What’s In Store? Quarantine Kits!

Restaurants convert into pop-up markets with great deals on grocery staples.

Screen Shot 2020-03-19 at 2.36.23 PM
Screen Shot 2020-03-19 at 2.36.23 PM

CityBook will continue to add to this article as more news becomes available.


Is your local grocery store is understocked or overwhelmingly crowded? Several local restaurants are thinking outside the box and creating grocery bundles for pickup and carry-out. Here are some of our favorites!

  • Local Foods in Rice Village converted its lobby into a pop-up farmer’s market with local bread, coffee beans, olive oil, select produce and more; guests can grab a few items or call in an order. Here, shoppers can also snag deli items like free-range chicken breast, pork, boiled shrimp, sirloin, ham and sliced cheese. A $99 family pack includes pints of hummus, vegan queso and campechana; quarts of pozole, egg salad and strawberries; a dozen boiled eggs; a bottle of local hot sauce; six pretzel buns and six chocolate-chip cookies; and a gallon of either tea or lemonade. Veggie boxes ($25) may include broccoli cauliflower, sweet potato, carrots, kale, beets, Brussel sprouts, tomato, lettuce and chard. Other staples (even toilet paper) are available inside as well.
  • Cuchara also converted its parking lot into an outdoor market, and currently carries milk, eggs, fruit — and margaritas to-go!
  • At Flying Saucer, a $55 grocery bundle (available on UberEats and customizable by phone) includes two pounds of chicken wings, eggs, cheese, avocados and more.
  • What's better than a pop-up grocery store? How about a virtual farmer's market! Dish Society has great deals on locally sourced produce — $32 for a box that's chock-full! — as well as bread, orange juice and more. Order and pay online, then schedule a pickup at any location (except Finn Hall).
  • Both locations of The Federal Grill are offering groceries at wholesale prices. Find meat, lettuce, milk, eggs and more!
  • National media darling Nancy’s Hustle has reopened after taking a few days to regroup, and is newly dubbing itself an “apocalyptic bodega.” Order online and grab unique housemade items like spicy vegetable sauerkraut and “salsa macha,” along with staples like EVOO, coffee beans and more.
  • Whiskey Cake’s "non-essentials" package gets you two whole marinated chickens, 12 burger patties and a pound of housemade sausage. What a steal! The restaurant's other quarantine kits change daily, but usually include a dozen-plus eggs, a gallon of milk, a pound of butter — and a roll of toilet paper.
  • State Fare's take-home offerings are broken down into grill kits and "southern home cookin'" kits; the former touts options like two smoked ribeyes with two loaded baked potatoes and asparagus, or 12 shrimp with bacon, cheese and barbecue sauce, while the latter supplies you with the goods to make homestyle chicken-fried steak or a "big ol' breakfast."

Hay Merchant & Georgia James' Oven-Ready Dishes To GoHay Merchant & Georgia James' Oven-Ready Dishes To Go

  • Underbelly Hospitality is offering take-and-bake plates with options like Wagyu meatlof and chef Chris Shepherd's world-famous Korean braised goat and dumplings.
  • Perry's in Memorial City is now a steakhouse and a grocery: A $62 grocery pack touts two filet mignons, two chicken breasts, one dozen eggs, two strips of bacon, red potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, roma tomatoes, onion, corn on the cob, two loafs of homemade bread, a half-pound of butter, a gallon of milk — and the restaurant's signature steak seasoning and steak butter.
  • Introducing Bernie's Bodega at Bernie's Burger Bus in Bellaire! (Its other locations are temporarily closed.) Snag premium products like the restaurant's house blend of ground beef, its yummy juke sauce, Slow Dough buns and more. Even better? To help out community members who are suffering during this crisis, the bodega is name-your-price.

AT TOP: Whiskey Cake's daily grocery bundle 

Dispatches
Thrive & Inspire: Working with Seniors — ‘America’s Best’ — a Joy for Medicare Expert Justin White

Justin White, Founder of Senior Health Services

WHAT IS THE secret to running a successful business? First, you have to have a mission that you care about. I absolutely love helping people understand Medicare! Secondly, I have always succeeded because the agents I work with know that I care for them and truly want them to succeed. I love developing leaders and watching them soar! If I help them get where they want to be, I will never need to worry about me! We all rise together.

Keep Reading Show less

LeBrina Jackson

AS WE GET into the holiday season, we’re reminded of what we have, what we want and what might be lacking. As Sheryl Crow says in her song, Soak up the Sun, “It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you've got.” We caught up with LeBrina Jackson, owner of Escape Spa in Cypress, Texas, and learned how she tackles the holiday season with hope, love and most importantly, gratitude.

Keep Reading Show less

Paella Valenciana at Mi Luna

THOUGH IT'S BEEN in Houston less than a decade, Sof Hospitality has made major inroads with foodies and critics alike. Its concepts include Doris Metropolitan, Hamsa and Badolina Bakery, all of which deliver the rich flavors of Israeli cuisine in complex, photogenic and delicious dishes. Its newest, Októ, opened earlier this year, one of several energetic restaurants to bow in the Montrose Collective, just in time for the holidays.

Keep Reading Show less
Food