Star Market
1275 S. Main St., Salinas
422-3961, www.starmkt.com
The iconic blue sign is straight out of a ’60s comic book, with a phat scrawl of script for “Star” and a chunky block font for “Market” that can be seen from all four corners of the intersection at Main Street and Blanco Road in South Salinas. As vintage as the sign might be, what’s inside Star is pure mod: a butcher shop as stocked with expert meat cutters as it is cuts of meat; a cheese counter loaded with rich creamy bries, pungent blues, sharp cheddars and much more. If you’ve tasted a hard-to-find wine at a snazzy dinner and find yourself yearning for more, co-owner and wine manager Victor Kong will track it down. The sign might help get you there - what’s inside will keep you coming back for more, as it has done for multiple generations of locals.