jart's Profile
rice bran oil in Berkeley area?
i just saw some at the Dublin Big Lots store, last week. The brand is "Basso", and it is a liter for $6.00. I bought one and kind of like it. If you have a Big Lots near you, and don't want to drive to Dublin, you can go to yours, and ask them to check other stores for you. They enter the code on their orange price tag (not the UPC) to search. Here is the code that is on my bottle "173 114012412 3 042". They can only search the stores in the Bay Area though.
The front label says 'imported from Italy", the back label says "product of Thailand"
House of Silvanas (Daly City) & Frozen Kuhsterd "Cereal Milk" available at Cako Creamery SF Metreon!
Momofuku Milk Bar's recipe for cereal milk is online in a couple of places, if you want to try it yourself.
New source for Louisiana cooking items
My F&E in Pleasanton has that little NOLA section too. They probably all have it. I bought 2 little jars of that mustard for 1.00 each, they were in the markdown section of the store, and still well within their expiration date. I like it! Over the past few months the Dublin Big Lots has been NOLA central, with probably 5 flavors of Zapp's chips, and lots of other packaged items. I found I liked the Voodoo chips best, hated the Crawtators. Cost Plus has Bruce's sweet potato pancake mix all the time, along with the beignet mix - at least the Dublin store does.
Grocery Outlet-April 2012
The Dublin store has Carvel ice cream cakes. Two styles, a petite one with lots of colored piping for $4.99, and a slightly larger one with "Happy Birthday" piped onto it, for $5.99 (or maybe $6.99). Both appear to be chocolate bottom layer, then choc crunchies, then vanilla layer, with white exterior.
great Barbacoa de borrego in Livermore
I went to this market last Sunday (2-20-11), and purchased a pound of the lamb. It was delicious! It was $8.00/lb, and came with a large container of scorching-ly hot green sauce. (but not the other items that the OP listed). The server did not speak english well, so Ii had to ask for it in spanish. (not a big deal for me). Another customer mentioned that they sell the lamb in the Pine street store also. Later on, when I mentioned it to a friend who lives in Livermore, she said that the same family has a restaurant on Vasco, called Consuelitos [sp?], that is delicious and inexpensive.
speaking of chips...
i don't normally look for these, but i was in the new-ish grocery outlet in dublin earlier this evening, and saw them there. they are 1.99/bag. a bit later i was in the pleasanton lucky supermarket, again, was not looking per se, but happened to see them there also, for $3something. the bag said "taco flavor" and "limited edition". Hope this helps someone who is looking for them.
Good eats in Reno? Anyone know places to go for foodies? I know it's Reno!
if you back out of the sfbay area board, and go to the 'california' (as in other california) board, and put "reno" in the search box, there are lots of suggestions. you will need to put quotes around the word reno, otherwise you'll get threads that have RENOvation in them.
i've dined at the basque place on east 6th, really good lamb. they serve family style, with a set menu each night. sorry i dont remember the name. also there is a nice german place with music and dancing, again, sorry i dont remember the name. for a tasty lunch (definitely not fine dining) there is awful arthurs in the nugget, across the street from the silver legacy. tasty burgers and fries, large portions, cheap, but smoky atmosphere. i'm sure the links under 'reno' will suggest many more.
Grocery Outlet - January 2010
San Leandro also has the Coke from Mexico mentioned above.
October 2009 Grocery Outlet
livermore, today:
1.99 - canada dry 6-pack cans of tonic water. they had the ginger ale also.
3 for 1.00 - small cans of del monte peas, 50% less salt, flip top cans.
2.99 - big 30oz jars of pace chunky salsa. i prefer fresh, but a co-worker mentioned that she puts a big jar of it in a slow cooker with beef stew meat, and it comes out great. i thought i might give that a try.
1.79 - bars of shea butter soap, brand is 'south of france', white in translucent wrapper. i had not seen it in a while, and considered buying from the company's website, where it's over $5 each. great stuff, the cashier said she liked it too.
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i would agree that it's hard to identify a trend, either good or bad, at grocery outlet. sometimes there's nothing i want, other times there's lots. i think it's the nature of the business. they can only sell what they have access to, and each store mgr decides what to pick from that assortment, i imagine. a clerk in the tracy store told me that when something doesnt sell in one store, that sometimes they'll ship it to another store and see if it sells there. why no store in my path (livermore/tracy/pleasant hill/hayward/san leandro) EVER picks vital vittles bread is a mystery to me! but then i did get a huge 24 oz can of mauna loa macadamia nuts once for 7.99, so i can't complain.
Where to take visiting Italians?
being of italian descent, my gut reaction would be the steakhouse. but it depends on the individuals. are the visitors all male? are they older beefy guys or youngish metrosexual-types? it takes discipline to fit into a euro-cut italian suit! and there IS such a thing as an italian vegetarian. i think the best thing is to just ask them, as was already mentioned. or how about something they might not even know they want to do? like a sake tasting? vietnamese? upscale car show? i would go for things that are unique to this area - like the 17mile drive (because every time they see a picture of that tree by itself, for the rest of their lives, they will think 'i was there! and (husky) took me there'. and photos of them with the golden gate bridge in the background..
October 2009 Grocery Outlet
the san leandro store has Kashi microwave pouches, of a multi-grain mixture, that are quite good. has brown rice, rye, etc. $1.29. has 7 grams fiber per serving. they are located on a shelf over the frozen foods.
Peaches [split from SF ChowDown thread]
reply to 'uh ... art': as there is no chow thread for former rightcoasters seeking peaches. i have been here 10yrs now, and was of the exact same opinion. how could it be, no good peaches? when there are so many wonderful things here? well, turns out i wasnt looking in the right places. the season is over now, but next year be sure to check out the organic peaches at frog hollow farms (www.froghollow.com). they are extraordinary. (and hey, after about the second snowfall of the season, shoveling kind of loses its appeal...driving a little for some peaches is more than a fair trade!)
September 2009 Grocery Outlet
livermore, right now:
some sort of mariachi party. free music outside, some free samples, other samples not free. cashiers have tickets for a free taco (with purchase i assume). i just ran in and out, did not stop to investigate. store very busy, parking lot crowded.
August 2009 Grocery Outlet
livermore, today:
4.99 Kettle brand potato chips, a large-ish box proclaiming "create a chip challenge". the box contains 3 bags, 5 oz each, of flavored chips (spicy thai, buffalo bleu, tuscan three cheese), and 4 bags, 1 oz ea, plain chips; and then a brown bag containing 7 flavorings, 0.75 oz ea. the flavorings are: carmelized onion; cheddar, roasted tomato; lemon butter; vinegar; sour cream chive; and sweet chilli. the enclosed literature says make your favorite combination, and then enter it online to win free chips for a year. the flavor packets are quite generous, and i'm sure could be used for popcorn and other things. i have no plans to enter the contest, but this is an interesting purchase.
August 2009 Grocery Outlet
newark store, 8-9-09:
3.49 heinz organic catsup
.99 de cecco egg-noodle cannelloni pasta
4 for 1.00 small bags of craisins
1.49 hero brand apricot nectar
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livermore store, 8-10-09:
.50 emeril's chicken stock
.99 de cecco egg-noodle garganelli pasta
1.79 shea butter soap. white, in a translucent wrapper. i'm spoiled by l'occitane, but this is a nice product, at a fraction of the price.
Red Corn at the Mill Valley Market
i am curious about this red corn... over the weekend i checked whole foods, and they didnt have any. today i called the grower, which i found by looking online, "Colorful Harvest 800 305 1101", and a nice man there told me they sell to whole foods and safeway regularly, and to a distributor who sells to smaller markets. i asked him which safeways? and he said he delivers to the safeway dist ctr in tracy, and then safeway sends to its stores. i checked at the pleasanton safeway, a cashier told me they had it last week. the produce mgr said he will inquire about more. the tassajara safeway and the dublin blvd safeway said they 'sold out of their supplies'. gene's market in pleasanton told me they had it within the last week or two, but sold out. if the pleasanton safeway gets any, i will post here.
Prime Ribeye Steaks at Costco $8.99/lb
as of 2 days ago, the prime NY steaks were $10.99/lb at the Danville Costco. still a great deal. even though i accidentally over-cooked one, it still 'cut like butter'. very tasty.
many thanks to all the posters here, i was a long-lapsed costco member, and actually am not too fond of the store, but these steaks are well worth it.
Peninsula detours for unique food shopping
there's AVP market in san mateo, groceries from Brazil. i haven't been there in well over a year, and so cannot attest to current conditions.
July 2009 Grocery Outlet - Buck-o-rama
today, livermore:
1.49 trop50, tropicana refrigerated (not from concentrate) orange juice with half the sugar as regular. it looks like a 2-qt container, but is actually just a few ounces shy of that. not only did i not miss the sugar, i think it tastes better. label says they used stevia instead. this same juice was 1.99 in east hayward a couple of days ago. exp date is 8-11
1.49 various types of large lindt chocolate bars (bittersweet, white choc, and others)
$ ?? le petit ecolier cookies, extra dark choc (70%), sorry i didnt notice the price.
July 2009 Grocery Outlet - Buck-o-rama
livermore store, today:
1.59 to 1.99, vairous types of famous amos cookies
1.99 cantuccini biscotti
.99 "french butter cookies authentic breton biscuit" very good quality cookie, back of box says imported by makers of Biscoff.
1.49 ben and jerry's light, only 1 flavor, strawberry and cream
July 2009 Grocery Outlet - Buck-o-rama
livermore store, today:
.99, little six pack of raisins, decorated with Wall-e designs. very cute. located in with the cookies, not by the other dried fruit.
2.49 ovaltine
ice cream area was mostly empty!
July 2009 Grocery Outlet - Buck-o-rama
livermore store, 7-14:
3.99 for 6+ lb box of arborio rice, as described above
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plesant hill store 7-15:
6.99 earth first bath tissue
July 2009 Grocery Outlet - Buck-o-rama
today at san leandro store:
.50 nestle's crunch crisp bars
1.99 lindt bars, 5 or 6 difff kinds (milk,dark,double milk,orange,lemon)
.58 luna bars 3 or 4 diff kinds, near frozen foods.
this store is in the old salvation army location on 14th st, and has been open since april i'm told. some shelves were looking empty-ish. didnt see the usual large selection of ice cream pints like east hayward and livermore usually have. aisles seemed more narrow also, or maybe it was just that the store was pretty busy.
July 2009 Grocery Outlet - Buck-o-rama
at east hayward store today:
2.49 cedarlane chile relleno (frozen)
2.29 nabisco social tea cookies
2.79 tillamook mudslide ice cream
.99 de cecco festonati pasta (large-ish tubes with indented swirls on them)
coconut M&M sightings?
i bought a bag at the Rite Aid in Pleasanton, on Valley and Hopyard, in the shopping center with Gene's market. they were 99cents. they were ok, nice coconut flavor, but that same cloying super-sweetness that the cherry ones had. they were in a smallish round bin, at the front of the store, near the cash registers.
Fresh garbanzo beans
in Dublin: $3.99/lb at India Plaza, 6040 dougherty, 925 829 9950. same small shopping center as Denica's, about 1.5 blocks north of dublin blvd.
Kolache's - East Bay?
please ignore my post above, i was wrong. i drove up there this afternoon to pick up some bread, and they did not have the pastries you seek. the store is worth a visit if you are in the area, as they do have many interesting items not commonly available nearby. i hope you called before you drove there. i am sorry but i thought i saw them.
Kolache's - East Bay?
i believe European Deli in san ramon has them. 2211 san ramon valley suite F. phone 925 820 2053. they are open on sundays. from 680, exit west on crow canyon, right on san ramon valley. go past in-n-out, through the light, then shopping center will be on your left. there is also an indian grocer, arabic grocer, and a lovely bakery, city of d'lights [sp?]. the european deli is at the opposite end of the shopping center from the indian store. it is next to a chinese restaurant called '3 brothers' or something similar. i can recommend the dark brown bread 'kommisbrot' in european deli. very hearty, and not the least bit sweet. i find the little pastries hit or miss. the pound cake from cinderella in sf was quite tasty, but old and dried out on the ends. probably would have been great if it was fresh. they have a number of refrigerated cases of products, and i do believe i saw kolaches there.
Where can I purchase Plugra butter in the SF area? Trader Joe's has discontinued it.
i am sure that draeger's carries it, although the price will no doubt be higher than trader joe's. i also see that there is a thread on the los angeles chowhound that says that some smart and final stores carry it.
Cheap Eats/Great Deals in Reno
i like the nugget, for the "awful" burger. very tasty, and enough for 2 meals. comes with a huge basket of fries. around $6 or $7 i think. maybe you could get a kid's burger for cheaper. dining room is smoky though. it is at 233 north virginia street in downtown reno. here is a link to a review from a site affiliated with the travel channel: http://www.homeandabroad.com/c/52/Site/68673_Reno_Nugget_visit.html have a good trip. i live in the bay area, and as much as i'd like one, it's just too long of a drive!
