Citarella

Although I did not photograph this gourmet grocery, it is worth mentioning this small chain of upscale grocery stores. Locations are in The Village, West Side, East Side, Harlem, and the Hamptons.

Walking into their Upper West Side store on Broadway, immediately after my visit to Zabar's, I started finding some of the same selection of products. The bargain hunter in me started price comparing. I made a purchase of fruit vinegars I had been eying at Zabar's that Citarella had priced for $1 less.

First impressions are best and this was a great fish market, and butcher shop, stocking prime grade meats. Everything was displayed on ice and the store was immaculate. Though not particularly large or packed to the rafters, the imported condiment selection was made up of quality products, and the presentation of all their products was very appealing.

Check their website for addresses and opening hours:
http://www.citarella.com/

Mascarpone

What's not to like? Tastes like butter, but much fewer calories; creamy and smooth; a major componant of Tiramisu. For "all of the above" reasons I love this cheese. Even though each manufacturer has a slightly different spin on their product, it all tastes good to me.

Besides mixing it with other cheeses for "spreads", adding it to mashed potatoes has been a very satisfying use for me, in an effort to maintain a buttery flavor without using as much pure fat in the recipe. I also love it sandwiched between 2 amaretti cookies for a quick, no fuss dessert. Not traditional by any means, but Italian all the way.

Smoked Paprika

Another favorite flavor enhancer of mine is Chiquilin Smoked Paprika. It is smokey and rich, but has no heat. I first picked up a can because I was looking for a way to "cut" chipotle powder, to maintain the smokiness, but reduce the heat. This was the perfect answer for my needs. There are other brands of smoked paprika available in the Bay Area, but so far, this is the exact smoke flavor I'm looking for.

This spice is perfect to use when stove top grilling indoors. Using it in a marinade for meats or poultry will give them an outdoor barbecue taste. It's so good on its own, sometimes chipotle powder is forgotten altogether. It typically sells for $1.39 - $2.29 in markets.

Sciabica Jalapeno Olive Oil

Anyone within earshot of the kitchen has heard me sing the praises of this condiment. It enhances the natural flavors of vegetables, amplifying their flavor without calling attention to itself. The best descriptive adjectives for this liquid "miracle in a bottle" are the words bright and fresh. Sciabica, a local family owned and operated olive oil producer, has blended jalapeno peppers into a flavor enhancing condiment that positively illuminates the taste of green vegetables in particular. I recommend it especially on broccoli, spinach, broccoli rabe, and swiss chard.

The olive oil used in this product is decidedly buttery in flavor. Although we normally associate heat with jalapenos, this application exhibts more spice than heat. If you want your vegetables to pack a wallop when it comes to flavor, this just may be the help you need. Drizzle is the operative word when using it. Steam, saute, or roast your vegetable, drizzle on the oil and add salt; it's as simple as that. The complexity of Sciabica Jalapeno Olive Oil makes a simply prepared vegetable seem like much more than a side dish.

It can be purchased at the Ferry Plaza Market on Saturdays, or through the Sciabica website.

http://www.sciabica.com/magento/

Porsche Designed Chroma 301 Knives

Every time someone asks about knives I have to suggest the Porsche designed Chroma Cutlery knives from Japan. I received one as a gift and ended up buying the entire set over time. It has the best ergonomic fit for my hand and the right weight. The blade sharpness has lasted longer than either my Sabatier or Henckles knives.

Besides ergonomics and weight, these are the easiest knives to wash and keep bacteria free, because there is no seam between the blade and the handle for bacteria to gather. I no longer have to worry about the handle becoming loose, or in the case of wooden handles, no worries about water logging the wood.

I have watched countless chefs on television chop food and most have that tell-tale "ringing" sound that comes with practice and good technique. After trying a Chroma for the first time, I finally heard my own knife "sing" on the cutting board, realizing that technique may be easily achievable with the proper equipment. I think the company explains the benefit of a Chroma 301 better than I, so please check out their website.

I have never seen these knives sold locally in San Francisco, except at the shop across the street from the California Culinary Academy, where they were higher in price than offers on the Internet.

http://www.chroma-cutlery.com/type301.php

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Zabar's has....."

Zabar's! If you ever wondered why you like to shop for food, look no further. Just walking into that store reminds one how remarkable each and every morsel can be. The selection is gargantuan. How can an A list store start with the letter Z?

There were 2 aisles exclusively for cheese. Soft cheeses, hard cheeses, made from cow milk, sheep milk, and goat milk. If they had yak milk cheese I would not have been surprised. Besides prepackaged products, they also have a deli counter where you may select cheese cut to order and taste samples.

The butter diversity was no less spectacular and these photos are only the tip of the iceberg. The selection was international, from Europe (Kerrygold from Ireland) to South America and back to the USA with one of my favorite butters made by Vermont Butter & Cheese Company included. Every 5 minutes or so an employee got on the public address system to announce a new tasting somewhere in the store. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's truffle season at Zabar's. Walk to the back of the bread department for samples of truffle products from Umbria Itly." Yes, it was pronounced "it lee".

Well, how could one resist, I walked to the back and bought the Umbrian truffle oils after an in depth discussion with the vendor. I also purchased the first bottle of saba, concentrated grape must, I have found on this side of the Atlantic. Yes, my curiosity got the better of me and I also bought chocolates, one with bacon that tasted decidedly smokey and salty and utterly delicious, one with oil of bergamont, also a taste treat. Chocolates? They had different selections at the ends of each cash register aisle, again from all over the world. The photo shows only one of the brands with 7 flavors from which to choose. I would have taken more photos but didn't want to overdo it.

They were hawking a book on food sources and restaurants in NYC and offered a deeply discounted price, if customers arrived at the deli section before the author left. With 10 minutes left, the race was on. Sure enough, the book was autographed and paid for with a 45% discount.

How does one manage to miss photographing the largest deli case in the store? The truth is, there were so many people ordering food, it was almost impossible to see. Besides I was on the public address orchestrated merry-go-round, whirling my way across the store. "Ladies and gentlemen, Zabar's has a tasting of French imported olive tepanade made with green olives, capers....". The photograph above shows the Italian salami only, there were at least 2 more cases like this one outside of the main deli section. A bakery rounds out the selections on the ground floor, along with floor to ceiling shelves of condiments and preserves, some with the Zabar label.

There were also cases of oils and flavored vinegars from all over the world. I passed the tea and coffee sections briskly, while on the merry-go-round. Next I toured the upstairs to see every kind of kitchen equipment imaginable. Couldn't help but wonder how frustrated the regular customers must be to see all that and have no counter space!

http://www.zabars.com/

80th and Broadway on the Upper Weside NYC

M-F 8AM-7:30PM

Saturday 8AM-8PM Mezzanine closing at 7:30PM

Sunday 9AM-6PM

Di Palo's in Little Italy NYC

Located at 206 Grand Street in NYC's Little Italy you'll find a wonderful Italian delicatessen with a wide array of cheeses, cold cuts and condiments to please any palate. Getting into the store is a challenge as it is usually packed with customers. That's a good indicator as to the quality, but inconvenient for thoroughly scouring the shelves of offerings unless you are adept at people moving.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200 until you pick up a number at the end of the deli counter closest to the door.

Di Palo's is noted for making fresh ricotta and mozzarella for their store. As you can see by the front window, cheese reigns supreme at Di Palo's, but don't count out the imported Italian salumi, as that is also an important offering at this Little Italy institution. As small as Little Italy is becoming, it will still have presence as long as Di Palo remains in business.

The selection of imported goods is remarkable considering the small size of the store. I have found items at this store that are not frequently seen elsewhere. Among them are Star brand porcini bouillon , plain and flavored vincotto and a broad selection of vinegars. Most stores are getting hip to providing a selection of olive oils, but very few think beyond basic red wine vinegar and mass produced balsamic. I should mention that the vincotto prices are the best I've seen on both coasts and the bouillon was almost half the price I saw at another Italian specialty store in NYC.

The store also has a broad selection of canned tuna, olives, tepanades, sauces and other basics you would expect in this type store. No trip to NYC would be complete without visiting DiPalo's.

(212) 226-1033
200 Grand St at Mott St
New York, NY

Corti Brothers Market In Sacramento

If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, this review will be too long to read. While the store is not visually sumptuous, everything they stock seems to be and I couldn't stop recording it all with my camera. Since it was appropriate to ask for permission to take the photographs, I was able to meet Mr. Daryl Corti and have to admit that his own quote is the perfect description of the store and it's philosophy, "We don't have everything that is good, but everything we have is good." Oh, better than good, Mr. Corti, much, much better!

Originally, Corti Brothers was going to be a quick stop for guanciale, during a visit to Sacramento. Having read through their somewhat disappointing website, I knew that they stocked it and a few other things of interest including olives and an exclusive, store brand of extra virgin olive oil. That was enough of a reason to go, and the last of my disappointments with this fine market. Besides guanciale, they also stock domestic prosciutto "ends" that have always been appealing to me, for use in thicker proportions than slices can provide. I have seldom, if ever, seen them for sale.

My foodie heart skipped a beat when I saw Halen Mon, Maldon, and Fleur de Sel all sitting side by side in the spice aisle. Then my eye wandered and found Murray River salt, in two sizes, mind you, along with some Italian, Hawaiian, and Japanese salts. This store must be Mecca for any person appreciating a great diversity of finishing salts. Even at this distance from San Francisco, a trip for salt alone would be worth the time and travel expense. I don't know of a single store in the city that carries even two of these. Heck, I ordered from the source for Halen Mon because it was difficult to find, and with shipping charges paid just about the same as it was priced here. It wasn't until I edited the photos that I discovered the spice aisle was full of Penzy's spices.

A wide variety of Italian imports and pantry staples were hard to miss. Several brands of panforte were available, along with pannetone, ceci (garbanzo) and semolina flours, pine nuts, polenta, and ceci beans. the selection of imported pasta was large enough to fill an entire aisle.

But don't think this market is exclusively stocked with Italian items. it has everything you can imagine, soup to nuts. Speaking of soup, Campbell's sells in every super market in every city, but when was the last time you saw a can of Scotch Broth, Pepper Pot, or Bean and Bacon?

Most specialty stores don't even sell Burrata cheese, but Corti Brothers has two brands to choose from (click on the photo to enlarge for prices, a pleasant surprise awaits). When have you ever seen a can of Haggis in an American market? I don't even remember seeing it in Scotland! And there is even a vegetarian version.

.....
The first two photos above show just a small sample of the vinegars and wines available at the market. Oil in the etched bottle is from Sciabica Olive Oil company and I have never seen them sell it themselves at Ferry Plaza Market. It's made entirely of Arbequino olives, usually associated with Spanish olive oil. The store brand is pictured in the next photo, and is made and bottled by Sciabica. They were the same variety of olive but pressed at a different time of the year. A taste test will be absolutely necessary, to once and for all put to rest the idea that fall crushings taste better,or to confirm the fact. Either way, it's bound to be fun and educational.

Another wonderful thing about this market is their deli counter, bustling with activity all day long. Next visit should yield an entry about that alone, but there was no time to spend on it this first trip.

When asking the employee stocking wine if they had any dry, sparkling, Italian red wines, he suggested Lambrusco. Never having had a dry Lambrusco, I was surprised and told him I thought that might sweeter than I wanted. He pointed to the 3 of 7 Lambruschi that were dry, not sweet....and we were not even standing in the Italian wine section. Their wine section deserves some further exploration.

If spirits are your downfall, this is the place to pick up a Lost Weekend's worth. I have never seen so many brands of Scotch sitting in one place outside of Scotland, other than the Whiskey Store in San Francisco, one of only three such stores in the United States. They also stock more bitters than I have ever seen in one place. French aperitifs anyone?

http://www.cortibros.biz/

(916) 736-3800

5810 Folsom Bl at 58th St

Sacramento CA

Chef's Warehouse in South San Francisco

Chef's Warehouse at 447 Canal St in South San Francisco is the retail arm of BIA Cordon Bleu, a porcelain company that sells in many retail stores and outlets. Their quality is excellent and you can find bakeware of almost any size and shape. But that's not all; the store also sells cookware and kitchenware from many other vendors such as All Clad, Le Creuset, Peugeot, Cuisinart, Zylis, Oxo, Lodge and Kitchen Aid to name but a few.

Many seasonal or specialty ceramics go on sale from 40% - 60% off regular retail prices. Each time I shop here, the selection has changed a bit and more items have been moved to the 60% off table as the numbers decrease and fewer pieces of a particular color or pattern are available.

Some of my best bargains have been culled from that sale table. For example the small rimmed soup bowl pictured in red was $1.29 after the discount was applied. It came in red or cobalt blue and there were matching salad plates. All worked well with a solid white dinner plates, also available in the store at normal discounted prices.

This bakeware was all located on the 40% off table and the prices so good, it would have been smart to pick up sets as gifts. Available colors at the time were aqua, pictured above, brown, curry, mint green, yellow, and pink. I suspect that colors will be changing seasonally as fall colors were coming in on my last visit .

Besides selling individual specialty ceramics, they also sell dish sets. But not as you might imagine. You can pick the particular salad plate or soup bowl to match the dinner plate which may be round or square, so mixing and matching allows for a unique set for each individual taste. The dishes pictured above came in patterned and plain forms, round and square in both black and white.

Chef's Warehouse also carries Stonewall Kitchen pantry products at about 20% less than other retailers. They have included small selections of cookbooks, dishtowels, oven mitts, silpat, and a broad range of baking supplies.

http://www.biaoutlet.com/

447 South Canal Street

South San Francisco CA 94080

(650) 553-4155

Open Tuesday thru Saturday 9am to 5pm