Guides ·Food & drink

Giant Eagle Market District at Kingsdale: the anchor

Kingsdale Shopping Center, off Northwest Boulevard near Tremont Road, is built around a Giant Eagle Market District — the upgraded format with a full butcher counter, seafood on ice, a cheese island, sushi made in-house, a hot bar and a bakery. It is where Upper Arlington actually shops. Prepared meals run $9 to $14, the hot bar is priced by the pound in the $9 to $11 range, and the bakery does cakes to order. Parking is free and enormous.

For visitors staying in a short-term rental, this is the single most useful building in the city: you can assemble a whole week of groceries, pick up a rotisserie chicken and a bottle of wine for $25, and be back in Old Arlington in six minutes. Go before 10 am on a Saturday or after 7 pm any weeknight to avoid the crush. The surrounding centre also holds the main Upper Arlington Public Library and city offices on Tremont Road just north.

The Lane Avenue triangle: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Kroger

West Lane Avenue between North Star Road and Kenny Road packs three very different grocers into a few hundred yards. Whole Foods Market handles organic produce, a serious cheese counter and a hot and cold bar around $10 to $12 a pound — expect to pay 20 to 30 percent more than at a conventional store, and get better bread. Kroger at the Lane Avenue Shopping Center is the value option with the widest aisles and the lowest prices on staples.

Trader Joe's on Lane Avenue is the third leg and the best value in the city for picnic food: cheese, cured meat, olives, chocolate and a bottle of wine for two people for around $25 to $30. The store is small and the car park is tight, so shop midweek if you can. Between the three, plus the Market District at Kingsdale, Upper Arlington has an unusually deep grocery scene for a suburb of 36,000 people, which keeps a self-catering week genuinely cheap.

Tremont Center: Huffman's Market and The Goodie Shop

Tremont Center, at Tremont and Zollinger, is the older and more characterful of the city's two shopping hubs, and it holds the two food shops with real local loyalty. Huffman's Market is a small independent grocer and butcher with a deli counter that makes sandwiches to order, generally $8 to $11, plus prepared sides, marinated meats for the grill and a wine selection. It is the kind of store that survives on regulars, and it shows in the staff.

Two doors along, The Goodie Shop has been baking since the 1950s: cinnamon rolls, cream sticks, cookies, decorated cakes and buckeye donuts, mostly $2.50 to $5. Arrive before 10 am on a weekend or accept what is left. Add the Old Bag of Nails Pub for lunch and you have a complete morning without moving the car. Parking is free, the lot is shallow and easy, and the whole errand takes under an hour.

Farmers markets: local and nearby

Upper Arlington runs a seasonal farmers market in the warm months, typically on a weekday afternoon in the Kingsdale area — the location and day have shifted over the years, so check the city's Parks and Recreation listings before you go. Expect a modest, neighborly affair: sweet corn in July and August, tomatoes, peaches, cut flowers, eggs, bread and a few prepared-food vendors, with most produce priced at or slightly above grocery-store level.

For a bigger market, drive ten to fifteen minutes. The Clintonville Farmers' Market runs Saturday mornings from May into October on North High Street and is the best producer market on this side of Columbus. The Worthington Farmers Market sets up Saturday mornings on the historic village green, with an indoor winter edition. Both are cash-friendly, both sell out of the best things by 10:30 am, and both are worth the drive during Ohio's short, intense produce season.

The North Market and other Columbus food halls

Fifteen minutes southeast, the North Market on Spruce Street downtown is central Ohio's historic public market, operating since 1876 and open daily. Inside are roughly thirty merchants: butchers, a fishmonger, produce, spices, Vietnamese, Polish, Indian and Middle Eastern counters, a cheese shop, and the original Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams stand. Lunch runs $10 to $16 a head, parking is in the adjacent garage, and the best time is a weekday late morning.

There is a second North Market at Bridge Park in Dublin, twenty minutes northwest via Riverside Drive, with a similar format in a newer building and easier parking. For specialty shopping, Weiland's Market in Clintonville is a small independent grocer with an excellent butcher and beer selection, and The Hills Market on Olentangy River Road north of the outer belt does local meat, cheese and prepared food well. Both make good stops on the way back from a day trip.

International grocers and where to find the ingredients you cannot

Columbus has one of the most diverse immigrant populations in the Midwest, and its international grocers reflect that. Saraga International Grocery on Morse Road, about twenty minutes northeast, is the big one — a warehouse of Latin American, African, South and East Asian produce, fresh fish, halal meat and enormous rice bags at prices well below any conventional store. It is the place to go for lemongrass, plantains, dried chillies or a whole tilapia.

Closer in, the Kingsdale Market District and Whole Foods both carry decent international sections, and Middle Eastern and Asian grocers dot Bethel Road and Henderson Road just north of the city. If you are cooking for a group in a rental, the pattern that works is Kroger or Market District for bulk, Trader Joe's for snacks and wine, Huffman's for the meat, and one dedicated international shop for whatever the others do not stock.

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