I got up on Friday morning and left Kathy's apartment in Brooklyn around 10am for the Upper West Side. (Thanks for the excellent subway help, Kathy!) My first stop was at a location of Gourmet Garage, on Broadway I think in the lower 90's. I'd heard about GG mostly because of their recent cookbook release...I'd read a mostly positive review on Epicurious, and it seemed like an interesting place to check out. They sold a ton of refrigerated and frozen in-house prepared foods...but since I was going to be out and about all day, I didn't really want to buy any of that type of stuff. Some of it looked pretty tasty, though. I somehow had the idea that GG was known for its produce, but I thought the produce there was only standard. They had a kosher cellar, which carried the good brand of hummus and a whole bunch of stuff I use in my kitchen like Osem broth mixes and such. I picked up a red onion and a Kirby cucumber and a pint of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, and then on my way out I spied a package of mixed dried mushrooms for only $1.95 that I added to my basket. They should be nice in a risotto or a mushroom-barley soup.
I walked south along Broadway, sipping my juice and peering in windows. I spied an appetizing shop across the street, so I crossed over and peeked in. They sold only appetizing foods...for those of you playing along at home, these are shops that sell mostly prepared fish (lox, herring, other salmon dishes, whitefish) and accompaniments (crackers, cheeses, spreads, deli salads). This place, Murray's Sturgeon Shop, had these items and a cooler of drinks and pretty much nothing else. I wasn't ready to eat yet, so after peering in I moved on. There was a kosher supermarket next door, but they were so crowded and the lines were so long I didn't think it would make for pleasant browsing...so I continued southward.
After about 10 blocks, I came upon my REAL Upper West Side destination: Zabar's. Man oh man oh man. I cannot rhapsodize enough about this place. It's huge. It takes up most of a city block. They have a huge, wonderful cheese department, a chocolates area, a bakery, a bazillion prepared foods in little containers and in bulk behind gleaming glass cases, walls of preserves and mustards and sauces, more charcuterie than you can shake a stick at, barrels of gourmet coffee beans, and on and on. It was completely packed with people trying to buy food for the weekend, for Shabbat, for Simchat Torah, for lunch, for the hell of it. I spent quite a while walking around checking out the various inventories. Among my purchases:
1. A package of chocolate rugalach from Eli's
2. A big hunk of parmegiano-reggiano
3. A piece of comte gruyere, made from raw cow's milk
4. 2 bags of Hopjes, one for me and one for Mom
5. A container of creamed spinach, which came highly recommended by a patron
Let me explain the Hopjes. When I was little, this was a rare treat...these little buttery coffee flavored hard candies from Holland. I ADORED them, as did my brother. We'd buy them when visiting Florida. I've not seen or heard about or thought of them in a long time. When I saw a stack of the yellow and clear bags, I instantly recognized them. I'm so excited to have Hopjes again. Hopjes are like the joy that lies between caramel and coffee. I think Mom will be excited to have her bag, too...if I can keep myself from ripping into them before I see her at Thanksgiving!
Right across the street from Zabar's, I found another New York institution: a location of H&H Bagels. I picked up a dozen, mostly onion with some everything for Erin. They made my backpack smell real good.
I was famished by this time (it was around 1:30pm), so I decided it was time for lunch. Zabar's had a little cafe attached to it, but unbelievably enough the menu was completely unimpressive...panini and smoothies and nonvegetarian soups mostly. H&H would have been fine, but they only sold bagels, spreads, and OJ to go. There was a deli nearby, but it was a meat deli with very little vegetarian food on the menu. Finally, I settled on French Roast, where I enjoyed an egg white omelet with gruyere and mushrooms, some frites, and a small salad with some iced coffee on the side. Decent for fast, cheap lunch...but not as amazing as some of the stuff I'd seen available to go from Zabar's, Murray's, or Gourmet Garage.
I walked a couple blocks over towards Central Park and hopped on a train for the Lower East Side after lunch. I got off at 2nd and F and walked over to Yonah Schimmel's Knishes. This knishery is pretty bare-bones. It's a kind of scuzzy place on the inside, and all they sell is 6 or 7 types of knishes, vegetable egg rolls, 2 or 3 desserty things, and drinks. They have tables, but they're kind of dingy and drab. I picked up a spinach knish to go.
I then headed a couple of blocks down in search of Moishe's Kosher Bakery. I was surprised to see it boarded up with a sign instructing me to head off towards St Mark's Place for their current location. It was a decent distance, but having nothing better to do I decided to head off.
On my way to Moishe's, I happened upon Russ and Daughters, another appetizing shop. I'd never heard of appetizing shops until one day I was watching Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America series on PBS. Joan explained what appetizing shops are, and she went into one and had an involved conversation with some guy behind the counter about fish. The shop was Russ and Daughters. It looked as cool as it did on TV...little white and chrome signs everywhere, and plenty of fresh fish and crackers and little preserved vegetables. I didn't really need any of those things, though, so I just looked around and moved on.
I slogged around for what seemed like a long time, and I finally found Moishe's. The place smelled amazing, and there was a happy looking pile of miniature apricot hamentaschen in the window just begging to be purchased. I bought a dozen, and I considered getting some onion board but I didn't think it would be fresh by the time I got back to DC. Moishe's also sold rugalach, babke, mandel, and other Kosher bakery treats.
By the time I finished at Moishe's, I was pretty well food-shopped out, but I was also very cheerful. I stopped for a hot apple cider at a cafe and mulled over my little treats. Much of the food I bought got consumed that weekend...I presented the gruyere, the hamentaschen, and the rugalach to the people who attended my workshop on Saturday (they seemed appreciative), and Kathy and I snarfed several of the bagels over the course of the weekend (I ate mine with low fat cream cheese, onion, and cuke...which is why I bought onion and cucumber at Gourmet Garage). The rest made it back with me to DC, where the various items will be incorporated into various meals I plan to serve friends in the coming weeks.
I decided on my next trip, I'll hit the Essex St Pickle Company, and then check out Asian and Italian shops in Chinatown and Little Italy. Food shopping in NY is great fun, almost as fun as eating out in NYC. You'll have to wait for me to get around to that report later, though. :)