Pittsburg residents now have another option to purchase food and wine as the City of Pittsburg welcomed the opening of the Doctorbird Market.
Last week, the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting for this family-run retail shop. Located at 90 E 4th Street, the Doctorbird Market offers specialty food and wine to help you create memorable meals.
Inside, you will find pastas, sauces, crackers, chocolates and specialty hard-to-find wines to craft beer—the items are also available online at their website.
According to owners Zane and Danielle Fiala, the shop was designed to provide food and wine options for all levels of cooking ability from the beginning cook to the experience chef in a five-star restaurant.
“We have things for home cooks of all levels as the ingredients are high quality. Some things that you open up and just add water. To other things you may not have seen before and you can open it up, dive in and let the curiosity take you where you go,” explained Danielle.
Zane explained that they want to not only help you pick out items to cook, but they want to help guide you down a path towards good food and wine pairings by allowing them to utilize their decades of experience from doing it themselves.
The Fiala’s believe their combination as a chief (Danielle) and Zane (a sommelier) are a perfect combination to help the community experience good meals. In fact, the two met while working at an Italian Restaurant. When they moved to Pittsburg, they found themselves were commuting all over Contra Costa County from the City of Brentwood to City of Concord and even up to Napa for foods and ingredients.
They simply thought it would be better to bring it all to one place.
“We want to be here for the people in Pittsburg and the area who want to cook and entertain at home,” share Danielle who admitted they thought they would open up a restaurant, but opted for the market because people deserve good ingredients to cook with and make meals.
It took them a year to go from concept, as they were already doing pop-up events, to opening up the market in downtown Pittsburg. The concept around Doctorbird came from her home in Jamaica and it’s the national bird.
“It’s very special to us because it is considered sacred by the Arawak Indians and a message from the gods to give the gift of medicine to all the plants and the people. Its also been considered good luck,” explained Danielle who added it’s a symbol of hospitality and what leads you to the good things you should not miss out on. “We started using it for our pop up events in San Francisco, we didn’t plan on using it for our shop but it stuck because it was our brand. Our friends said you are Doctorbird, it’s a good logo and story. We are trying to curate all the good and delicious things in one place. We want to make it feel warm and welcoming.”
Food and wine are about community and bringing people together explained Danielle and that is what cooking is all about—hospitality.
“We are trying to infuse that sense of hospitality when you come into the shop,” said Danielle. “Yes, it’s a shop, but we are hear to talk food and wine, exchange meal prep tips, meal planning and suggest items that add to a meal.”
The pair believe that Zane’s experience as a sommelier will help people better pair wine with the food they plan to make–noting he has probably tasted and poured more wines than he can remember. In fact, some of the wine in the store they even worked the harvest while in Italy.
“It’s really fun to share the wine with the community, especially the ones we worked a harvest,” explained Danielle. “Its also good wine. We are not just pushing them because of the personal attachment.”
Some of her favorite wines include Matteo Correggia (Piedmont Wines) in northern Italy which is a cool climate. She called the wine very aromatic and high acids while being very food friendly.
In California, they feature NoneSuch Wines by Caitlin Quinn who offers a great price point for high quality wine.
“She was gracious enough to allow us to carry her wine,” stated Danielle. “She is really romantic about her wine. She hand dips them all in wax herself. It feels really special to share that sense of family with our wider community.”
Local wines from Contra Costa County include Campos Family Vineyards and Viano.
Still, it comes down to providing a location that is a compliment to other grocery stores where people can go stock up on their staples and condiments, which they are not trying to compete with, but rather help provide an experience and curated items that has its match from wine with the food.
The goal was when someone walks in, Doctorbird Market provides an experience that can help a customer plan a meal, which is where Danielle’s experience as a chef comes in from working in restaurants in San Francisco to having her own catering business–which is where meal kits come in.
“We are going to set up a display of meal kits of tonight’s menu of what goes together while including the wine,” explained Danielle who shared they will rotate it out by month and season of the year.
“The whole goal is to say if you are going to have a great dinner of family and friends, that we will show you how to put the things in our store together to create a meal from top to bottom. One section is for the appetizer from crackers to wine, a first course which is lighter and a main course with pastas, sauces, pickled peppers with olive oil and a red wine,” explained Zane. “We also will have sweets to complete the meal. We will rotate this so it always feel fresh so people can feel inspired.”
“We also have ingredients that are wacky where people say its interesting but what do you do with it. So that is another fun thing we get to do and will be posting online what to do with it,” said Zane.
On social media, the Fiala’s will be providing education, demonstrations, and recipe development with the community—wanting to be the guide to bring people together through food and wine.
They pair hopes the store inspires people to try new foods, ingredients and wines they may never have experience to great a memorable meal and jazz up dinner parties.
“I hope people get inspired to want to cook more or break out of the norm they are used to doing,” said Zane. “You don’t have to spend a ton of money to have nice things. We have a lot of nice things, but its worth it and not going to break the bank. Our most expensive bottle of wine is under $90. We want to show you can get high quality things that you don’t have to be a millionaire to get it.”
As for the restaurant, Danielle is happy to help others through good foods available to take home.
“It’s a restaurant where we don’t cook at,” said Danielle. “It feels like you are treating yourself to something luxurious but you can afford to treat yourself.”
The Doctorbird Market is open Wednesday to Sunday form 11:00 am to 7:00 pm at 90 E 4th Street in Pittsburg, CA. For more inforamtion, you may call them at (925) 267-3322 or visit them at www.doctorbirdmarket.com
