By Chris Wilson

The Village Market at Haile Plantation features a variety of breakfast and deli sandwiches, tasty cookies, muffins and desserts and fresh coffee. Recently, chef and owner Jim Victoria has added a dinner-to-go menu that brings the gourmet food we all expect at restaurants to the comfort of your home dinner table.

Victoria, who has owned the Village Market since August 2007, says his vision was to fill a niche for to-go dinners.

The chef, who has been in Gainesville since 1985, began his cooking career flipping pizzas for Nero’s in the Oaks Mall and moved on to making burgers (and working as general manager) at Snuffy’s on University Ave.

He worked at the Sovereign Restaurant for 15 years, under chef Elmo Moser and his wife Lupe. “I can’t thank chef Elmo and Lupe enough. All of the knowledge they passed on to me was invaluable and it was things you cannot learn at culinary school,” says Victoria. “Elmo showed me how to make everything from scratch.”

Victoria says that carries over to his plans for the Market, where he does not purchase any pre-packaged or frozen ingredients. “Everything that I can make on the premises, down to the mayonaise, I make,” he says. “When people go out, they should have that expectation that they are not getting food that’s frozen or coming in the back door.” When the Village Market has N.Y. strip steak on the menu, Victoria cuts the steak from the loin when you order it. 

The Village Market offers a menu of four dishes per night, which can be found on the store’s website or by calling, and all of the meals are made to order. When your order is taken, you will be asked when you would like to pick it up. All dinner items are less than $15. Victoria says he can honor special dietary requests (within reason), as long as you call ahead. He also says he’s always open to suggestions if there is something you would like to see on his menu.

Victoria also prides himself on offering a variety of dishes without repeating the menu. “There is something different every week to try,” says Victoria. Dishes range from meatloaf to pad thai to honey and chipotle-glazed snapper.

I recently ordered the Village Market’s Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy, macaroni-and-cheese and steamed veggies and my wife Jesse ordered chicken picatta, which came with rice and veggies. Even after driving to our home off NW 39th Ave., our meals were still hot, moist and incredibly delicious.

Haile Plantation residents John and Marilyn Monaco rave about the beef stroganoff and pork chops with apples and onions. Their neighbor Gary Keith says he loves Victoria’s grilled shrimp. Plus, the neighbors meet at the Market for lunch all the time. “We see each other here more than we do at home,” Marilyn joked.

Victoria says he would not have been able to have the Market operating at the level it is at without his front end managers Anita Murphy and Leslie Smoak. He also offers his gratitude to the loyal customers of the Village Market for putting up with the transition to new ownership. “Most of all, I want to thank Karen Woolfstead, who is my girlfriend and my biggest supporter,”?says Victoria.

In addition to dinner, the Village Market features great sandwiches (we recommend the Cuban and the Market Turkey), veggie burritos, salads, breakfast sandwiches, baked goods and coffee.

For more information, call 380-0111 or visit www.villagemarketathaile.com.