I Like to Sit Down When I Eat

Zen Palate - weirdly, Princeton's most direct tie to NYC when you think about it - has locked its doors, eerily turned off the lights and placed an "undergoing management restructuring" sign on the largest window. All signs point to repression-victim, but there's always the slight chance of a weird homicide incident; that would at least explain why the chairs - blood-soaked? - are still out on the floor instead of sold to a guerrilla army deep in Canada to make a little money for the franchise on the side. Nope, no, that really doesn't make sense. So, Zen Palate is closed, and consequently, there seems to be little reason to venture to Princeton Shopping Center out on Harrison Street (about a 7-10 min drive from campus).

That would be correct if Bon Appetit, a few stores down from Zen, wasn't actually a great gourmet food store. True to its overused name, Bon Appetit doesn't fall too far from being exactly like every other gourmet food store in towns across the East coast - their front counter of prepared foods is indistinguishable from Dean and Deluca's, and, of course they cater (I recently heard that their cheese and fruit spread at a Whitman wine tasting was perfect - delicious food, not-too-ostentatious of a presentation, but not as tired as an Olive's platter) - but, this kind of thing makes it exactly what I am looking for. They sell delicious, pure-ingredient - and salty - Tyrrells potato chips, and really great curry chicken salad sandwiches. Their various hummus wraps can be on the dry side, but all of the ingredients are fresh and delicious, and a cup of coffee is just shy of $2. Add in their big, dark chocolate covered pretzels and fresh bagel chips and it's a done deal.

Overall, Bon Appetit is of the same ilk as Olive's, but you can sit down here by floor-to-ceiling windows (looking outside draws your eyes from the Matisse imitation on the wall) and enjoy weekend brunch in a new, slightly strange environment, replete with beautiful French-speaking mothers and daughters - and slightly obnoxious elderly women who have invariably just come from a show at McCarter or the Met, program in hand. These women are always there; consider yourself warned. [LFR]