My wife called on her lunch hour, as she often does, with her usual complaint: “There’s nowhere to eat downtown anymore.” It’s an observation she has made as a longtime downtown worker, often. It’s an observation that many of us have also made from time-to-time.
There are, of course, restaurants downtown, but more have fallen than opened lately, as this magazine has noted time and again. Pointing this out is no consolation to my wife, though, who’s hangry but burned out on Salsa Limon and Ashim’s Hibachi Grill and her other west downtown go-tos.
I tell her she’s in luck. A new café has just opened mere blocks from where she works, just a couple steps from where she’s walking right this second. 3rd Street Market, I tell her, serves sandwiches on freshly made bread, soups made by a local dynamite chef, and sweet galettes that she should bring home to me tonight. Right after it opened, I had a nice visit there. I imagined she would, too.
Opened in October by local culinary power couple, Dena Peterson Shaskan and her husband, Trent Shaskan, the restaurant and bakery is a combination of their two strengths.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Dena is the former executive chef at Café Modern, who now runs her own catering service, Mockingbird Food, while West Coast native Trent has spent the past few years making a name for himself as an expert bread-maker under the name Icon Bread. Both are also involved in The Table, a market and culinary studio the couple opened in the Near Southside with partners Hao Tran and Dixya Bhattarai in 2019.
For their new venture, the two have developed an approachable menu that would appeal to both foodies and those who simply want a nice, quick lunch.
Sandwiches rotate daily and have included roasted turkey with herb aioli, Kindred Creamery smoked Gouda and spring greens; curry chicken salad with grapes and almonds; beet hummus with alfalfa sprouts and cucumber; Italian on classic sourdough with hard salami, mortadella, spicy capicola, and calabrese salami and provolone with an artichoke olive mix; and a chicken banh mi with pickled carrots, daikon cucumber, and Sriracha mayo on semolina sesame sourdough.
There are also soups and salads, which rotate daily, too, plus a gourmet grab-and-go section stocked with items such as lasagna, marinated chicken, and Hao and Dixya’s popular dumplings.
Breakfast offerings include pastries from local baker Kazuko Goto of Small & Baked Goods, gourmet coffee, and cold pressed, organic juices from partner Squoze Juicery. In the afternoon, there’s wine, beer bread, English tea, and charcuterie. 3rd Street sells wine by the bottle, too. “Wonderful wines that you can’t find at any old grocery store,” Dena says.
The food may be upscale, but the vibe is laid-back, Dena says. “Trent’s San Francisco roots, my time living in New York – it's kind of a cool combo to make a chill vibe.”
Similar to The Pantry, the restaurant will offer food and wine classes from Bhattarai, another business partner.
Bread is a major focus for 3rd Street, especially for Trent, who has spent years perfecting his skills as an artisan bread-maker. His specialty is sourdough, but he’s adept at making all kinds. Bread is made fresh daily for the café's sandwiches and also sold by the loaf.
The couple created an area just for bread enthusiasts. Says Dena: “You can sit at the ‛bread bar’ and watch the bread being made.” My wife should never grow hangry again.
Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Saturday, 425 W. Third St., 3rdstreet.market. For information on cooking classes, visit indulgefw.com.
