Jenifer Street Market

In a word: A good grocery that's spelled funy.

The specs: #0275
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Beer Advocate; stories at outside.in.

JM and Nichole ate the pork loin dinner and 2 tamales with a lemonade and a chocolate milk.
The bill was $11, or $5.50/person.
JM gave Jenifer Street Market a B; Nichole gave Jenifer Street Market a B+ (see our grading rubric).

Latest Jenifer Street Market news and reviews

Madison has many positive attributes, but adequate neighborhood grocery stores is not one of them. That makes a gem like Jenifer St. Market all the more special. Next to the Schoep's plant just off Division St., the market is a full-service grocery store with an excellent liquor department (so we hear) and a deli counter with hot meals, which is what brought us here on the Saturday of Atwood Summerfest. A rustic mural greeted us in the parking lot.

We bellied up to the deli counter (the aisles are quite narrow) and saw our hot lunch choices: roasted chicken, pork loin, and beef or chicken tamales. We could have chosen pre-made sandwiches, sushi, and wraps, too, but the hot case looked most promising. The be-inked deli clerk packed up a whopping portion of the pork dinner (5 pieces of meat, a scoop each corn and new potatoes, and a roll) and one of each kind of tamale. We grabbed some drinks and walked out to find a park to eat in, ending up sitting on the neighborhood marker on Atwood.

At under $6, the pork dinner was a great deal, especially since we made 2+ meals out of it. The pork itself was a little dry, but flavorful; we gathered that it usually comes with a nice hydrating gravy and mashed potatoes instead of the small new potatoes we got. As it turned out, the new potatoes were the best part of the meal: fork-tender, simmered in butter with a touch of garlic and green onion, we could have made a meal of these little pearls.

The beef tamale was so hot (thermally) Nichole could hardly bear to hold on to it. It was pretty tasty - definitely filling, with tender, slightly sweet masa and mildly spiced shredded beef. JM ended up having the chicken tamale the next day, and he found it good.

Jenifer St. Market was also a fine place to pick up a "welcome-to-Madison" bouquet and map.  We're guessing that Jenifer Street Market is listed highly as a reason why people in this neighborhood like their neighborhood and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Comments

[Kathy]

I live about five blocks from the Market, for which I am incredibly thankful. Good to have a grocery source in this neighborhood, yes, but the beer selection is what I dream of nights. It's a friggin' walk-in cooler, for pete's sake, and it's stocked to the gills with a LOT of terrific beer -- local, national, international. I just love it.

I stopped in right before I headed down to the Great Taste two weeks ago to pick up a couple things, including a bite to eat to get me started on a base to drink on for the day. I picked up a couple of those beef tamales and ate them as I waited in line that hot morning. They were exactly what I wanted: hot, yummy, greasy. I could've eaten three more.

I heart pork... need to see if they have that pork here lately!

[Crystal]

The meal certainly sounded carb-heavy. :) I've never been to the Jenifer street market but should go check it out.

[TChem]

I love that they provide Polarfleece jackets for the giant walk-in beer cooler. It really is a reason to love the neighborhood.

[KJ]

The concept of the Jenifer St Market is fantastic (who wouldn't love a small, neighborhood grocery store--how cute). However, watch their prices. They steadily increase every few months. One can never be certain what something will cost from one day to the next. Also, be weary of the "bakery" items--they often are old and stale, so beware that piece of expensive carrot cake.

Although it is in a very politically aware neighborhood, rest assured it is NOT the Willy St. Coop. Meaning this market is purely a capitalistic venture lining the pockets of its owners in their sports cars.

[Jason]

A capitalist store? In Madison? How dare they?

[ML]

Jenifer Street Market is just a few blocks from where I live. I used to be a big fan -- the beer cooler is great, the choices are nice for such a small place -- but then I had a really bad "customer service" experience and will never go back. I wish the people that worked there loved Jenifer Street as much as the people who shop there. Their cashiers are mostly very young and indifferent, but sometimes very rude. I was told to call the manager about my concern, which I did, only to leave a message that was never returned. So now I shop at Willy Street, where the service is top-notch.

[Paula]

This is a response to the previous comment... I know this is really old but whatever. I worked at Jenifer St. Market in high school, and I have to say that the employees there are treated like crap. The owner would send friends of his in to spy on us all the time. He was convinced we were stealing from him. He was also atrociously misogynistic and thought he was charming when in reality he was hitting on underage girls. Everyone who worked there with me hated it.

This doesn't excuse whatever customer service issue you had, but I do think that those girls should be cut a little slack.

[Kyle]

I've never had a problem, and they've got Ciao Bella gelato and fantastic butterflied pork chops. So they're good in my book.

the name is jenifer named after daniel of st. thomas jenifer who was a signer the united states constitution the names of all the signers of the constitution have been given to madison streets these streets are on the near east side other areas of madison street names include presidents (on the near west side) and poets (on the north east side) many schools were named after artists some of those have since been changed...

- kim on willy street (williamson street is named after hugh williamson also a signer of the u.s. constitution)...

[theginn]

Can't comment on some of the criticisms of JSM above, except that I always found the staff to be curious and helpful. I’m curious about the less than complimentary comparison to the Willy Street Co-op. Capitalistic or not, I’ve found that often the organic foods can be cheaper at JSM and sometimes fresher. I love the bread choices. There are few places in town to get good crusty bread and JSM has a bunch of different varieties. I noticed that nobody mentioned the meat and Deli counter, which is first rate. Just as an example, you can get Nueskes Bacon for about two bucks a pound cheaper than at a well-know organic Deli.

[Guymadison]

I remember the rostisserie chicken being fantastic! That was 20 years ago. The one I bought today (as was assured it was fresh by the deli counter man) was old and dried out! :(