All-Time Winner
Central Market
Texas’ own 100-year-old H-E-B company conceived of Central Market and chose Austin as the location for the flagship store in 1994. We are eternally grateful. We can look back at the diversity of accolades heaped on Central Market by Chronicle readers and critics over the years and get a pretty good idea of what the creative, cutting-edge grocery store means to the city. Austinites appreciate the quality and selection of groceries, wine, and service personnel; plus the value-added attractions of a cooking school featuring in-house, local, and nationally known cooking experts as instructors; a reliable florist shop and catering operation; a family-friendly cafe; and an outdoor playscape that doubles as a music venue. The store serves as a prism through which to evaluate Austin’s continuing evolution as a great food city. Think of all the employees who discovered their culinary passions working in the store, the chefs who found their culinary voices in the cooking school, and the local artisan food manufacturers who have connected with consumers in the market. There are all those things, and the fact that we never tire of telling visiting chefs and food writers who marvel at the wonderfulness of the store, “Yes, we’re spoiled, living here in grocery store heaven.”
Central Market North
4001 N. Lamar, 512/206-1000
centralmarket.com
