Oh my, where tostart? Of course, you could get a corned beef sandwich. Zingerman's (yeah, Ann Arbor, Michigan) won a New York City Corned Beef taste test with Mario Batali and Jeffrey Steingarten as judges. Mario Batali says that Zingerman's is his "temple of deliciousness", LOL.

If you don't want a corned beef sandwich, you can buy a kit, or just the corned beef. They have several kinds/varieties of bacon, along with other things like prosciutto.

Olive oil, mustard, vinegars, all available, and their brownies are "famous". They call them "Magic Brownies". I don't know what the secret ingredient is, I don't think I want to know.

Anyway, everything is good and it depends on what you want and need. They are pricey, IMO, so I don't get much from them, but everything I've had is good. I don't suppose they ship the ginger gelato...

You definitely have a delicious gift coming, no matter what you choose.

Even better, come to Michigan and take one of their classes, then we could visit!

Annie

That would be fun, Annie!
Zingerman's prices are really high. I'd probably never order from them if I hadn't gotten a gift certificate. Shipping is high too.
I was interested in the cheeses but can't understand why they cost much more than cheese from Murray's in New York.
I'm also curious about their bread and wondered if anyone had had them by mail order.

I usually receive a gift of breads every year for Christmas. It is good, but I feel like the quality has degraded in the past few years, and some of the bread was not allowed to rise properly before baking. It might be better at this time of year when they are not so busy.

I did enjoy the Cherry Chocolate, Chocolate Sourdough, and Parmesan Pepper breads.

I will say I live near to a world-class bakery which uses a wood-fired brick oven so I am spoiled.

Enjoy!

I'd order some of their coffee's..it's always fresh roasted.

Mabel, that would really ruin bread for me. Supposedly Z is very good about making things right, but of course I hope not to have to complain.
Nancy, I didn't even look at the coffees. I will.

I would think that a coffee cake would bear the shipping better than some other items.

The coffee cakes are $40 (small) and $65 (large). It's too ridiculous.

Those prices are what I'd call hefty, CC. Could you ask the person who gave it to you what they'd recommend? Maybe they had something in mind for you to order.

This post was edited by ruthanna on Mon, May 13, 13 at 18:01

I will, Ruthanna. But I wanted to know what people on the forum had mail ordered and could recommend enthusiastically.

CC, I've not mail ordered, Elery and I have had lunch there a couple of times and we took Mother there. It's about an hour from Elery's home in Jackson, and we go to Ann Arbor for Trader Joe's, Homegoods, Whole Foods and sometimes lunch at Zingerman's.

We normally split a sandwich, their corned beef sandwich is about 6 inches thick and their bread is very good, but that's right at the restaurant, not by mail. The ginger gelato is unbelievably good, with chunks of crystallized ginger.

The prices are, well, you see what they are. Ann Arbor can be ostentatious, as evidenced by those prices. Of course, a ticket to watch University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) play Notre Dame is $295.00, so the sandwich prices shouldn't surprise me!

Annie

Annie

I had a basket shipped to me from them for a gift. It included bread, cookies, brownies and cheese. It was OK but nothing that I would rave about. Their prices are over-the-top in my opinion and I can get far better in my local Wegmans or Whole Foods (IMHO).

You're making me homesick for Ann Arbor, Cloudy! I keep vowing to take a road trip up there to visit my old haunts. I used to eat at Zingerman's only occasionally as a student. What I really loved were the Fragels from the Bagel Factory. I've never been a fried food fan, but they were to die for.

I think I'd go for some of the olive oils because you'd get good bang for your buck.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Fragel Bliss