Behind-the-Scenes Chef Spices up Belmont Market

In 2018, industry magazine Progressive Grocer touted Belmont Market as one of the best in the nation for prepared foods. That acclaim belongs to Executive Chef Ginger Costa and her in-house team. Locals remember Ginger’s Café on Wakefield’s Main Street (1996–2001), and in 2003, Ginger started at Belmont’s. Sixteen years later, she’s still there. “Right from the get-go, people were into what we were doing,” Costa recalls. “If we make hot banana soup, our customers trust us enough to try it!” That one pops up rarely, but Belmont’s goes through 25 gallons of soup a day, including a chicken variation, a chowder (from Blount’s), a vegan choice and a fourth soup, often chili. Their mac ‘n’ cheese has never quit; people grab up potpies “like they’d never been witnessed before,” says Costa. There are 36 salads in the cold case, almost half of them gluten-free, and they range from the “sexy” cucumber dill or French lentil to the award-winning black-bean/mango to the popular “green shrimp.” The steam table features six to eight hot entrées— often including the popular beef stroganoff. Costa values the connection to the community she’s developed at Belmont’s—”the real benefit of the work here is the people I get to touch in their daily lives.”

600 Kingstown Rd., Wakefield. 401.783.4656; BelmontMarket.com