Praise be to the Breakfast Gods, as Downtowners can now enjoy the healthy offering of Kress Market & Deli in the AM hours as the staple unveils its morning menu (and quite possibly the best lox in town).
When husband-wife team Javier and Hilda Ortiz opened the market in 2010, they were bringing at the time something that didn’t exist anywhere remotely near DTLB: organic groceries, craft beer, fresh smoothies, and ready-to-eat grub freshly made right before doors opened. It was ultimately a risk since the economy was still depressed—but it was also a labor of love and, to this day, Javier still has another job to ensure the store remains operating for the collection of dedicated patrons its garnered over the past six years.
The breakfast croissant.
“But now, it’s finally back up,” Javier said, speaking of the economy. “We’re able to open earlier now and make new customers because the increase in foot traffic and visitors is completely different from when we opened.”
That means come 8AM, you can stop in at Kress, enjoy a cup of coffee or a latte (served with Rose Park coffee beans no less), and grub on one of the best breakfast sandwiches in DTLB, their Breakfast Croissant. Egg whites are paired with turkey bacon, tomato, avocado, mozzarella and lettuce, all shoved into a croissant. It’s genuinely wonderful.
The lox.
Best lox? Might just be at Kress, where the usual cream cheese, tomato, cucumber, and capers are thrown onto a bagel—but the lox seal the deal. The quality of salmon they get with the way the salmon is salt-cured is insanely addicting.
For breakfast burrito lovers like our office workers (who are seemingly always craving the West Coast response to a breakfast bagel), you can have something beyond Berlin or Leo’s with Kress Market’s classic take: potatoes, scrambled egg, bacon, cheddar, and a chile sauce on the side. Voila.
Perhaps best of all, outside the ultra-healthy items also being offered like Veggie Hummus Wraps and raw veggie/fruit blends, is the fact that the prices are reasonable. Everything is a single-digit cost (except the lox, the only thing to hit $10 and we promise you, it’s worth it).
In other words: go.
Go support a family and market that has long invested in a place that no one would five years ago. Go support a part of Pine that is beginning to see a new sign of life thanks to not only Kress but The Pie Bar and soon-to-open joints like Romeo Chocolates and Saint & Sinners Bakery. Go support good food.
Kress Market is located at 433 Pine Ave.