Lazy Acres Natural Market just opened in Encinitas

Americas - USA West San Diego
#1

TL;DR Wowza

For those that are unfamiliar with the chain, it is a subsidiary of Bristol Farms. The Encinitas market is only the third store so far; a Mission Hills outlet is expected to open next year.

I would give them an A for prepared foods. They have an outstanding poke bar, a smoked bbq section (tried the brisket and it was very tender and smokey, although too salty), very thin crust pizza (and two deep dish), paninis, other sandwiches, pasta and rice bar, taco bar, salad bar, soup bar (including matzoh ball soup, at least for today), prepared meats and veggies. They also offer smoothies.

The meat section is phenomenal. The seafood section is great, although somewhat pricey. The produce section is strong. Lots and lots of cheeses.

There are some good deals to be had till Oct 18. Lots of free samples.

The workers are friendly and helpful, maybe too friendly. I jest.

Weaknesses: ethnic foods, bakery just ok

Interesting: They have an enclosed bee hive in the store. They have an open kitchen for short cooking classes ($20-30, sometimes free).

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#2

Didn’t realize they are part of the Bristol Farms chain. Did you think the prices are about the same as Bristol Farms or a bit more consumer friendly? I’m glad they finally opened up because that mall was getting over run with street dudes and hopefully that will kinda clean up that area.

#3

I haven’t been to Bristol Farms in a long time, and when I went it was to get a meal at their cafeteria.

Lazy Acres had a 4-page flyer of their sale items, and I suspect that will be a weekly flyer.

#4

Sounds good, thanks for the report

#5

Same pricing. The place is basically Bristol Farms with a few more items. Even their sales are basically the same. I did get some Niman Ranch back ribs for a nice price a while ago.

#6

Only been to the one in Santa Barbara, but see no reason to go there over a Whole Foods.

#7

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#8

I don’t generally buy my meats at Whole Foods.

#9

I took a look at photos of the Santa Barbara location on Yelp. It appears to be much smaller than the Encinitas location, and not really comparable.

#10

And what’s interesting is that the Encinitas Whole Foods is pitifully small, esp. in comparison to the La Jolla location.

#11

Tell me about it. If I want to shop at Whole Foods, I go to the much larger Del Mar and La Jolla locations. But the Encinitas location was actively recruited by the Encinitas City Council.

When I go to a small market in Encinitas it is either Trader Joe’s or the Seaside Market.

#12

lazy acres is a huge letdown. the lunch items are over-priced heavily and a bit of a tragedy. the prices don’t beat anyone in town so I see no reason to make a point to go here.

#13

Is your comment based on price alone or have you tried some of their lunch items and found them to be lacking?

#14

Their poke (they have three kinds and ceviche) goes for $17 per pound, the same price as Costco and a dollar more than Gelson’s. They also have a lot of condiments available to complete one’s bowl, such as avocado, seaweed, and cilantro. Unfortunately, if you add rice, this will also be charged at $17 per pound. I have found the poke to be quite good, but I bring it home sans rice, and add the rice at home.

They have a taco bar that goes for $9 per pound. I have tried it once. I found the meat I tried (carnitas) to be pretty decent, but I was disappointed that they did not have a real Mexican cheese available, such as cotija.

Their pizzas look anemic, and slices go for over $3. Whole Foods is vastly superior for pizza.

I haven’t tried or seen the assembly of any of their sandwiches, including paninis. Paninis go for $6.50.

Their hot and salad bars go for $9/lb. Their hot bar can contain some outstanding food items, such as smoked brisket, which is quite a deal considering that smoked brisket alone goes for $16/lb. (correction $13/lb)

I have purchased their smoked brisket from a counter, and thought it was as good as Coops and Rudy’s Barbecue (a famous Texas chain). I have also tried their smoked pork butt and found it to be very good, and cheaply priced at $10/lb. Their brisket is superior to the brisket I have tried at Whole Foods. But Whole Foods also smokes good sized whole chickens for a great price ($10), and the La Jolla market does it well. (The Del Mar market does a poor job of bbq.)

They also have a soup bar, which I haven’t tried. I forget what the prices were, but at least they don’t charge by weight like Gelson’s does.

#15

Wow…I gotta get out more…

Just for comparison, These are my raw costs for a pound of rice from a major broadline distributor:

$.48 - brown rice
1.03 - Thai Jasmine rice .55 - long grain white rice
$.41 - medium grain CalRose rice

For the period July 1 - Nov 30, 2016 we used 725# of brown rice and 1,100# of Thai jasmine rice. A side (4oz portion) of rice is $1.65. Looks like I left a lot of income on the table…

But seriously, $17 for a pound of rice? That’s obscene given the raw costs, and even labor at $11/hr doesn’t justify the expense

#16

I don’t know if this is calculated genius or inadvertent genius. I think there is at least a 40 percent chance it is the latter. I should also note that they also have premade poke bowls that go for $10. I wonder what proportion of the bowl is rice.

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#17

How much weight of the rice is water?

#18

I would guess around 53.2 percent.

#19

I did try the lunch items the hot items were cold. things looked like they’ve been sitting for a while and poorly made. No love has gone into any of it. The sandwiches were super tiny compared to whole foods. Luckily I went for a work lunch, 2 people $40+, expensed it, but would never go here on my own.

#20

Yowza!!! That doesn’t sound good at all