WHITTIER, Calif. — It all started at a farmer’s market for Aaron and Sarah Melendrez.

The husband and wife duo went on their first date at the Hollywood farmer’s market and it’s been true love ever since. But now, the couple shops in Whittier for their new restaurant Uptown Provisions, a true farm-to-deli experience.

“Now we have a business where we pull a lot of our produce from the farmer’s markets. It’s really fun to see it all come full circle now,” Aaron said.

It is full circle because the market became an actual mom and pop shop. Their son Rio was born around the same time of the market’s opening.

“He’s going to be five months old next week, and this store is his twin brother or sister," Sarah said.

"Both born out of COVID. Both created during the hardest times. Both newborns, figuring it out day by day,” Aaron added.

While Uptown Provisions is new, the idea isn’t. Aaron spent his whole life cooking at home in the San Fernando Valley with his family and then found a career creating beverage programs for top bars and restaurants. Sarah’s family was in the bakery business in Seattle, and then she became a nutritionist working in the natural food world.

The couple's talents combined when moving back to Whittier. They wanted to be a community corner spot that’s accessible to anyone. They noticed they couldn’t find some of the artisanal experiences offered in the heart of Los Angeles in Whittier.

"It’s like, I’m doing all these other projects but coming home, and I’m not finding the resources I want here," Aaron said. "So why don’t we just do something local now? Do something that serves us better, something that localizes our lifestyle a little bit more but also gives access to fresh ingredients and a better quality of lunch to our community."

The front of the market features hand selected products from Sarah and the food menu features the couple's love language: sandwiches.

“We used to make each other sandwiches when we were working full time. We would ping pong back and forth and call an hour later and say, ‘Did you eat it yet? How did it go?’” Sarah said.

"They were like love letters," Aaron said.

The bread comes from local bakeries, while the produce is from the farmer’s market.

“The meats are local. The breads are local. The workers are local. The sauces are local,” Aaron said.

The star of the menu, which may shock most, is the egg salad sandwich. These are the blue eggs from the farmer’s market that were just hatched yesterday. But it's no ordinary egg salad. Aaron lived off these as a kid and didn’t love them.

“The egg salad I ate growing up, sometimes the yolks were grey. They were just gross and weren’t the best. We would douse it in mayo and just destroy it. It would be this big, mushy mess," Aaron said.

So here, Aaron kicked it up a notch to offer a legendary sandwich with house made spicy mayo, fresh veggies, a beautiful, colorful heirloom tomato, on that local bread.

You can’t go wrong with any of the sandwiches at Uptown Provisions located at 12819 Penn St. in Whittier, Calif.