New in the neighborhood. The old Bell markets have been sold to DeLano/IGA, and have started changing over, more rapidly in the past month. The signs are starting to pop out. I visited this Mill Valley one as the first experience of the new stores on my way back from Stinson Beach, so I also happened to have my camera ready. Always looking to practice on pretty colorful food! Besides, Dad needed a sandwich for lunch since I was to be out the rest of the day. I have to admit curiosity about this new entity and how it would approach the Marin food crowd.

The Novato Advance states that the new DeLano IGA will have an "emphasis on natural, organic, and whole foods'. I was impressed to see a salad bar near the front of the store that glistened with freshly prepared produce at the ready for making a beautiful salad to go.

Being a produce lover, as Dad was waiting for his smoked turkey sandwich with all the fixin's to be made by the friendly staff at the deli counter, I wandered about looking for organic fresh fruits and produce. I was immediately impressed by their row of fresh organic fruit and photographed it end

to end.

I also loved their informative signage.

I started to look around for the organic produce section, and couldn't really identify it. Then I noticed leafy greens like colorful chard sitting right next to their conventional counterparts. Kudos to DeLano/IGA for not making us get our daily aerobic workout chasing back and forth between a 'special' organic section and traditional offerings to figure out if the pricing works right on any particular item for our budget.

As I was doing this, I ran into whom I supposed was the produce manager who was friendly and wondered what the flash was when I was capturing that beautiful fruit. I told him I was practicing and asked him about the localness of the produce. I know some of you are very committed to the 100-mile concept, so wanted to get the scoop. I was reminded that local in its essence also includes the concept of seasonal, when he said that the produce got more and more local as it comes in season closer to Marin. Sounded like most things were still coming at least from California. I understand that this new local chain has been founded by a father/son team who are somewhat more local to us being from California. So far I have hope that this new ownership will turn out to be a big benefit for those of us foodies who enjoy seasonal, fresh and local organic/natural ingredients for our family tables. The store nearest/most convenient to me is actually the Tiburon store, so I plan to fan the flames of local innovation by frequenting it as it looks off to a good start.