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The Pine Street Market—AKA the place where the Mercury staff will get its lunch for the next 1,000 years—is open, and since it's right around the corner, we took a quick peek at the place to see what was happening. Only a handful of restaurants are open so far, but you can go there today, and get some grub and an eyeful if you can't wait until the May 1 official opening.

Photos, food, and photos of food after the jump!

Pollo Bravo
Pollo Bravo

Pollo Bravos chicken
Pollo Bravo's chicken

Common Law
Common Law

The Pollo Bravo and Common Law counters did seem to be open for business; we saw some folks eating Pollo Bravo's famed Spanish/Mexican style chicken at the counter, which doubles as a bar and looks like it will offer full cocktail service. And Common Law similarly has a bar tucked away in a tiny nook, where you can wash down the restaurant's "European-Asian Union" cuisine from Paley's Place Patrick McKee and Langbaan's Earl Ninsom. Menu items include a spiced bone marrow and mussel toast, a beef tongue banh mi, shiitake mushroom dashi soup, a crab and butter lettuce salad, and braised short ribs with Asian style cabbage salad.

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Trifecta Annex looked as though it might be ready for business later today, with some freshly baked loaves at the ready and a stack of pizza boxes just crying to be filled. The Mercury staffers will no doubt make it a morning staple once their croissants and toast menu are up and running. We'll wash it down with Brass Bar's coffee from the Barista folks, although that particular counter is not ready yet.

OP Wursts visual menu
OP Wurst's visual menu

OP Wurst, the hot dog joint from the Olympia Provisions gang, will hopefully be open on Thursday, and they've got more frankfurter ideas than the entire city of Frankfurt, Germany, and Frankfort, Kentucky combined. This visual menu will be helpful for making some very difficult decisions. I will probably order just by pointing and grunting.

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A few other spots are not quite ready just yet, including Salt and Straw's soft-serve offshoot WizBangBar, which they're hoping will be ready for customer traffic by the weekend. (The crew was working on a few test batches when we popped in; expect creamy soft-serve cones housed in delicious looking shells of chocolate and natural raspberry, among other treats.) And Japanese ramen spot Marukin still has a ways to go before it's open for business; likewise for Shalom Y'All, which takes its cue from John Gorham's Mediterranean Exploration Company and will serve things like falafel and shakshuka.

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Whichever joint you decide to hit up first, downtown's lunch game just got real.