Snacks in Store: On the Gourmet

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING at the West End farmer's market, before it gets too hot, shoppers strolling from stall to stall can take their pick of bok choy, bell peppers, and Ozark plums.

The usual suspects are here: joggers with dogs, women with armloads of flowers wrapped in newspaper, and at the far end, Sara Guerre explains to a burly man in reflective sunglasses just how hot her Dragon's Breath cheese is.

"It's got three kinds of peppers," she says. "Do you like hot sauce?"

"Not really."

The man's significant other pulls him away. She wants to keep shopping — presumably for something her guy will actually eat. Not to worry — there's a steady stream of customers waiting to buy, taste or ask questions of the co-owner of the new thing in town: On the Gourmet.

Guerre, 34, and her friend Libby Rector Snipe, 31, opened On the Gourmet for business in May, after the duo decided a catering business would take too much of an initial investment. They settled on the idea of selling local and specialty goods from a truck.

But this is no mere delivery truck. Guerre and Rector Snipe and their husbands do drive the beast, but the store is inside, with a completely made-over interior. "We look at it sometimes and think, 'Wow, we did a pretty good job'," Guerre laughs.
Why do this, especially when both women have full-time day jobs?

The idea — from the grandma-ish blue cabinets to the nibbles of cheese and olive spread to the foodie chats that Guerre and Rector Snipe try to foster — is that being inside the truck should feel like "being in somebody's kitchen," says Rector Snipe. "It doesn't seem like work. When we had our opening day ... it was the funnest day ever."

"We talk about food all the time," she adds.

The two source their products — imported oils, fig vinegar, chocolate pasta, crème brulée almonds — from things they've tried that they like. "We want to provide the yummiest-tasting things we can find," says Guerre, and ultimately, it's probably taste, not fun, that draws the customers.

Half an hour after his first visit to the truck, the man with dark glasses returns and requests a sample. Minutes later, he emerges holding a package of Dragon's Breath. "It's really, um, sharp," he says as he pays. "Might be good on a salad."

And Guerre, she smiles, happy he liked it.

» 4800 Brenman Park Drive, Alexandria; Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Also at Great Falls farmers' market on Saturdays.

Written by Express contributor Rachel Kaufman
Photos by Chris Combs/Express