When chef Lisa Santos opened Southport Grocery, her modern, minimalist grocery and comfort food café in 2003, she didn’t have a preservationist on staff. But she just brought on board professional preservationist Melanie Molnar. After 10 years working in finance, Santos went to culinary school and opened shop on the Southport Corridor in Lakeview, but hadn’t canned. In fact it wasn’t until 2008 that she started canning with her mom, for their grocery shelves and cafe dishes too. In the years since, they’ve created a colorful jewel box of favorites, including Jake’s Giard, their crunchy housemade giardiniera, and Living Kraut. A Green City Market grilled cheese vendor uses her best-selling onion jam, and Molnar’s pickled green tomatoes, inspired by time at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, are edible contemporary art themselves, with undulating slices evocative of architect Jeanne Gang’s Aqua building captured in a jar. Lisa Santos carefully handpicks local and domestic products, meeting artisans personally. SPG also hosts regular, after-hours Drink Up Art events, with work hanging on their walls, bringing together artists and potential patrons over local food and wine tastings. Cafe seating and the takeout bakery sandwich grocery shelves are inside, with plentiful seating out front in season.
