Aidan Cundiff, center, holds an organic heirloom tomato for mom, Lauren, and dad Rich in a produce department full of color.

Los Olivos' newest grocery store has pulled into town like the Pony Express with a year's worth of mail. Customers can't believe the wealth of wonders that now occupy what used to be the dreary digs of the Santa Ynez Valley Market, located on Highway 154, next to the Dunn School. The building boasts a fresh coat of barn red paint with cream

colored trim, two patio dining areas to serve customers who can't wait to get home with their purchases; and the shelves are stocked with culinary treasures from around the worldóas well as from right here in Santa Ynez Valley.

ìOur name sums up our philosophy, says new proprietor Rich Cundiff, who bought the market with his wife, Lauren, in early 2000 and has been renovating it ever since. ìIt's Los Olivos Grocery: Staple and Fancy. That's what we carry, and nothing in between.

Although the store is small, its shelves feature the finest foods the world has to offer, plus an extensive array of specialty items ranging from Italian pottery to quality notecards.

ìWe like to say we fit 10 pounds of product into a five-pound bag, Cundiff grins. ìWe do it by narrowing our focus to three product brands instead of 10. In every category we try to offer the finest brand available anywhere, as well as a good value or staple brand, plus an organic alternative.

The first thing to catch customers' eyes as they enter the store is a fabulous display of colorful, farm-fresh produce, much of it organic.

Although the Cundiffs come from an organic foods background themselves (he is the retired president of Whole Foods Market, Southern Pacific; she is a designer for Whole Foods stores), they didn't assume that Valley residents would share their preferences.

ìThat's been the primary benefit of remaining open while we renovated the store, Cundiff says. ìWe've been able to get feedback from our customers, and one of the things they wanted was organic produce.

Request granted.

Another request was for exceptionally-priced local wines.

ìA lot of customers complained about the cost of local wines, so we made a commitment to maintaining a selection of really good, affordably priced wines.

The center stack of the store's well-stocked wine corner offers an excellent selection of local wines, all under $15 a bottle and many under $10.

The store also offers scores of products not found anywhere else in the Valley. Its deli boasts 150 types of cheese from all over the world, including some that are very rare.

ìWe take the risk to bring specialty products here and to bring them here carefully and properly, because we believe our clientele will appreciate them, Cundiff says. ìA customer will say "I had the best lavender honey in Tuscany, served with a peccorino cheese.' We'll find the honey and bring it here. We take pleasure in recreating tactile food memories from all over the world.

The deli also offers a mouth-watering variety of prepared foods, such as grilled salmon and tuna, buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad, grilled vegetables, cheese tortellini with spinach and walnut pesto, fish cakes aioli, stuffed grape leaves, and spinach feta squares in filo dough. All of it is prepared on-site by the store's 10-member deli team.

The deli staff also offers catering and accepts calls for private dinners.ìWe've got a few customers who will call and say, "I'd like leg of lamb for six with garlic-roasted potatoes, steamed asparagus, and something for dessert,' Cundiff says. ìWe're also finding that a lot of people stop by on their way home from work and pick up dinner to take home.

Although the store is small, it devotes three square feet to Anacapa Bread, which Cundiff believes is ìthe best bread made anywhere in the area, and is delivered fresh daily.

On weekends, the store fires up the oak pit barbecue and grills fresh tri-tip, ribs, pork loin, rib eye steaks, and linguisa (a flavorful Portuguese sausage), and serves them with beans, fresh cole slaw, and garlic bread. The store carries the highest grade of certified Angus choice beef (the same quality served by The Hitching Post restaurant), all-natural, antibiotic-free chickens (as well as Foster Farms), and fresh seafood

In addition to its fresh items, the grocery packs a dizzying array of jams, jellies, mustards, and syrups, soups, sauces, condiments, and crackers, Allegro coffee, fresh flowers, kitchenware, body care, magazines, and books. The grocery also sells gift and picnic baskets and will custom-pack a basket for any occasion.

In every detail, the store displays a passion for food that is inspirational and contagious.

ìI'm a foodie, Cundiff admits. ìI always have been. I'm the son of a dietician who was also a gourmet cook. I grew up thinking that everyone had a fresh, four-course meal every night for dinner, followed by a homemade dessert.

While Cundiff says he's always ìleaned gourmet, his wife ìhas always leaned organic. We sort of balance each other out.

A Tuscan fantasy west

The Cundiffs moved to the Valley several years ago, when they purchased Rancho Roble Vista, a 20-acre spread planted in olive trees and fruit orchards. They have since planted an organic garden, as well.

ìWe originally intended to end up in Mendocino, Cundiff confesses. "We kept putting in offers on properties, which always fell through. I was getting so discouraged, but my wife reminded me that things always happen for a reason and to keep the faith.

ìWe drove back home to Los Angeles and soon I was lamenting to the manager of my Brentwood store that I wanted to live in the country, but couldn't seem to make it happen.

ìMy store manager immediately said, "Dude! Go to Santa Ynez Valley!'

ìNeither my wife nor I had ever been here before, or even heard of it. But we drove up the next weekend and fell in love with the place as soon as we drove over the pass.

On the first trip, the Cundiffs just looked around. The rolling hills and oak trees reminded Cundiff of Austin, Texas, where he grew up.

On their second trip, the Cundiffs contacted a real estate agent and ìaccidentally bought a farm that very day. ìWe didn't intend to buy that quickly, Cundiff admits. ìBut we were just kind of struck over the head by this place. It is perfect.

ìI have a fantasy of re-creating a Tuscan lifestyle, and Rancho Roble Vista seems the place to do it. We hope to be here a good long while.

Feeling so fervently about their farm, it was not without trepidation that the Cundiffs ìbet the farm, as Cundiff puns, on Los Olivos Grocery: Staple and Fancy.

ìWe've invested a huge amount of money in it. But so far people love it. Our official grand opening (on Saturday, August 17) was packed. At one point, we had gridlock and cars couldn't get in or out of the parking lot.

It was great.