Upscale Appetizers

Near each other in Westlake Village are a couple of supermarkets where you can pick up a $3 pound of hamburger or--at one of them--a $100 pound of Kobe beef that is said to be the world’s best and most expensive steak.

Bristol Farms stocks both the hamburger and the steak. And it stocks Wonder Bread, but its bakery shelves also display ciabatta, Oregon herb bread, black forest rye and challah.

Just across the Ventura Freeway, Gelson’s meat department similarly displays frying chickens--but also ready-to-cook chicken cordon bleu and Jamaican jerk chicken.

This full-service aspect is what sets Gelson’s and Bristol Farms apart from both specialty food stores and mainstream supermarkets.

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A visit to Bristol Farms on Promenade Way is like a visit to a food museum. Foodies can have a fine time here, just strolling the aisles and looking at the gorgeous victuals in the bakery, deli, cheese, produce, meat and flower sections. Even the canned goods look scrumptious.

The difference between a Bristol Farms chain grocery store and your mother’s A & P is apparent the moment one sets foot inside the store.

For starters, there is the lighting. The lighting is, well, romantic. Mood lighting, almost.

If the supermarket looks more like a restaurant at first, that is because Bristol Farms, like Gelson’s, has a small cafe area at which to sit and sip a tall, skinny latte or cappuccino.

Over there is the flower shop with its long-stemmed beauties, over here is the deli with its three dozen salads.

Let’s see, should the Market Lady go for the cole slaw . . . or--what’s that? . . . Gorgonzola ravioli with duck at $9.99 a pound . . . shrimp diablo . . . boar’s head bologna for $4.99 a pound . . . or maybe the spinach goat cheese tamales . . . or that old standby, potato crusted poached salmon with basil?

In the deli alone are 10 varieties of ham and 10 varieties of turkey. And of course, several fresh pates and caviars.

“Our customers work, and they come in and pick up dinner, go home and feed their families,” said deli clerk Terry Bacon.

Across the aisle, the bakery case is ready for Valentine’s Day, with heart-shaped white chocolate raspberry mousses, heart-shaped chocolate cheesecakes with raspberries and heart-shaped fresh fruit tarts.

Next comes the cheese department with its 400 cheeses of the world. “We’ll have a special baked brie for Valentine’s Day,” said food service manager Vahak Agojian.

Just beyond, head sushi maker Shoko Heinemann stands at the sushi bar, slicing and arranging the day’s fresh display.

“Here, you can buy sushi just like they eat it in Japan,” Heinemann said.

Pete Davis, director of meat, seafood and sushi for Bristol Farms’ seven stores in California, said the store often has alligator, rattlesnake, wild boar, ostrich, fresh buffalo tri-tip roasts, quail, pheasant and venison on hand.

“And we can get you anything in three days,” he added.

Davis said that some of the more exotic cuts “are actually more fun than they are profitable to stock.”

The store also makes and sells 30 varieties of sausage, including fresh seafood sausage.

Although Davis doesn’t see a falling-off for chicken or beef in the future, “I believe seafood and fish are coming into their own,” he said. “With more farm-raised salmon, trout, catfish, shrimp, and, I hear, even halibut, the market will grow. Sushi hasn’t leveled off, either,” he said. “The market is still gaining customers.”

The Market Lady dares you to walk out of Bristol Farms empty handed.

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Within 20 seconds of stepping inside Gelson’s supermarket on Townsgate Road, we were drooling over the beautiful bakery edibles that, fortunately, were on the other side of the glass case at the Victor Benes Bakery.

The luscious-looking, heart-shaped chocolate truffle cake is made on the premises, said baker Pierre Pichette. So was a hilarious hedgehog cake with fudge filling and a rich-looking symphonie cake, he added. The most expensive was the truffle cake at $32.95.

“We have people drive down here from Ventura for this one,” Pichette said, pointing to a fruit charlotte.

In the produce section were competitively priced 99-cent ordinary lettuces, along with exotic greens. A few feet away was a display that looked like little jewel boxes of golden raspberries.

Gelson’s meat case displays not only standard grocery store fare but ready-to-cook steak montreal, salmon burgers and the aforementioned cordon bleu chicken.

Its deli, though, is to die for, which is why the Market Lady couldn’t resist taking home a cashew-crusted chicken breast with honey and mustard at $9.99 a pound, a helping of Maui sweet stuffed onions and a serving of turkey meatloaf with sun-dried tomatoes at $6.69 a pound.

She’s still thinking about the torte Milanese and the southern spoon bread at $3.99 a pound.