Nelson’s Market

There has been a grocery at Humboldt and Potter since 1895, back when the corner sat on the trolley line, which is how a butcher shop became the middle of the York neighborhood. It converted to Nelson's Market in 1916, and some of the coolers date from that era. The cafe side is called Marlin's, named after a slow pitch softball team, which is why three marlins hang on the wall.

Jon Ostby bought the place in 1984 and ran it for thirty eight years. Since January 2023 it has belonged to Ben and Urania Shaklee, neighbors from next door, with Mars Lindgren running the kitchen. The pattern held: for most of a century this has passed to somebody who lived on the block first.

Chicken and waffles all day is what people come for, alongside pancakes, burgers, breakfast burritos, hand cut fries and a curry poutine. Beer and cider rotate on tap. Monday is board game night.