Bolsa Mercado

Chris Zielke (from left) Jessica Jeffers and Matt Balke show off some of the many wares that Bolsa Mercado has to offer. (Entree Dallas)

Chris Jeffers and Chris Zielke are not clairvoyant. Indeed, the evidence is there: since the duo opened Oak Cliff’s Bolsa nearly four years ago, they have embarked on success after success both in the local media and among Oak Cliff residents – Dallas residents as a whole, actually – with their innovative, yet practical and comfortable concepts. With every effort they undertake thus far, it appears that they seem to somehow know beforehand what it is exactly that people want.

And just a few weeks into it, it would seem that Bolsa Mercado is no exception.

Already exhaustively covered by online and traditional media alike, Bolsa Mercado brings to Oak Cliff what Zielke and Jeffers had initially intended for its namesake to provide: a market that provides a grocery and gourmet food market that features local goods, all while providing high-quality, reasonably-priced dishes in a restaurant-style setting. To do it, they (and Jessica Jeffers, Chris’s wife) teamed up with Plan B‘s Royce Ring and Alex Urrunaga (Whiskey Cake, Oak, Velvet Taco, and fellow co-owners of Bolsa Mercado) – who also helped with the original Bolsa – to bring the plan to fruition.

“Bolsa Mercado is sort of a realization of the idea that Bolsa initially started as, where it was a small market that had specialty and local products for a low-density market where there’s not a Whole Foods, a Central Market, Sprouts or any of those types of places,” says Zielke. “It’s more of a European-style deli, where people can come in daily and see what’s available; see what’s coming in locally. That aspect got squeezed out of Bolsa because the restaurant ate up all the market space pretty quickly, so we’ve been working towards fully realizing this idea. Then when the law passed to allow the retail of beer and wine down here, we jumped at this building, and here we are.”

A sampling of the produce available at Bolsa Mercado. (Entree Dallas)

It’s safe to say the market aspect isn’t going to get squeezed out of Bolsa Mercado – the least reason of which is that it would be a misnomer if it did. Zielke estimates the front area of the shop to be around 2,400 square feet, of which considerably more than half is dedicated to shelves of dry goods, refrigerators full of gourmet and local (and local gourmet) dairy and protiens, and a counter featuring an array of house-made vittles, from chocolate cookies and scones to sausages and even leg of duck confit. Yes, that’s duck confit in a display case – just waiting to be taken home, heated and eaten, glorious fat and all.

“The thing about duck confit is that it’s one of those things that is really delicious but no one really has the time to do after work. And so we just make that easier. It’s the same with chicken stock – you don’t want to do that out of a box, you’d rather know where it came from – we use Windy Meadows chicken bones, so it’s about as local as chicken stock comes,” says Sous Chef Matt Balke, who with Chef Jeff Harris is heading up the Mercado kitchen as well as that at the original Bolsa. “It’s just kind of like what you would want to eat after work – nothing is really tricked out. It’s just good stuff.”

It’s not a typical feel of a grocery store – even a gourmet, local-conscious market – at Bolsa Mercado, where one long, communal table and a few lounge chairs greet you as you walk in off of Davis. A customer could just as easily saunter in, pay a buck or two for a cup of locally roasted coffee, sit down and read a newspaper as he or she could run in for a bag of blue grits from Homestead Gristmill and a box of Puffins. The feel is laid-back, but it’s not mandatory. It’s okay to be in a hurry; to get what you need and be on your way.

But if you do happen to be there during dinner time and don’t feel like cooking, well, the kitchen is there for more than the expanded catering that Bolsa intends to do. Three- and four-course dinners created by Harris and Balke will be on the menu every night, usually for between $15-$25.

“For example, we did some some braised pork shoulder with Homestead Gristmill polenta, Tom Spicer collard greens and some Village Baking Company’s bread the other night – it’s cold outside, and that’s the kind of thing you want to eat,” says Balke.

Part of the grocery section at Bolsa Mercado. (Entree Dallas)

Additionally, Bolsa Mercado will occasionally be hosting larger dinners that are a little more culinarily adventurous and in-depth.

“We’re going to start doing twenty-person dinners where the place will shut down, the lights will go down, we’ll decorate the table, and Jeff and I will do an eight- to ten-course dinner. You just sign up, so you’ll just be sitting at a table with strangers and enjoying food, wine, and conversations,” Balke says.  “So, I think that’s something a little unique, too, where it’s not forcing you to make friends but it’s listening to other people’s experience and enjoying the food and atmosphere. There are a lot of big plans with this place and I mean we’re just into it and it’s already going strong.”

A strong start prevented the original Bolsa from being what it was initially intended to be, but while success prevented its precursor from establishing itself as a mainstay market in Oak Cliff, the very name Bolsa Mercado is a strong enough indication that the Jeffers, Zielke, and Plan B have created a neighborhood grocer first and foremost. Now, with the plan in place and the market going, all they have to do is see what tinkering is left to be done with the products they’re offering.

“Of course it’s a little more foodie and a little more specialized, so on top of the local products and the organic products or all-natural products, I try to throw in a good mix of unique, restaurant-only items that most people can’t find. Something to kind of make it even more interesting,” Zielke says. “We’ve only been here a few weeks, so a lot of this is figuring out what people want us to carry. You open, you put some stuff on the shelf and then you just wait for people to tell you ‘wow that’s good’ or ‘it sucks’ or ‘do this differently.’”

It’s a simple, highly effective marketing strategy – in an effort to create the perfect market, the owners listen to what the customers have to say, and they react accordingly. It’s not like they can read minds, you know.