Spend Date Night at Whole Foods

Friday is here, and that means date night has arrived. It's an opportunity to reconnect or get connected with your significant other after a hectic week spent in the confines of a cubicle. And typically, date night involves one of my favorite things in the entire world--eating. So, is it wrong that I want to spend date night at Whole Foods?

Confused? Then, perhaps you haven't sampled the organic retailer's "groceraunt."

That's right, I said groceraunt. It's a hybrid between a grocery store and a restaurant, and a completely new word--one I'm pretty sure even Webster's hasn't gotten a hold of yet. I can't imagine that Whole Foods could be any more fabulous than it already is, unless, of course, they dropped their prices significantly and stopped importing from China, but I digress. On the up side, their stores have great atmospheres, are well-lit, environmentally conscious and feature a selection of delicious and healthy foods. They're bakery rocks (I can actually get wheat-free pastries!) and the deli is delish. But now, a restaurant...er...I mean, groceraunt? I'm intrigued...

Allegedly, the new groceraunt features wide-screen televisions, a chef performing in-store cooking lessons, a wine-tasting bar and a brick-oven pizza counter. Yum!

In late February, Whole Foods opened up a groceraunt in the Northeast Valley of Arizona. Are more to come? It's hard to tell, as my inquires to the Whole Foods national and Northwest press went unanswered. So, I'm simply left to speculate.

Since I already spend my Friday nights roaming the aisles of my local Whole Foods in Portland, Ore., (grocery stores are a good place to meet men, at least according to Cosmo) it would really help my social life and keep me from having to cook. Two birds, one stone. You know what I'm saying? I love the concept and hope we'll see more groceraunts in the future.

Do you have a groceraunt in your city? Or do you have some inside info on Whole Foods' future groceraunt plans? Hook me up and leave a comment here.

--Heather Strang

Comments

[Heather Strang]

Christina,

Thanks for the tip - that Whole Foods is just a hop skip and a jump from my home in Lake O. I'm going to check it out and will report back.

Who needs Whole Foods PR people? We've got readers! :)

-Heather

[Christina]

The Whole Foods located by Bridgeport Village in the Portland area is part of this groceraunt concept I believe. It has individual restaurant "stations" and plasma TVs everywhere. Not sure about the wine tasting bar, but definately the cooking lessons and the brick oven pizza. The stations include Seasmoke Café & Kikka Sushi. It is interesting and different, but a good choice for a group lunch outings as there are many options for everyone's taste.