The much anticipated Hope & Main Downtown Makers Market at 100 Westminster in Downtown Providence is doing some “soft opening” days this week (every day except for Wednesday when they’ll be doing their big ribbon cutting ceremony), and the hubs and I motored over yesterday for lunch.

It’s part casual eatery (take your order to go or plant yourself at one of the counter seats or tables) and part grocery — chock full of delicious pantry and frozen items from Hope & Main members (a VERY long list including the Perfect Empanada, Aura’s Chocolate Bar, Mariianna’s Cookies And Treats, Blondie’s Bakery, Foss Farm Marinara, and sooooooo many more).

Also, another element that stands out in a major way is the fact that they have folks from Schastea overseeing the tea and coffee concession: This means that there are no less than 30 different teas choose from. I mean, how great is THAT?

We’re talking high quality and thoughtfully prepared classic breakfast and lunch food (the menus are ginormous) that’s reasonably priced and easy to eat on the go.

I had an excellent cup of butternut squash soup and we both devoured tuna melts on rye along with cups of hot tea. (Psssst…Want to take some Schastea bags home with you? You can pick a box or three up in the market area, too.)

Also, a nice selection of baked goods including sweets from one of my personal faves, Buns Bakery RI.

This place is gonna be hopping starting this week!

And you won’t wanna miss out on this new and exciting CASUAL edition to the downtown food scene.

Find Hope & Main Downtown Makers Market at 100 Westminster Street in Providence, RI.

As always, if you go after reading this, please let them know you were inspired by Patty J and PattyJ.com.