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Brookland Park Market is located at 305 W. Brookland Park Blvd.
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Customers stand in line at Brookland Park Market, which opened Aug. 11.
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Co-owner and chef Pat Lynch (at right) in the kitchen at Brookland Park Market
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Co-owner Sean Lynch during lunch service at the market
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Co-owner Michael Lynch in the kitchen at Brookland Park Market
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Brookland Park Market sells grocery items and grab-and-go offerings.
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Wine and grocery items at the market
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A custom-branded cookie at Brookland Park Market
“Drop it, Dad, drop it,” Pat Lynch says to his father, Michael, during a busy lunch service at Brookland Park Market. Sporting a Red Hot Chili Peppers T-shirt, Michael dunks sliced potatoes in the fryer as the father-and-son team navigate their second day of business at 305 W. Brookland Park Blvd.
The market's owners include Pat and his brother, Sean, along with their parents, Michael and Maureen.
“We just wanted to do something different,” says 37-year-old Sean. “The neighborhood doesn't really have much of a grocery concept [other than ours].”
The VCU graduate and former accountant runs the front-of-house operations at the market, and while he does have kitchen experience, most recently at Can Can Brasserie, he says of his younger brother, “He’s been cooking in kitchens since a little kid, and he can cook circles around me.”
A Culinary Institute of America graduate, 32-year-old Pat spent the last four years working at Can Can, with prior stints at Ipanema Cafe and Lunch & Supper. Watching him guide his father and bounce around the open kitchen at Brookland Park Market, it’s clear he’s done this before.
After operating a consulting firm with his wife for the past 35 years, Michael is being reintroduced to the industry.
“Our sons were brought up under us cooking all the time, that's how we got to this stage,” says Michael, a trained chef who has also operated bistros in the Washington, D.C., area. “That's what they wanted to do, [open this market] and follow their passion.”
Sean says with a smile, “He got out, and we pulled him back in.”
The family members purchased the property in March 2019. With decades of dining industry experience among them and a desire to stay connected to food but work reasonable hours, a market seemed like the ideal fit.
A North Side resident, Sean lives two blocks away from the business and believes being a part of the community he lives in and being able to serve a wide customer base is important.
“We live here, we’ve been here for about four years, and I think the challenge is making a market for everybody,” he says. “I’m determined to find a way to make it accessible for everyone. We’re going to pay attention to what the neighborhood wants.”
Fridges in the historic building are stocked with essentials such as cheese, eggs and butter, along with grab-and-go selections including salads and pasta dishes, and there is a deli case of meats and cheeses. Sean says the plan is to keep building inventory and stocking the shelves and cases.
“We want to have a strong prepared meals game,” he says. “We sold pretty much everything yesterday.”
The menu will rotate, but during lunchtime customers can rely on a steady offering of sandwiches such as oyster po’boys, tuna melts and burgers. For dinner, options range from crabcakes and flank steak with chimichurri to a daily pasta and Thai green curry with tofu.
One menu item on deck all day: a bag of fries. After four years and chopping thousands of pounds of potatoes for the Can Can staple moules frites, it seemed only fitting that they be on the menu at the market.
Pat says vegetarians and vegans will not be forgotten. “I’ve been searching and just found vegan bouillon cubes and homemade pastas, and almost everything is local, from Maryland, Pennsylvania,” he says.
Looking ahead, daily pastas and soups, shrimp and smoked fish dips, pepperoni bread, tomato pie, roasted and fried chicken, and ribs are all on the idea board, as well as the addition of brunch or breakfast service on weekends. The goal is to maintain 30 to 40 different wine labels and various beer selections, and introduce tap selections in the future.
As the pandemic continues to affect the restaurant industry, neighborhood markets and grocers are seeing an upswing in business. Numerous restaurants have introduced grocery items, market-style offerings or grab-and-go beverages to their menus as many indoor dining areas remain closed. For the Lynches, the timing couldn’t be better.
“I’ve never worked in a market, I’ve always worked in restaurants, so this has been a challenge for us, but it’s exciting,” Sean says. “All the other markets around town are doing great, and we’re glad we originally set out to do that kind of business model.”
Brookland Park Market is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and closed on Mondays.
