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Culinary Courier & Market Opens, Plus A Food Gal Giveaway

Enchiladas Suizas from the new Culinary Courier & Market in Los Gatos.

 

Saratoga native Terri Piazza Shong has had a successful catering company in the South Bay for 13 years. Now, she’s expanded the business to include a new market that just opened in downtown Los Gatos.

Culinary Courier & Market offers her catering company’s most popular dishes — all packed up and refrigerated, so all you have to do is stop by to grab and go. It’s the perfect solution to those times when you don’t want to cook dinner, need a healthful lunch fast, or want to pick up some late-morning noshes for a small business meeting at work.

Selections include prawn lettuce wraps, kale salad with toasted almonds, meat lasagna, chicken Marsala, Yukon Gold potato hash, and French toast loaf with praline pecans and raspberry syrup.

Recently, I had a chance to try samples of two items. The Chinese Chicken Salad ($10) is a big serving of shredded cabbage, carrots, red peppers, cucumbers and cilantro that gets tossed with diced chicken, peanuts, fried won ton strips, and a bright tasting citrus-sesame oil dressing. It’s full of crunch and flavor.

Crunch in every bite — Chinese Chicken Salad.

The Enchiladas Suizas ($7) come two to a package. They’re rolled around a filling of diced chicken, black beans, corn, and cilantro. The sauce is full of zesty tang from tomatillos. It’s not spicy, so it’s a good option for kids, too. Just nuke in the microwave for two minutes to get the cheese gooey good.

If the food alone doesn’t lure you in, the business warmth and inclusiveness will. Of Shong’s 19 employees, nine are developmentally disabled. Having worked for the Special Olympics in college and managed a center for adults with developmental disabilities, Shong knows how meaningful it is for individuals to gain greater independence skills.

Culinary Courier & Market is open daily, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

All packaged and ready to go.

CONTEST: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a $75 gift card to Culinary Courier & Market. The gift card must be redeemed in person at the Los Gatos market.

Entries, open only to those who can make their way to the downtown Los Gatos market, will be accepted through midnight PST March 4. Winner will be announced March 6.

How to win?

Just tell me your favorite take-out fare — and why you enjoy eating it to go. Here’s my own answer:

“A ginormous burrito with a load of salsa. I like to eat it in the comfort of my own home so I can really go to town on it. People often think I look so dainty, so I think it would be a shock for them to witness me devour something so massive so easily. Afterward, admittedly, I am pretty much a beached whale. All the more to be at home already, so I can just be a couch potato after the last bite.”