Free of the Usual Suspects

The Marin Country Mart’s stewarded evolution into a world-class culinary destination

A decade ago, the Larkspur Landing shopping center was known to most Marinites as an easy-to-access stop just east of Highway 101, home to AAA and Bed, Bath & Beyond, its culinary highlight the burgers and house-brewed beer at the Marin Brewing Company. The idea that it could one day become a renowned culinary destination, featuring the restaurants of some of the region’s most innovative chefs and restaurateurs—including Jeff Cerciello of Farmshop, Charles Bililies of Souvla and Charles Phan of the Slanted Door—seemed farfetched.

But not to Jim Rosenfield, who had a different vision for the fortuitously located property when his real estate group purchased it in 2009, renaming it the Marin Country Mart. Rosenfield also understood that this vision might take a long while to come to fruition. With great faith in the agricultural legacy of Marin County, Rosenfield believed that he could create a vibrant “village” of distinct shops in the center of the county that would also draw the chefs and restaurants that would make the mart the compelling gastronomic destination it has become today—but it would take patience, and a lot of work.

“It sounds lofty, but I believe the Marin Country Mart can be one of the premier culinary destinations in Marin, if not the world,” says Rosenfield. “I’ve lived in New York, Los Angeles, London… and I think our local food is as good or better. It is the quality of our produce and our food in this region. I don’t know anywhere like it.”

Over the past 13 years, Rosenfield and his group have gradually transformed the property from a standard shopping center to what he describes as a village—think “the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker”—including a Saturday farmers’ market, and have enticed several of California’s most popular vendors and heralded chefs to join them.

Perched on a rise just across from the Larkspur Golden Gate Ferry landing and featuring expansive views of Mt. Tamalpais and the San Francisco Bay, the center was originally developed with a New England maritime theme, and later redeveloped to evoke an Italian piazza. After purchasing the property, Rosenfield, who fell in love with Marin County when he was a student at UC Berkeley in the ‘80s, found aesthetic inspiration in the rolling hills, grazing pastures, small towns and organic agriculture of West Marin.

“I wanted to bring the spirit of West Marin and Old California— we didn’t need to look elsewhere for inspiration.”

J.S. Rosenfield & Co. has developed three of these “shopping villages,” including the Marin Country Mart (the other two are in Montecito and Santa Monica). All are inspired by Rosenfield’s experience in his youth, visiting the original Brentwood Country Mart in Santa Monica, which opened in 1948 and aimed to capture the spirit of a traditional English country marketplace. There Rosenfield saw what happened when people leave their cars to enter a bustling open-air interior space to shop, eat and commune.

“LA can be a lonely, isolated place—you’re in the car, separated from one and other. But the Brentwood Country Mart was special. It was a village,” says Rosenfield. “So I always had a vision for what shopping villages would look like if done right. A village is a very different sort of place—it feels different and hosts independent operators, not the usual suspects.”

We Marinites also rely on our cars, as Highways 101, 37 and Interstate 580 connect us to each other, to San Francisco and to our neighbors in Napa and Sonoma counties, as well as the East Bay. Marin Country Mart feels 10—20 minutes from everywhere north, south, east and west, and this “central to everywhere” location means it has become a favorite place to meet for meals, especially during the pandemic. Over the past two and a half years of Covid-related lockdowns and limitations, gathering in open-air spaces has become a salve for our isolated souls.

“We are social creatures. ‘People need people’ is our company slogan,” says Rosenfield. “The pandemic put us on the map because people are looking at the suburbs differently. And during the pandemic people realized how critically important food is.”

The timing of the Marin Country Mart’s culinary ascension has been ideal for Bay Area gastronomes craving good food and good company during the pandemic. Year by year, space by space, the options at the mart have expanded, and the ecosystem of elevated dining has gathered momentum. Restaurateurs understand that their proximity to each other can bolster and strengthen—like a healthy family. Indeed, Rosenfield speaks of the chefs, restaurateurs and food purveyors who have set up shop at Marin Country Mart proudly, as if he were describing his family members.

“I met Jeff Cerciello from Farmshop when he was the culinary director at The French Laundry. Veronica Salazar of El Huarache Loco I met at a farmers’ market. She grew up in Mexico City, learning to make traditional food. The conversation with John Finger of Hog Island Oyster Co. started 10 years ago—John is a marine biologist and seafood expert. Craig Blum, the founder of Johnny’s Doughnuts, is from SoCal—have you had the organic sweet potato doughnuts? And Carol Levalley at Rustic Bakery, her Meyer lemon croissants? I told Carol, she is not playing fair with those,” says Rosenfield, listing what he describes as “just a few” of his local favorites.

One of the first Rosenfield recruits to set up shop, Cerciello’s Farmshop is so elemental to the food community at the Marin Country Mart it has almost become synonymous with the locale. Cerciello opened the first Farmshop at the Brentwood Country Mart in 2011. In 2013 he opened his second Farmshop at Marin Country Mart, bringing his experience as Keller’s right-hand man at the Thomas Keller’s Group, where he was a chef at The French Laundry and spearheaded the opening of Keller’s Bouchons in Yountville and Las Vegas, as well as Ad Hoc in Yountville.

“Jim and I began speaking in 2008. I was looking for something new and his vision and narrative drew me,” says Cerciello. Cerciello’s experience was in small chef-driven restaurants, while Farmshop would offer a more relaxed, neighborhood ambiance offering a seasonal farmers’-market-driven menu. When the conversation between Cerciello and Rosenfield first began, several of the vestigial Larkspur Landing tenants remained, including AAA in the building across the way, which meant Cerciello was not certain at that point that it was the right venue. He decided to open in Southern California first, and a few years later in 2013, he took a risk at the Marin Country Mart.

“It was a risk Jim and I talked about and took together, and it was to pursue a vision we both had.” Now, almost 10 years later, Farmshop is a cornerstone restaurant at Marin Country Mart, drawing other chefs and vendors.

Among those chefs is Charles Bililies, another Thomas Keller protege, whose “fast-fine” Souvla restaurants in San Francisco have developed a cult following for the farm-raised rotisserie meats, fresh pitas and seasonal salads. This summer Souvla will open in its first location outside of San Francisco, setting up shop in a portion of the former Marin Brewing Company location at the Marin Country Mart.

“Souvla has always been an urban brand, located where you find density and volume and the right mix of day and night foot traffic, and my intention had been to go to NYC. For many years I didn’t know if there would be enough foot traffic at Marin Country Mart,” says Bililies. “It took Covid—a seismic event— for me to rethink what Souvla is, and where it is going. Many of our core clientele were living in Marin, with everyone working from home, not commuting to the city anymore. So I took NYC off the table and picked up the conversation with Jim in the fall of 2020.”

According to Bililies, the weather in Marin played a large role in his decision-making. “The weather is so much nicer in Larkspur than in SF. And Souvla offers the type of food you want to eat when it is nice out. It’s a lovely setting, like a vacation on a Greek island.”