It has been a while since I discovered that Menard's has a great grocery section (near the back of the store) and became reliant on them as a source of great pickled beets imported from Poland. But yesterday, I discovered that Better Than Bouillon is about $2 less per jar than at most area grocery stores. It might be because people don't think of Menard's as a place to shop for groceries, so non-perishable items hang around longer -- but whatever the reason, I was delighted to replenish my stock of BtB at a price I haven't seen elsewhere since last year.

tjr wrote:Light Brie, 1.5 kg wheel for $9.99 at Jerry's Fruit & Garden. That's about $3/lb. It's less creamy than ordinary brie but definitely not bad. I think the lightness would roughly compare to regular brick or Muenster. Sell by date is in May but it's not at all runny yet.

Hi,

I was Jerry's last night, they offered a 6 pound brie wheel for $9.99. Before taking it home, I weighed and hunted down a manager to learn if he tried it and what did he think. He was quite enthusiastic about it. I bought it.

A tip for 'aging' cheese like Brie from Dorie Greenspan: nuke it for 15 seconds to soften it up. I checked a section today without 'aging' and found it ok, though next time it will be 'aged.'

The wheel I bought was over a foot in diameter. The label did not say 'light' brie, either. I wonder if we bought the same item.

I bought mushrooms with plans to make brie and mushroom soup.

Regards,
Cathy2

Loss-leader brie??? Impossibly low price for anything dairy-derived.

spinynorman99 wrote:Loss-leader brie??? Impossibly low price for anything dairy-derived.

Agreed and why I chased down a manager to make sure it was passable.

Cathy2 wrote:The wheel I bought was over a foot in diameter. The label did not say 'light' brie, either. I wonder if we bought the same item.

Most likely we did. I forgot to mention that I found the name and weight on a label from an outer packing box that was posted high above the cooler with the cheese. The stack of cheese was there on Thursday when I last shopped Jerry's.

Cynthia wrote: It has been a while since I discovered that Menard's has a great grocery section (near the back of the store) and became reliant on them as a source of great pickled beets imported from Poland. But yesterday, I discovered that Better Than Bouillon is about $2 less per jar than at most area grocery stores. It might be because people don't think of Menard's as a place to shop for groceries, so non-perishable items hang around longer -- but whatever the reason, I was delighted to replenish my stock of BtB at a price I haven't seen elsewhere since last year.

I have remarked a few times in the Weekly Flyer thread that Menard's really wanted to be a grocery store, but the strip malls where it wound up already had a grocery store, with the resultant codicil of not allowing any other grocers there.
So the swerve | pivot was to become a hardware store a-la Home Depot or Lowe's, with a notable grocery aspect. That it could get away with.

pudgym29 wrote: I have remarked a few times in the Weekly Flyer thread that Menard's really wanted to be a grocery store, but the strip malls where it wound up already had a grocery store, with the resultant codicil of not allowing any other grocers there.
So the swerve | pivot was to become a hardware store a-la Home Depot or Lowe's, with a notable grocery aspect. That it could get away with.

If anything, I think they're trying to pick up a big part of K-Mart's niche too: they've got a big toy department, a modest amount of clothing (mostly work gear), housewares, furniture, and much much more!

pudgym29 wrote:I have remarked a few times in the Weekly Flyer thread that Menard's really wanted to be a grocery store

That doesn't match the history of Menards. Before it upscaled to the degree it has now, Menards was the spot for cheap paneling and carpet squares for DIY basement finishing. Many a student rental in Wisconsin had the "You Save Big Money" look.

I think they are trying the old Sears strategy of something for everyone so the whole family is eager to go to Menards: Tools, lumber and power equipment for dad; groceries, kitchen tools, home furnishings, garden for mom; toys for the kids. Probably puts a smile on John Menard's face contemplating those traditional roles.

Farm & Fleet has some groceries, too, including a great selection of nuts and trail mixes, plus some slightly obscure cooking apparatus like canners, meat grinders and slicers, lefse grills...

Okay.. so I am visiting Boston from Chicago.. went to their Hmart and found these real shrimp snacks. I got the spicy ones and they are really good. I started looking them up because they’d be a great snack to carry at our brewery (searching for distributorship). The internet brought me to this forum.

Has anyone shopped Harbor Freight? That's another chain I consider a hardware store. The one I sporadically view is in the Cermak Plaza in Cicero across the road from Scatchell's. I've never gone in it.

tjr wrote:Farm & Fleet has some groceries, too, including a great selection of nuts and trail mixes, plus some slightly obscure cooking apparatus like canners, meat grinders and slicers, lefse grills...

Farm & Fleet's an odd duck. ATVs, horse tack, candy, Stihl power tools, higher-end outdoor clothing, live chicks.... A bit of everything.

pudgym29 wrote: Has anyone shopped Harbor Freight? That's another chain I consider a hardware store. The one I sporadically view is in the Cermak Plaza in Cicero across the road from Scatchell's. I've never gone in it.

Harbor Freight doesn't carry food. It's a straight up hardware store for people that work with their hands.

zafiro (Spanish) = zaffiro (Italian) = sapphire (English). Of course I'm thinking of Zaffiro's in Milwaukee.

Zaffiro's Pizza & Bar
1724 N Farwell Ave
414-289-8776

Harbor Freight (or Harbor Fright as some call it) used to stock some food-related items, I guess geared towards hunters or farmers: Meat grinders and sausage stuffers, food scales, some undistinguished cutlery. I had one of their curved push-style stuffers for a while; worked very poorly and I sold it at a rummage sale. They also used to have frequent coupons and giveaways that drew me to the store.

Harbor Freight can be a good choice for cheap tools that one uses infrequently or to try out and replace with a better version if they are truly useful. I bought my first oscillating saw and pin nailer there, have since upgraded because I found them useful.

Zaffiro's is the best pizza around. Thin, consistent and yum. I stick with the sausage (great stuff) and pepperoni as I do not want the water residue of veggies to spoil that thin crust. Great find for you.

tjr wrote:Light Brie, 1.5 kg wheel for $9.99 at Jerry's Fruit & Garden.

I'm sorry I missed this discussion. As luck would have it, however, I took a photo of Jerry's wheels at the time.

You can see the manufacturer's labels mentioned upthread above the price tags. I wish I'd taken a better shot of those but I do remember they were Lactalis. I couldn't justify buying so much cheese, even at such an excellent price.

Radenska, Slovenian mineral water. I picked this up thinking it would pretty much be fungible with the other green and blue plastic bottle mineral waters, but it is not. It has a distinct mineral taste which is a bit stronger and more noticeable than the other bottled waters. A bit metallic, but I find I like it.

Was having lunch at Pinoy Grill today--good Filipino street food place -- and the owner (who chats when he recognizes regulars) related that they offer balut -- the SE Asian specialty of a partly developed chick still in the egg. I'm not quite that adventurous, but I figured someone here might be. So if you're in the area and craving "extreme food," Pinoy Grill in Arlington Heights might be able to help you out. (Otherwise, you can just enjoy all the dandy fried pork belly and squid balls, like I did.)

My all time favorite mustard appeared at my local Walmart. It reminds me of the brown mustard they served at hot dog stands that I believe the park district ran along the lakefront in the 60's. Anybody else remember those?

Tia Lupita Salsa Macha

Apparently, salsa macha evolved in Veracruz. Looked it up, and it usually has peanuts, but the Tia Lupita version uses pumpkin seeds. Olive oil, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chilis, garlic, raisins, cranberries, sesame seeds, salt. A bit of a kick but not terribly hot -- but lot of flavor and contrast, with crunchy and savory and spicy and sweet.

https://tialupitafoods.com/pages/salsa-macha

Not a food -- but a fact -- the physics of taste. Just saw this posted in a FB food discussion--round shapes taste sweeter than square shapes:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/760629576068421

Cynthia wrote:Tia Lupita Salsa Macha

Apparently, salsa macha evolved in Veracruz. Looked it up, and it usually has peanuts, but the Tia Lupita version uses pumpkin seeds. Olive oil, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chilis, garlic, raisins, cranberries, sesame seeds, salt. A bit of a kick but not terribly hot -- but lot of flavor and contrast, with crunchy and savory and spicy and sweet.

https://tialupitafoods.com/pages/salsa-macha

It just so happens I got some salsa macha too, on Sunday at Cremeria La Ordeña. It's probably not as good or complex as Tia Lupita, but so it goes for one third the price. The brand is Mi Costeñita, label says it's manufactured in Alsip. They had two versions, #815 which I bought with arbol as the only chili, and #816 which has smoky morita chilies in addition to arbol. No complaints, worth having available when cooking Mexican food.

I've made my own salsa macha (I don't remember what recipe), and served it at the last LTH Picnic over blue corn mini sopes with sweet potatoes (based on an episode of the latest Iron Chef incarnation on Netflix). It's got some heat, but no more than most Chinese chile oils. I don't use it on everything -- you want it mostly on lean meat or vegetables, otherwise it's rich on rich.

Garden Fresh Market in Mundelein has signs around saying they're now stocking products from Brazil and Colombia. I did see a bunch of Brazilian products in one aisle but didn't notice whether the Colombian products were there also or somewhere else. I've enjoyed shopping and eating in both Brazil and Colombia, so I'm very curious to browse when I have more time.

p.s., the lemons I got today at GFM (@50 cents) were from Argentina, which seems a long way to go for lemons, but then, it is winter (citrus season) there.

Cheetos without cheese. Seriously, Montrose Market has Paprika Cheetos from I think Poland. The usual orange cheddar dust is replaced by a similar colored paprika coating that's between sweet and hot, slightly hotter than, say, BBQ potato chips. They're baked, very light and crisp, and darn good.

Flavored corn puffs like these seem to be a middle European thing. I've had other brands with peanut, catsup, parmesan, pizza, even caramel flavor. But this is the first time I've seen the Cheetos brand.

tjr wrote:Cheetos without cheese. Seriously, Montrose Market has Paprika Cheetos from I think Poland. The usual orange cheddar dust is replaced by a similar colored paprika coating that's between sweet and hot, slightly hotter than, say, BBQ potato chips.

I saw some ketchup flavored Polish Cheetos at Shop & Save on Nagle in the last couple weeks.

BrendanR wrote:I saw some ketchup flavored Polish Cheetos at Shop & Save on Nagle in the last couple weeks.

I had some non-Cheeto brand ketchup puffs recently. They were good if a little too light on ketchup flavor.

tjr wrote:

BrendanR wrote:I saw some ketchup flavored Polish Cheetos at Shop & Save on Nagle in the last couple weeks.

I had some non-Cheeto brand ketchup puffs recently. They were good if a little too light on ketchup flavor.

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/ketchup-flavored-sprinkle-seasoning-blend-075256

It's not the first time we've seen it, but refrigerated birria pupusas at Costco ($15 and change for 10 good-sized ones) caught our eye, and we decided to splurge, having a rebate check in hand.

They're big enough we each ate just 1 1/2, accompanied by fresh guacamole and pico de gallo (garden tomato and jalapeno).

They're quite tasty, perhaps a little less meat to pupusa than I'd prefer. It doesn't quite scratch that quesabirria itch. Next batch I'll fry them with a little more oil, maybe a little hotter, to get them crisper on the outside.

I was at the Whole Foods in Northbrook and noticed in the condiment aisle they had a new ketchup (3 varieties) from RAO's (the famous pasta sauce company) in Regular Ketchup, Truffle, and Arrabbiata variety's.



see more details on the whole Foods site:
https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/produc ... b0c3t34g3d