A friend and I descended this week on the latest symbol of South Lake Union’s Vulcan-spurred gentrification: the Whole Foods anchoring the 2200 Westlake retail and condo development. Both residents of North Seattle, we call the Roosevelt Whole Foods home and were curious as to how this southern upstart compared to our local branch.

Other Seattle bloggers have weighed in with their judgment already, but Metblogs was the first to go undercover — deep undercover — and brave the Austin-based chain’s strict prohibition on photography of any kind. A prohibition we were totally unaware of, by the way, until our staff photographer was politely requested to stop taking pictures of the vegetables. But we ask: can you really shine, polish and light this produce so well and not expect people to take glamour shots of it? It was just begging for a close-up:

As for the store itself, it does seem to be more given over to prepared foods than the Roosevelt store, probably reflecting the officeworker clientele which is expected to patronize the store when Paul Allen’s development plan for South Lake Union is finally realized. Even the sandwich section, which in Roosevelt sports a whole board full of custom options, has been streamlined here into 6 pre-made selections that customers can call out and have the staff prepare quickly. A sign in small type lets you know you can still order something precisely to your liking, but clearly the emphasis is on turning over the lunch rush.

The Asian food station serves up a combination of sushi, noodles and teriyaki. The bowl of Spicy Chicken Noodles we sampled was fresh and flavorful, with sliced Thai Peppers lending a piquant note. Finding a place to eat the noodles, however, took some doing: the seating area is inexplicably smaller than in Roosevelt, despite the emphasis on grab-and-go dining. Perhaps the idea is people will take the food back to their offices? The seating area is shared by those having purchased food from the store itself, as well as a special mini-restaurant with its own cooking station behind a seating counter. Of course, that counter was filled to the brim with customers eating their sushi and sandwiches, so exactly how Whole Foods will balance out the need for general seating versus the small restaurant’s need to serve its own customers remains to be seen. Also utilizing the same space is Whole Food’s in-house coffee operation, Allegra.

Speaking of which, allow me a personal note. As an aficionado of iced coffee, I always run into the same problem when I visit the Roosevelt Whole Foods, a problem that hasn’t been solved in Westlake either: the coarse, “all-natural” sugar just doesn’t dissolve very easily in cold drinks. So I end this post with an appeal: for the sake of all that is good and natural, can’t we make just one exception to the “whole foods” rule and allow some easy-dissolving, petrochemical-derivate Splenda into the cafe?