CalTrain offers gourmet grub at Luke's Local

Heading home on Caltrain after a long, hard day at work when the last thing you want to do is cook dinner? Then save yourself the effort and pick up a delectable, ready-to-heat lasagna, Dungeness crab mac 'n' cheese or chicken stuffed with chevre before you take your seat.

These tempting, gourmet to-go meals, made fresh daily with local ingredients by a former San Francisco restaurant cook, are conveniently available to commuters - but only at the Hillsdale station in San Mateo. That's where you'll find Luke's Local, a tiny produce and prepared meals store that opened this year in an old ticket office.

The Palo Alto Caltrain station satiates commuters with gourmet coffee, and the San Francisco station tempts hungry commuters with Subway sandwiches. But the Hillsdale station is the only one that sells entrees like these that can be warmed up at home or at the office, made by Adel Benmadhi, a former cook at the trendy Orson restaurant in San Francisco.

Luke's Local is the brainchild of Luke Chappell. He may be only 27, but entrepreneurship runs deep in his blood. His family founded the iconic Tom's of Maine, which makes toothpaste, soap and other natural care products.

Because the long-vacant ticket station at the Hillsdale station is set back from El Camino Real and surrounded by hundreds of parking spaces, Chappell thought commuters would embrace a convenience store steps from the platform that offered quality food, most of it local and made by artisan purveyors.

"I want to do food that people don't expect at a train station,'' Chappell says.

In wooden bins outside the entrance, you'll find fresh peaches, apples and flowers for sale. Inside, place your order at the former ticketing window for everyone's favorite Blue Bottle Coffee, prepared drip-style or in a French press; and blueberry scones or banana nut muffins from San Francisco's Sandbox Bakery, whose owner used to craft desserts at Berkeley's Chez Panisse and San Francisco's Slanted Door. In the refrigerator case, find Luke's Local breakfast burritos stuffed with spicy chorizo and eggs ($3.49), organic yogurt-fruit parfaits ($3.49), and one or two different entrees ($7.99) offered each day. The entrees have proven so popular, too, that they're now sold at 12 grocery stores in San Francisco, including Real Food Company locales.

"We couldn't be more pleased with how it's all turned out,'' says Lance Gilbert, real estate officer for the San Mateo Country Transit District, which leases the property to Luke's Local.

So, load up for the ride at the Hillsdale station. And rest easy: Food and beverages are allowed on Caltrain.

Luke's Local, 3333 S. El Camino Real, Hillsdale Caltrain Station, San Mateo; 650-341-2771; www.lukeslocal.com; Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.