Driver’s Market and Taco Jane’s celebrate milestones
Statistics don’t favor longevity in the food and restaurant sector, so hitting a decade for a Sausalito specialty grocer and a quarter century for a San Anselmo taqueria are prime reason for anniversary revelry.
Driver’s Market is marking its 10-year milestone with a neighborhood block party bash from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 29 on Caledonia Street, complete with Stemple Creek Ranch sliders, craft brews from HenHouse Brewing and complimentary soft serve from Double 8 Dairy.
Live music is by jazz band Le Hot Club Swing and Fiver Brown & Sugarbaker, and activities include bocce, cornhole, a pie baking contest and kid’s area with bounce house and face painting.
Meander among the nearly 30 vendors sharing tastes, including Marin-based Dosa Chips, Juice Shop, Judy’s Jun, Margot’s Morsels, Sweet Diane’s granola and Best Day Brewing, along with many others from the Bay Area and beyond offering cookies and snacks, shrubs, teas and botanicals, condiments, coffee, ice cream and skincare products.
Those attending represent just a sampling of the gourmet goods and multitude of makers that grace the market’s shelves, which are managed by co-owner, co-founders and brother Graham and Adam Driver, and entrepreneur Paul Geffner. As challenging as it is to make purchasing decisions alongside fickle market trends, the thrill for the team is the relationships they’ve established with specialty producers such as baker Mick Sopko, of Green Gulch Farm in Muir Beach, where for the past eight years, one of the Driver brothers has made a weekly trip to pickup a rotating selection of breads.
The original vision “to connect people with each other and to the foods that they eat” was born on a basketball court where Adam Driver, an employee of Real Food Co. that held court on Caledonia Street for close to three decades before closing in 2011, and longtime Sausalito resident and investor Geffner struck up a conversation about taking over the space. They envisioned a locally and sustainable-driven market that highlights the richness of the region’s food culture. This set in motion what’s become an enduring community hub that holds tight to its founding values of product traceability and community enrichment.
“One of biggest things that’s different than we had imagined is the whole scope is much larger than we had originally envisioned,” says Adam Driver, who handles the business administration, staffing, scheduling and buying the beer, a department that has grown significantly and includes a well-curated selection of wine and spirits.
During the pandemic, the market erected a parklet with a takeout window for ordering the cafe’s sandwiches, salads, specials and soft-serve buffalo milk gelato. Both the parklet and a wall mural by Mill Valley native Tom Killion were bestowed Beautification Awards given annually by nonprofit organization Sausalito Beautiful.
What’s in store for the coming decade? “Growth for the sake of growth” is not the direction the three Southern Marin business partners see themselves going. Rather than expanding with satellite markets, the priority is on serving and enriching the community and fostering an upward track for employees.
Driver’s Market is open from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily at 200 Caledonia St. Find more information at driversmarket.com or call 415-729-9582.
25 years of tacos
When I reviewed downtown San Anselmo’s Taco Jane’s Restaurant and Bar when it hit two decades in 2018, I asked owner Matteo Boussina what the key to his longevity was. He credited “cantidad y calidad,” or quantity and quality, priding himself on providing value, extending kindness and maintaining consistency.
“We’re good people and good things happen to good people,” he said.
Five years later and after surmounting the challenges of a global pandemic, they’re ready to celebrate 25 years.
From 5 to 8:30 p.m. nightly through April 15, stop in at the Mexican taqueria for a half-priced fresh-squeezed lime Margarita and a slice of house-made Tres Leches birthday cake (one per table). From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 10 through 15, the talented West Marin duo the Sabrosa brothers, featuring Andrew Byars and Spencer Acton, will perform.
Bousinna founded Taco Jane’s in spring 1998, drawn to the residential side street to showcase his unique style of Yucatan-inspired Mexican food and fine tequilas and mezcal. He named the restaurant after his mother who he says was instrumental in helping his high school dream to open a restaurant become reality. His choice of Mexican cuisine stemmed from many family trips South of the Border as a child.
Stop inside the interior that is awash in vibrant color with fruit and floral plastic tablecloths beneath Mexican fiesta paper banners descending from the ceiling. Walls are covered with Boussina’s gallery of Cuba photographs, strips of bamboo, and Cuban-inspired collections and Mexican folk art.
A Brazilian jam band comes in to entertain diners on Tuesdays. On Thursdays, Marcelo Puig, an Argentinian singer, serenades Cuban and Mexican boleros and Brazilian music. Live music is from 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Taco Jane’s is at 21 Tamalpais Ave. in San Anselmo. Find additional details at tacojanes.com or call 415-454-6562.
Leanne Battelle is a freelance food writer and restaurant columnist. Email her at ij.lbattelle@gmail.com with news and recommendations and follow on Instagram @therealdealmarin for more on local food and updates on the launch of The Real Deal Marin restaurant search guide.