A Grand Rapids specialty grocer that offers cooking classes is expanding to East Lansing

EAST LANSING — A small specialty grocery store that makes artisan pasta in-house, and offers cooking classes and a full bar is expected to open off East Grand River Avenue this fall.

The Local Epicurean, a grocer that has an established location in Grand Rapids, will carry wines, pasta, cheeses, sauces, oils and vinegar, and several take-and-bake meals, and offer a full bar and three-course meal cooking classes.

The new East Lansing location is going into a 4,000-square-foot storefront at 2843 E. Grand River Ave. that was previously home to TITLE Boxing Club. The gym closed last fall.

The Epicurean location's owner, Gina Mudrey, is no stranger to running a business. She and her husband Mike Mudrey own and operate For Crêpe Sake in East Lansing, and Brown Butter Crêperie and Café in Grand Rapids.

Mudrey has been a fan of The Local Epicurean for several years; its Grand Rapids location isn't far from Brown Butter Crêperie and Café. Her family has enjoyed the store's take-and-bake meals and she believes East Lansing is the perfect community for a location.

"I just love that it’s so specialty," she said. "I’ve taken classes there before and they are fun and unique. I think it’s a little bit different than what’s around our area."

A shop for foodies

According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, an epicurean is "a person with refined tastes in food and wine."

And The Local Epicurean could be the perfect place for such a person to spend an afternoon.

"It is a specialty grocery store, but it also offers cooking classes, which I think makes it very unique to the area," Mudrey said. "It's a three-course meal that you make with an instructor. The classes are private, from two guests to 50 guests."

The Grand Rapids location offers 19 different meal options for people taking a class. The new East Lansing location will open with fewer options, Mudrey said, and work up to adding more. People who sign up will cook in one section of the store that will include a full bar and seating for up to 60 people.

The bar will serve drinks to any customer at the store, including wine by the glass and specialty cocktails, Mudrey said.

"The bar is also a place where you go have your courses in between making them," she said. "You do have breaks in between your instruction."

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Specialty items and handmade pasta

The rest of the space will be divided into a grocery area, where customers can find take-and-bake meals, and specialty items, "hard-to-find products, including rare and harder-to-find bottles of wine," and a production area where customers can watch staff making small-batch pasta, Mudrey said.

"In store, people can come see us make it," she said. "We also do lasagne and ravioli."

The store will employ between 15 and 20 full- and part-time staff," Mudrey said. She has already begun hiring.

Work on the storefront, which Mudrey is leasing, is ongoing. She hopes to open the store by September. Guests have already begun signing up for classes scheduled for October.

The store will offer seasonal outdoor seating and new signage is expected to be erected at the East Grand River Avenue space sometime in the next week.

East Lansing is "definitely" the right place for the store, Mudrey said. "A lot of people drive over there in the Lansing area, for the classes and for the market."

Learn more at the business Facebook page, "The Local Epicurean East Lansing."

Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: A Grand Rapids specialty grocer that offers cooking classes is expanding to East Lansing