New Toys
Todd and I went out of town for Christmas this year, so instead of schlepping all our gifts for each other, we had our own little pre-Christmas Christmas this morning. And I got some new toys.
But first I want to mention that I made vegetable soup for dinner last night, and while peeling carrots and potatoes with my 8-inch chef's knife I yelled to Todd, who was playing games in the living room, "I don't suppose you got me a peeler for Christmas this year, because if you did you should give it to me now."
Well, not only did he give me a peeler, which he did not break out last night, but he also gave me a Microplane, which is awesome. We have a Christmas morning tradition of hard meats, cheeses, rolls and clementines for breakfast, kind of a mini smorgasbord. But this year Todd really wanted proscuitto and parmesan reggiano (an Italian smorgasbord?). So when I opened up the Microplane, I was grating everything: the clementine peel (who even knew you could grate such a thin peel), the cheese. It really is the best grater ever. Todd bought it, along with the peeler, a funnel and a madeline pan, at this restaurant supply store on 17th street near Union Square (Broadway Restaurant Supply). He said it was not even expensive.
I live in PA, but my favorite places to shop are Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Trader Joe's dried fruits are very affordable and very good quality. I prefer Whole Foods for the produce.
Welcome to the car-driving club, Kim, and good luck finding parking! I'll start with Queens and work my way outwards:
Sapori D'Ischia in Woodside, Queens, has an excellent supply of cheeses, cured meats, pastas, and other specialty products from Italy.
Despana Brand Foods on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights has a small, but good selection of products from Spain.
http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2003/10/source_despana_.html
A car makes it much easier to transport the fine beers at Park Slope's Bierkraft and Cobble Hill's American Beer Distributing Company.
Patel Brothers on 74th Street in Jackson Heights is a giant Indian supermarket. They have the largest supply of packaged flatbreads I have ever seen.
If you are in Long Island, there's a supermarket-size Fairway.
If you are in New Jersey, National Wholesale Liquidators, strangely enough, operates the International Food Warehouse, which has a huge selection of ethnic foods. Here's an account: http://www.chowhound.com/dinner/dinner.html
Also in NJ, Wegman's (there's one on the way to Princeton) is the biggest supermarket I have ever seen. Nothing particularly unique about it, but it is a sight to see when Key Food and C-Town are the norm.
I live in San Fran area and we are so spoiled! But one thing we don't have is your high-quality Greek stores. We are Greek and adore some of the stores on Ditmars. There's one--If I remember--called Angelo's. So nice that it is not all chains yet in that area. There is a HUGE Greek grocery at 31st st near Astoria Bl, just off the elevated line. Olives are out of this world. Try the ones from Crete!
Strangely enough, I end up shopping at Costco a lot.