The enormous new market opened with a bang – a bread breaking ceremony at 9:45 and the doors opening at 10. They gave out gift bags to the first 100 people in line, and I heard that by 9:25, there were already 100!!  They were also giving away 4 free tickets to the NKOTB concert that night. I had the pleasure of attending a preview a few days earlier, before all the crowds.

The new Whole Foods Sudbury has a Pressed Boston kiosk, where you can grab some juice or a tasty paletta; Clover, where you can grab a delicious falafel sandwich, a donut stand, a self serve mochi bar, and so much more. Did I mention you can get burritos and tacos? Yup, I’m going to be there like EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT!

My favorite thing by far was the self serve macaron bar. These tasty French treats shouldn’t be confused with the macaroon, two o’s, that are the tasty mounds of coconut.

Sushi donuts make it out to the sticks! You don’t have to go into the city to find these tasty treats. Originally I thought they might be overrated, but this was seriously delicious! Like foods that look like other foods, they have watermelon pizzas, fruit burgers and watermelon cakes too! Stop in and check them out. Let me know what you think!

Whole Foods Sudbury

536 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/sudbury

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Brothers Marketplace in Weston just underwent a major renovation. I didn’t even recognize it when I walked in. The store has huge windows in the front that let in all the natural light. You’re greeted by beautiful fresh flowers before walking towards the bakery case full of house made treats. Next your eyes wander over to the fresh produce and the specialty goods.

My mom decided to let me handle my dad’s surprise birthday (with two days notice) and with little ones at home, I had no time to make anything. Here’s where Brothers came in. They have a great prepared food case where I bought all of my sides: asparagus, roasted potatoes, squash and cranberry salad, pesto pasta salad, and of course Brussels sprouts with bacon! If it wasn’t my family, who knows I don’t have time to cook, I’m sure I could have passed all of this off as home made! I’ll share photos of the party soon! Let’s get back to the market for now.

Pictured above: Brothers Marketplace has two cheese cases, one for imported cheese and another for local cheese. They have this great policy, you can try before you buy – just ask someone behind the counter for a taste! Oh and did I mention that they make their own mozzarella? I posted a video of it below! Don’t have time to make lunch, come in and grab some fresh fruit already cut up for you (and have you ever tried their raisins on the vine?!?! A little on the pricey side, but you’ll never go back to boxed raisins again!) Guests can get baked goods at the counter and help themselves to some complimentary fruit infused water (bottom left). Pies, cupcakes, muffins, bagels, cappuccino, you name it, they’ve got it!

What’s great about Brothers Marketplace is that in the front they have these communal tables you can hang out at. So grab your laptop and pick up an espresso and a muffin from the bakery and you’re on your way to a productive morning!

Here’s what I loved about the market, they cut some of the fruit in half (and covered it in plastic wrap) so that you could see what the inside of a lesser known fruit looks like. For instance, I’m not a huge fruit and veggie person, so I had never seen the inside of a pummelo (bottom left) just look at that beautiful color! The market even has signs on the produce that tells you where it came from. Another feature I loved were the bulk bins. Half the time you need to make something is spent doing the prep work. Need some sliced onions, they’ve got you covered. You can buy lettuce and other produce from the bulk bins and pay one price per pound so you can mix and match.

I was telling you before about the prepared food case – just check out how colorful everything is! Before being invited here for the tour I was here weekly buying sides for lunch and dinner. The Brussels sprouts are popular in our house along with the bean and corn salad. But I’m going to check out those shrimp skewers next time I go since we’ve just put away our gas grill. They have an amazing selection in the meat case with responsibly raised beef and other meat products. My go to place for flowers has always been Whole Foods, they just have the nicest looking “market” flowers, but now that I’ve started shopping at Brothers, I’ll be picking up flowers here. People will think that you went to the florist! Pick up a bunch on your way home for the kitchen table or have an arrangement made (they do have a few arrangements for sale as well).

How beautiful is the stuffed squash here? OK so no one would believe I made these myself, but I’m sure they’d be a hit at any party!

Check out Connor making some mozzarella. Cool thing about Connor is that he started out working part time for the company and has worked his way up the ladder – stop by and see him at Brothers Marketplace in Weston!

Disclaimer: I was invited to attend a media tour of Brothers Marketplace. We were provided with complimentary light bites and a swag bag of local goodies. All opinions are my own.

Brothers Marketplace

41 Center Street, Weston, MA

Check out their website here.

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