I'm very lucky in that I can find just about anything I could want at my local grocery stores. We have Hispanic, Caribbean, Middle-Eastern, Eastern European, North African, and many other ethnic groups here so the choices are endless. I'm close to Boston to begin with and I work right in Boston as well, so I can drive in easily or on my lunch hour I can shoot over to Chinatown and get any Asian ingredients I need, or go to the North End and get specialty Italian products.

All that being said, I love to go to stores that have lots of specialty foods, like exceptional cheeses, meats, etc. Isn't it a blast? My sister recently took me to Providence, RI and we went to some places that had fabulous cheeses, home made pastas, etc. I find everything about food fascinating - especially when you get to see specialty foods from different cultures that you don't know about! There's always something new to try!

Good for you that you found a place you can get to. Maybe not weekly, but when you just have to have something, at least you know it's there. Enjoy all your treats!

Lisa

Linda, I love that kind of store, and I drive an hour or two to go to them occasionally.

Why don't I go more often? Well, because I'm out of pantry and storage room, LOL, so I have to use what I already got before I get any more!

Annie

Sounds like such fun! I love stores like that. I'm lucky like Lisa as I have access to numerous stores around me that have all that stuff but I really do love going to just a "Mom & Pop" type place to get it. I like to support them, I like their products and you get good conversation when your there too!

Surprise! Surprise! I found montadella in the grocery store here. I usually drive over an hour to fine a few of those things. I was shocked.

Glad you got lucky, 45 minutes isn't all that bad... and think about what you don't have to put up with...

Nancy

Darn, now you will have to go back!

Sounds like the market I found that keeps calling to me. I have to go across the bay to get there. I don't need to buy more stuff, take up pantry space, go the distance, and spend the money now STOP messing with my head!

I love that kind of store too. What fun! There's a store here called Phoenecia about 30 minutes from my house. They have a nice variety of imported and uncommon food. The prices on their cheeses are the best in town. Example: I pay about $5.99/lb for romano cheese, normal grocery stores want about $12 and up for the very same thing. Muenster cheese, $3.99 compared with $5.99 elsewhere. And they have about 6 different kinds of feta cheese behind the counter. And tons of other cheeses I've never even heard of!

I go there occasionally and just stock up on cheese. I always think, dang! How'm I gonna use all this cheese up?? The next thing you know, I'm thinking, dang! I shoulda bought more! LOL

They also have great prices on some wines, plus canned goods like artichokes for example, which are at least 1/3 cheaper than grocery stores. I buy the roasted red pepper dip jar there which I use for Cathy's red pepper soup.

The coolest thing: they have this mass production pita bread thing going on where the loaves come down this conveyer belt from the second floor and wrap around the bread area till they land into the hands of the worker who wraps them up and puts them out. They are all puffed up as they travel down and then I guess they deflate at some point. But boy, talk about FRESH!

Mundane every day grocery shopping for staples is kind of a chore, but man, going to these fun places is an adventure!! Glad you found a cool place Linda!

Wow May. I have a Moroccan friend who has also said good things about Phoenecia. Between the two of you I will definitely have to go check it out.

Listen, cookebook, if you go, lmk and I'll meet you there! In fact, we could have a mini-Houston get together. I love that place!

May, I assume that Phoenecia is a Lebanese market, but I could be wrong. I go to one here, but when I lived in Houston, I used to go to Antone's Delicatessen, which was Armenian, and it was one of my favorite places. I don't know if it is still there, but they had two or three locations, and I used to go to the one in The Heights, just off Studemont, I think.

Lars

Lars, It's more of an eclectic market. They have a large variety of things from different countries. Antone's is more of a small specialty imports store. Phoenicia is easly 10x bigger, maybe more, the size of a normal grocery store. They carry produce, fresh meats, and fish; they have an olive bar; they sell ready-made baked and cooked foods. I once ate lunch there but wasn't thrilled. They have a huge section of canned & boxed items. Plus they sell kitchen supplies such as cookware, tea sets, and all kinds of gadgets. This place has just about everything! I don't really know the nationality of the owners but I wouldn't be surprised if they were Lebonese or Greek.

Antone's is still around, although I don't know which locations survive. They franchised their sandwiches so they have shops which only sell ready to eat food. They probably have one or two locations left which sell the imports as well. None near me so I never go there.

Better than Antone's now is Droubi's. Same exact idea, plus they sell shwarma, falafel, tabouli, hummus, and other ready to eat items. There's one about 3 miles from my house. It's where I USED to buy import cheeses before Phoenicia opened, and it's where I still buy my Orlando jar of grape leaves for stuffing, black olives, pine nuts and walnuts.

Linda, I agree, that kind of find and that kind of shopping is so fun! I had a similar "find" last week. There's a little Italian grocery store and deli in Dallas called Jimmy's that I've heard and read about for years, but never made the trip to before. Well, last week I was in the neighborhood and stopped in. It's a funky little place, but so lively. I stocked up on olive oil, parm. Regg. (can you tell I can never remember how to spell that cheese?) and Pecorino Romano. Their Parm was only $9.99 and their Romano was $8.99, both about $8 cheaper than I've been paying elsewhere. I will definitely be going back there when I run out of cheese again, but that might be a while - I bought a pound of each!

Congratulations, Linda, on your wonderful find.

Sally

Oh, Sally, I can go through a pound of parm in a week or so! I use it on/in everything! LOL

Now I want to go downtown Minneapolis to Surdyk's. It's a wine and cheese shop that I haven't been to in at least 20 years! I am sure it is even better than I remember!

I am going to have to get a second or third job! LOL

Linda

Linda--Where is this treasure store & what's it's name??

It has been there for a long time, but Tim remembers it being kind of a hole in the wall gorcery store. I am guessing in order to compete with the big box gorceries they had to reinvent themselves. They did a nice job!

It is Kowalski's Market in White Bear Lake, MN.
Ci-lantro...are you in MN?

Linda

Well, Linda, I may start using it more at those prices, too. At $18 per pound I try to be frugal with it, but at $9 per pound, I may bath in it, lol!

Sally

Isn't it fun! Places like that are what caused me to need another pantry. One good thing about airport security is that you can't bring a lot of that kind of stuff on board. I use to come back from LA every month with a full grocery bag as my carry on.

Linda--I'm in central WI. Was hoping that market was closer to me. :( But, I am making a note of it for whenever I might get over that way. Thank you for letting us know about it! I would be drooling down the aisles, for sure.

WBL is very near the MN/WI border, so if and when you do get over this way, be sure to give me a heads up. We could drool together! LOL

Linda

Oh I love grocery store finds like that! Aren't they just the best!! My find is Fairway Market in NY. They probably have the best imported cheese selection in NY which is saying a lot! (Part owner and Cheese guy, Steve Jenkins has won cheese awards from France!) I'm able to also get duck legs and breasts there and an impressive fish selection, a huge variety of olive oils, sea salts from around the world and so many other spices, pastas from Italy, great dairy products from all over, both here and there and so much more. These stores are fun!! And the best part of Fairway is that for the most part, the prices are usually very good! I don't mind the trip and I go every two weeks. I think its worth it to eat the good stuff when you can do so and I am so disappointed with my regular markets...
On a side note, on a trip to Paris last year I was wandering thru a Paris "supermarket" just to see what they stocked. Among all the great stuff, not so familiar to us, there was a "gourmet" aisle that had Oreos, Skippy Peanut Butter and several breakfast cereals, like Lucky Charms, among many other American typicals -- funny, all that!