Independently owned, organic grocery store. Our Annex serves prepared foods and offers a selection of wine and beer. Our florists are here to help you with fresh local cuts and dried bouquets.
Calling all chocolate connoisseurs!
Join us for a lecture and chocolate tasting with Harald Sorst of Original Beans at the Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex, 10387 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530 (510) 526-5150. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session and then tasting of samples.
March 29, 2023 with presentations at 4:00pm and 7:00pm, choose which time works best for you.
Learn about sourcing, processing and quality!
Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex) – “The Annex Sessions”
The Dans of Steel Trio
Waddell Bell – bass, vocals
Ronnie Smith – drums, vocals
Raliegh Neal – keyboards, vocals
Sitting In: Bill Hampton on guitar (a Bay Area legend) … exciting!!
Possible appearances by
Malcolm Marshall – Vocals
Dave Shul – guitar
Make tonight a wonderful thing with The Dans of Steel…
Bay Area based band The Dans of Steel celebrates the music of Steely Dan, the prolific American rock band founded in 1972 by masterminds Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.
Started in 2017, it’s a deserving tribute from five deeply soulful musicians who came together in admiration of the detailed craftings and artistic splendor of Steely Dan.
The Dans of Steel — Waddell Bell, Ronnie Smith, Dave Shul, Malcolm Marshall and Raliegh Neal — explore, “funkafy” and lovingly recreate songs from throughout the Steely Dan canon that brings together jazz, rock, and r&b sensibilities.
As seasoned musicians, they look to the actual session players that enrich each album Steely Dan has produced.
The Dans, all of them fathers (and at times Men of Steel in their everyday lives), enjoy heated conversations and long listening sessions together. Having a reverence for Steely Dan’s body of work, they often go deep into the large list of supporting musicians who lend their talents to creating the music’s aesthetic, including the individual guitarists, bassist, drummers, pianists and vocalists.
The band aims to go beyond just Donald Fagen and Walter Becker by reaching in the bag of the often-unsung session musicians, whose skills created the groves, riffs, vibes and arrangements that still thrill us today. Members of bands like The Crusaders, The Doobie Brothers, Toto, Weather Report and so many others.
The music and compositions of the support musicians can be related back to the Steely Dan discography and in turn we begin to see how truly prolific this music was and still is.
The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.
SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.
All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.
Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.
COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES
Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.
TICKETS
Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.
With just a few ingredients, you can make this luxurious, creamy soup. Perfect for days that don’t quite feel like spring, take storage potatoes, spring leeks, and the best vegetable stock you can find, whether its homemade or boxed. Adding a hefty pour of cream brings decadence that will satisfy you even if you’d rather soup season were behind you. An immersion blender makes quick work of creating the smooth texture, but don’t be afraid to leave the soup chunky or use a countertop blender if that’s what you’ve got. Crusty bread makes this soup a meal!
Potato Leek Soup
Serves 6
Total Time: 45 minutes
Vegetarian, Gluten-Free
6 cups russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
6 cups leeks, chopped, white and light green parts only
3 quarts vegetable stock
2 cups cream
4 teaspoons sea salt
This brownie recipe is pulling double duty. Equally at home at a St Patrick’s Day celebration as it is a girl’s night in, these brownies deserve a spot in your dessert rotation. Use your favorite chocolate stout in the batter and the glaze. The deep malty beer will enhance the chocolate of the brownies without overpowering them.. A can of black beans helps fill out the batter with extra protein and fiber. Who says you can’t have your cake brownie and eat it too?
Double Chocolate Stout Brownies
Makes 9 brownies
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Vegetarian
15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
2/3 cup chocolate stout beer
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cane sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Glaze:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon chocolate stout beer
Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex) – “The Annex Sessions”
Barrio Manouche Trio
Javi Jiménez – Guitar and Vocals
Ross Howe – Guitar
Luis Jiménez – Cajón and Percussions
Founded by the Spanish guitarist and composer Javi Jiménez, the group consists of
a singular musical body that combines the instrumentation and signature of Jazz
Manouche, Modern Jazz, Flamenco and Latin-American rhythms.
Based in San Francisco, CA the acoustic ensemble performs a repertoire of original
compositions with an emotionally charged sound that is difficult to classify but
instantly recognizable.
Barrio’s international roots shine brightly in their music with members from Spain,
Quebec, Colombia, France, Brazil and the United States. They are deeply influenced
by a wide range of musical traditions, and this is how the group’s unique sound is
born.
Barrio Manouche provides a tremendous live experience and transports its audience
on a magical journey, with a unique fusion of cultures and musical landscapes… an
auditory and visual feast like no other.
The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.
SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.
All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.
Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.
COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES
Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.
TICKETS
Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.
If you think of imperfectly rehydrated vegetables and a foam cup when you hear noodle cup, you’re not alone. This creamy Tom Yum noodle soup is way beyond that mediocre convenience food! With a few minutes and a bit of slicing, you’ve got a mix of fresh and sauteed veggies, crispy tofu, and a hearty meal ready to stave off any lingering chill of winter. No air fryer? You can always start the tofu in the pan and sauté the veggies once you’ve got some crispy edges. For a more hands off approach, you can also cook the tofu in a 400° F oven on a lined baking sheet. Either way, you’re just a few minutes away from creamy, rich, hot and sour soup!
Creamy Tom Yum Noodle Soup
Serves 1
Total Time: 15 minutes
Vegan, Gluten-Free
1 Lotus Foods Tom Yum Rice Ramen Noodle Soup
4 oz extra firm tofu, cubed
Avocado oil spray
½ a baby bok choy, sliced
½ cup button mushrooms, quartered
¼ cup coconut cream
¼ cup baby corn, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, sliced
2-3 pieces of cilantro
Choosing Fairtrade makes a difference!
In March we are featuring Fairtrade Bananas for $0.99/lb
Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange
Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange
Season: Bananas are grown in tropical areas and can produce nearly year-round, so seasonality is not particularly relevant to the fruit. Bananas are not grown in California.
Flavor: The flavor changes as they ripen. Green bananas are more starchy, very firm and less sweet. As they ripen the taste has been described as having melon, pineapple, candy and clove flavor notes. Yellow bananas have higher sugar concentrations and therefore taste sweeter. Finally, when the peel has become brown, the banana contains notes which are reminiscent of vanilla, honey and rum and the texture is very soft.
Storage: Ripen green bananas on the counter. You can also store them on the counter – but note that they will continue to ripen, and sometimes quickly, depending on how warm it is. If they are too green for you then put them in a plastic bag with an apple to help ripen them.
You can also use bananas’ ethylene gas to your advantage: to ripen a hard avocado overnight, stick it in a paper bag with a ripe banana. The banana’s ethylene gas will work its magic on the avocado, making it perfectly ripe and ready for your next batch of guacamole.
How to use: The most common way to eat bananas is of course, out of hand. But they’re also used for a variety of sweet and savory dishes. Very ripe bananas are perfect for baking in dishes such as Banana Bread.
Bananas freeze beautifully — just peel them and stick them in a zip-top bag for use in smoothies or banana ice cream. If you’re going to freeze them, go one step further and make chocolate covered bananas for an instant dessert.
Nutrition: Bananas are really, really good for you! One medium-sized banana will give you about 12 percent of your daily fiber needs, plus lots of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, potassium and manganese. Bananas even have a bit of protein, iron and calcium.
Our stores only carry organic produce!
This is what we call a spoon salad! Use a spoon to make sure you don’t miss a drop. We’ve got all the shades of green in this salad, with no soggy lettuce in sight. Perfect for meal planning, potlucks, or feeding a crowd. Roasted pumpkin seeds add a salty crunch. Creamy avocado keeps you satisfied. Thinly sliced broccoli is perfect raw, but if you have leftover roasted broccoli, you can use that instead. The bulk of this salad comes from the French green lentils. Unlike red lentils, these will keep their shape and ensure this hearty salad satisfies.
Emerald Lentil Salad
Serves 4
Total Time: 45 minutes
Vegan, Gluten-Free
¾ cup green or French lentils
1 pound broccoli florets, thinly sliced
1 avocado, chopped
1/3 cup roasted and salted pumpkin seeds
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup micro greens
