Field Trip: A. Russo and Sons

I didn't exactly plan it this way, but maybe yesterday's desolation at our CSA-less month starts to be a good explanation of why we biked 16 miles through the melting snow and rain today in order to buy baby carrots.

Or maybe not. Anyway, Jack and I felt the need to get out and work off the decidedly non-CSA-inspired meals we've been eating recently and our crisper was bare, so we decided to pilgrimage to Watertown and check out Russo's.

Oh my. It was like a mating of Whole Foods (curated artisan cheeses, snappy graphic design, rainbows of beautiful produce) and Market Basket (unassuming, an unnavigable maze of carts, adorable old ladies, incredibly low prices). There are apples atop imported mineral water, there are eight kinds of fresh mushrooms, there are six kinds of eggplant cheek-by-jowl with fancy quince jams, and there are lobster ravioli. There's a garden center and a sandwich counter and a bakery. Yelpers love it.

(Here's a well-done review -- "the Boston area’s de facto hidden foodie market that no one knows about that everyone knows about" -- that complicates the question of what exactly it means to enjoy inexpensive imported produce out of season, and I can't say I entirely disagree. I will say that I spotted lots of tasty local items in the "seasonal outdoor market" where you first enter.)

I found everything I wanted (onions, garlic, kale, red peppers, carrots, zucchini) and Jack found everything he wanted (persimmons, dried kiwi, cinnamon bread, egg lo mein, king oyster mushrooms), and we left with as much as we could carry on two bikes for less than $40.