Oh, foodies, be still your beating hearts.
At long last, Market & Co. — Upper Canada Mall’s $60-million, 40,000-square-foot urban food market extravaganza — is opening.
The much-anticipated official grand opening celebrations begin tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. with a festive bread-breaking ceremony — if you are among the first 200 to arrive, you’ll receive a $25 mall gift card. There will also be complimentary cooking classes, live entertainment, and food stations.
In the “hustle and bustle of the final days” prior to launch, mall general manager Bri-Ann Stuart acknowledged the anticipation had been building for Canada’s first food market in a premium shopping centre environment.
“What we love the most about this project was that it was a long time in coming — it was a lot of education about what this was and what it was going to be for our community … We’re so excited to be able to start telling you the stories of our 20 best-in-class local merchants.”
Market & Co., which added 250 part-time and full-time jobs to the community, offers several first-to-market dining experiences, including Union Chicken and Amano Kitchen.
“I’m very much a mangia cake,” said chef/owner Mike Angeloni, whose Italian heritage is the inspiration behind the open-concept Italian Amano Kitchen restaurant and its commitment to sourcing the freshest local ingredients whenever possible. You can eat in or take out, and a variety of branded Amano products are available — not to mention, his grandmother’s tomato sauce.
“We like to say we are inspired by our Italian heritage, not defined by it,” said Angeloni, who will offer hands-on artisanal pasta-making classes at Kitchen & Co., the demonstration kitchen at the centre of the market that will host regular events, pop-ups and workshops.
The music is lively in his adjacent, family-style Union Chicken, which serves locally raised spit-fired rotisserie chickens free from antibiotics and hormones.
MidiCi, The Neapolitan Pizza Company brings Naples to Newmarket. The popular U.S.-based restaurant, which is making its first venture into Canada at Market & Co., is a dynamically designed open-concept restaurant that prides itself on using the freshest ingredients.
Its renowned non-GMO dough is made fresh on site — you’ll be able to watch through a window — in a temperature and humidity controlled room that meets certified Neapolitan style, according to managing director Eli Staiman.
The centrepieces of the dining room are the gleaming pizza ovens, handcrafted in Naples by third-generation artisans. “Each one is unique,” Staiman added. You can take a seat at the elegant curved Carrara marble-topped bar to watch your pizzas baking.
Some of the other taste delights you’ll discover while strolling through the expansive, brightly lit and bustling space include Village Juicery, which boasts fresh organic cold-pressed juice, plant-based foods and personalized cleanses. All the delicious, nutritious concoctions are designed by holistic nutritionists, according to manager Sarah Morris.
This fifth location for the Village Juicery “reminds me of the St. Lawrence Market with a modern flair”, Morris said.
You’ll find high-quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar at locally owned Newmarket Olive Oil Co., and freshly stocked produce and quality products at a great value at well-known locally owned Vince’s Market.
Pier87 Fish Market & Grill offers sustainable fresh and frozen fish, seafood, including oysters, and live lobster.
The newly located Starbucks boasts a large seating area. “We want the community to spend time here,” Stuart said.
Your sweet tooth will swoon at the Sweet Jesus, leaders in the confectionary game and soft serve ice cream, and Amadeus Patisserie, a gourmet bakery offering European-inspired and beautifully designed pastries, tarts, cookies and cakes.
Other debut retail locations and first-to-market Canadian brands include: Bake Three Fifty; First Batch; FloralEscence; Humble Roots Organic; Sugar King Factory; Ma’s Best Quality Soups; Our Farm Organic Bakery; Ray Woodey’s Craft Chippery; Seed to Sausage Meatery; and The Wine Shop and Tasting Room.
The celebrations will continue this weekend with complimentary classes at Kitchen & Co, the demonstration kitchen at the centre of Market & Co. Click here for more information.
