One of the questions that I am asked most frequently about what I do is:  Where do you shop? The answer is a long list of places all over the San Francisco Bay area.  It depends on where I am cooking, convenience, and who has the highest quality ingredients available.  I typically go to the Farmer’s market on the weekend for most of my produce shopping. For fish, I highly recommend Cook’s Seafood in Menlo Park—I rarely purchase seafood anywhere else.  On the other side of the bay I recommend Monterey Fish Market.  I shop Whole Foods for items such as flour, sugar etc.

Most Tuesday mornings you will find me at Bianchini’s Market in Portola Valley.  Portola Valley has a remote quality that makes it feel very unique.  It is undeveloped and whenever I am there I find it hard to believe that I am just 40 minutes away from an urban city center.   You will probably see a doe and her babies meandering by the side of the road.  If you are driving only a few miles over the speed limit, or come to a ‘rolling stop’, the local law enforcement will surely stop you.  It’s that kind of town.  The easiest way to get to Portola Valley (from SF) is to take 280 south to the Alpine Road exit.  Bianchini’s is located just off of the freeway, on the main road through town.  It is family owned and operated.  Bianchini’s opened as a full service grocery store in 1998.  It now has a second store in San Carlos that opened last spring.   What I like the most about the store is the commitment to quality and their support of local farms.  Of course, they do carry long distance items such as bananas and pineapples but they really make an effort to bring in local produce.  I believe that they have some of the best local produce in the area.  Chanterelle mushrooms when they are in season, a bounty of tomatoes and stone fruit in the summer, squash and apples in the fall.  The meat department is also excellent.  They do a fantastic job trimming and tying roasts, and the butchers are extremely knowledgeable.  They carry high quality grass fed beef from Marin Sun Farms, items such as waygu brisket, as well as Mary’s air chilled chicken.  They have high points for customer service too.  The only department that I am not impressed by is the seafood department.  However, it is worth a stop if you are driving thru Portola Valley.