vegansaurus!

Chambers Lane pâté review! (amazing new vegan cheese alert!)  »

Since Laura and I moved to the East Bay, we’ve been unable to get to Rainbow Grocery as often as we used to. Last time we were there, we um, went a little overboard. We came away with four new cheeses and cheese spreads that we had never seen before. Of these, the Chambers Lane Truffled Cashew pâté was far and away the favorite, even above the much pricier Punk Rawk Labs cheese.

So when the people of Chambers Lane contacted us to see if we were interested in trying their other flavors, of course we said yes.

All together, there are three flavors. The first we had tried was Truffled Cashew. They also have Fig Balsamic Walnut Cashew and Rosemary Thyme Almond. These are also quite good.

The Fig Balsamic is sweet, tart, and rich-tasting, with hints of spice, it definitely has a wonderful complex flavor.

The Rosemary Thyme, on the other hand, is savory, but with a milder herbed taste. It’s almond-based, so it’s not quite as creamy as the other two, but is still pleasantly nutty.

But the first one we had tried probably still remains the favorite. With its rich, decadent truffle oil and creamy cashew texture, it really is something special. We started out by eating it on crackers like fancy folks, but then polite affectations went out the window, and we finished by sticking our fingers directly into the jar to get every last bit.

In addition to being available at Rainbow Grocery, you can also find Chambers Lane pâtés at Country Cheese Coffee Market and Berkeley Bowl West in Berkeley, Woodlands Market in Kentfield, and Draeger’s in Menlo Park, Danville, and San Mateo. 

Let’s hope they get into even more stores soon, because this stuff is the GREATEST. Insanely delicious vegan cheese for all!

Whole Foods debuts their own brand of vegan meats!  »

And we’ve been eating them up and they’re TASTY. Chicken patties, burgers, meatballs, nuggets, THE WORKS.  

I believe they’re at all Whole Foods but Whole Foods doesn’t tell us shit so you might want to call a store near you and get the 411 on meatless meatballs and chickenless nuggets and WHAAAT. This stuff is GOOD. $4/package. I think that’s everything

LET’S EAT:

[thanks to wonderful megan and miles for the tip <3 ]

Product Review: Judyfood spinach-pecan dip!  »

Found Judyfood’s spinach-pecan dip at my local hippy store, Back to the Land, and I must say: scrumptious! I definitely get a bit jealous at all the holiday parties with their “dip.” Everyone is always like chowing down on their french onion dip and then they’re like, “hey! We got hummus for you Megan Rascal!” OMG I’m so over hummus. OK not really, but it’s not the same as the various spreads the omnis are always serving with veggies and chips. This stuff definitely satisfies that savory dip craving! It even has a little bite to it. I had it just with some baguette.

It’s only available on the East Coast at the moment, though. If you are in the area, I say definitely pick some up for your next party!

LifeThyme: Best fucking grocery ever  »

Ok, I may be a bit of a fangirl here, but LifeThyme is the coolest fucking grocery store in the entire fucking world. Family-owned? Check. Responsive to customers’ desires? Check. Lots of vegan specialty food? Uh huh. Good to their employees? Fuck yes. ALL-VEGAN BAKERY? OMFG YES FUCK YES!!!

LifeThyme is a super-store. Even though it’s super-tiny, and you always feel like you’ll knock down an entire aisle of exotic maple syrups, it has everything the conscientious consumer could desire—an all-vegan bakery (that also offers many gluten-free options, AND MAKES THE MOST DELICIOUS POPCORN IN THE WORLD FRESH RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES!!), a hot foods/soup bar that has many vegan options, and a juice bar (with the coolest smoothie-makers around) with vegan options (including FRESH coconut water!!!). Regular-grocery-style, it’s fully stocked everything you could ever want that is vegan as well: a good selection of soy/rice yogurts/milks; Amy’s frozen dinners; specialty baking products; seitan; tempeh; expensive cashew cheeses; raw chocolates; vegan kale crisps—the kind with the creamy garlic flavor—etc., etc. There’s also an upstairs lifestyle area with eco- and animal-friendly cosmetics and personal hygiene products. Plus, it’s not Whole Foods :)

But I really feel that I have to plug their gorgeous and amazing bakery. They have so many yummy things in that glistening case, it makes you want to hit the treadmill as soon as you see it. Lush chocolate cakes, apple-walnut scones, and coconut cream pie are just a few of the daily offerings in that magical corner of the market. It’s all I can do to not gain 249,328,429,340,284 pounds when I walk by that 100 percent vegan masterpiece. That’s right, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT VEGAN. Not a drop of animal-derived cruelty goes into the delectable delights.

So why the fuck are you still reading this? GOOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO. It’s on 6th Avenue in the Village between 8th and 9th Streets. Give them your business!!!

Anna’s Brooklyn Supermarket Adventures: Neck Road stop on the Q  »

Another lovely Eastern European supermarket is Net Cost Market, at 2257 E. 16th St. off the Neck Road stop on the Q (way down in South Brooklyn). It’s worth visiting for several reasons, and only one of them is the food. Like so many tiny cultural bubbles in New York, it’s a completely different country. I’m not exactly sure whether that country’s Russia, or Poland, or what. Shuddup, I can’t read Cyrillic. But it’s a CRAZY COUNTRY.

There are a platoon of imperious women in large fur coats and blue eyeshadow, striding around like queens, barking orders in Czech? Latvian? Estonian? at their husbands. The supermarket has an entire AISLE for boxes of chocolate. Another aisle is devoted to cheap tea and odd jam. Yet another aisle is reserved for pickled vegetables; mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, in jars as small as a fist and as large as a jug.

There’s a wall of freshly baked bread—the loaves shaped like horseshoes are $2, a dark rye blend, and some of the most delicious, squishy, yeasty bread I have ever eaten. They’re on the left, in the cubby next to the bread counter.

The produce section looks fantastic, but some things are bargains while other things are expensive. They had seven varieties of pears, at least that many types of apples, and several were mondo cheap.

This supermarket, if you are anything like me (which, I dunno, I  like reading historical novels, OK?), will make you imagine that you are living through a Russian winter, a stranger to the icy steppes. As you pore over the sour cherries in syrup, the eggplant spread, the boxes of tea, you’ll feel swept up in a romantic tide of expatriation. It’s a good way of dealing with those “winter blues” that make you want to “break things.”

It’s also an ace location to take pictures of people, as long as they don’t see you do it! Net Cost Market is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Anna’s Brooklyn Supermarket Adventures: Golden Farm, Kensington  »

Golden Farm! This peach of a store is in Kensington, at 329 Church Ave. off the Church Avenue stop on the F train. It’s always open! ALWAYS. It’s a royal mishmash of ethnicities and cultures—an Eastern European supermarket in an Indian neighborhood, with Latina and Asian girls at the registers, each moistening her fingers on a halved cucumber à la Old Russia.

Produce Deals
You can find many good bargains on fresh produce, if you’re willing to poke around a bit and not be intimidated by the $6 carton of out-of-season strawberries. Beside the things listed below, root vegetables and cabbage are also incredibly cheap. Jars of pickled tomatoes and sauerkraut are tucked underneath the potatoes—just the right height for little old Polish ladies.

Produce deals
Asparagus, $1 per bunch
Pears (bartlett, Bosc, etc.) $0.79/lb
Apples (granny smith, fuji) $1/lb
Lettuce (romaine, red, etc) $1.50/head
Cabbage (savoy) $0.59/lb
Mushrooms (portobello) $3 for a package of two
Avocados (Hass) $1 each
Peppers (sweet and yellow; tiny, but in good shape) $1.49/lb

Bulk deals
There’s also a reasonably priced bulk fruit/nut section, in old jars with wooden covers. The apricots are dirt cheap ($3.49/lb), gigantic, and unbelievably moist. Pistachios are $6/lb. Other bulk deals: a 2-pound package of buckwheat costs about $1, in the bean/rice section.

I must advise you, though, to get your butts out to this store if only for the “golden prune,” an umeboshi lookalike that’s out of this world. I’ve never seen this fruit anywhere else, and it tastes remarkably like an actual plum—tart, sweet, golden. It’s dried fruit that actually tastes like it used to be fruit—like it once hung on a tree with wind and rain and everything. It’s $6/lb as well, in the jar next to the apricots. Watch out for the pits.

Weird Cool Things:
Oh, there are so many oddities; just go to the jelly section—it’s intense. There are fruits that are a little rare, like quince and damson, but there’s also totally wacko stuff like watermelon preserves and rose jelly. I almost skimmed right over the jars with sweetened chunks of eggplant and pumpkin. You can buy black poppy seeds in bulk at this store, rose hips, dried camomile, four different kinds of horseradish. Basically, just slow down and keep your eyes peeled.

Summing Up:
In addition to being a treasure trove of cheap produce, bulk dried fruit and nuts, and various oddities, this store is just REASONABLY PRICED, all around. In spite of stocking organic produce and things like agave and Amy’s, the store is pretty darn cheap, and somehow manages to feel old and homey. It’s a good place to drift and daydream.

Anna’s Brooklyn Supermarket Adventures: Sheepshead Bay, Q Train  »

Ladies and germs! Jelly-jars and pickled calves’ brains! Lucid fellows and damselflies! Hello, one and all. I invite you, implore you, invoke you to follow me on my MAGICAL ADVENTURES!!

This is the first of a series of posts chronicling Awesome Supermarkets in Brooklyn (and maybe other places). Vast places, rich with eggplant and pineapple and odd varieties of jam! Strange places, with languages that you cannot read! Sometimes even grisly places with strange squiggly meat-parts! But mostly… CHEAP PLACES.

Stay close, bold vegans, under my Whisking Cloak, as I transport you first to Sheepshead Bay. It’s one of the last stops on the Q train, and the population seems to be mostly Russian and Chinese. Lots of little old ladies in fur coats. But don’t get mad at them, they’re little and old and Russian.

(The lady pictured is neither little, old, nor me. I don’t know if she’s Russian or not.)

When you get off the train, a plum of a supermarket is hiding next to the CVS, at 1414 Sheepsheadbay Rd. It is camouflaged, like a secret beehive. Draw closer, dear vegan, and enter the Outer Chamber of Mostly Overpriced Produce. There are baskets hanging from the ceiling, and fake vines! Press onward!

The actual store, Global Wholesale Market, is open seven days a week, from  9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

CHEAP/AWESOME: tea, bread, beer, chocolate, pickled things in jars

Russian supermarkets are good for the winter, or bunkers, or hunkering down. They’re good wartime food. They’re rations, like chocolate and nuts and pickles and jam. The produce isn’t always great, but dollars to doughnuts the bread/tea/chocolate selection is ace.

This Russian supermarket, like some others, induces glee solely through the cheeriness of its displays. A wall of Finn crispbread! A sale on Borscht! Chocolate boxes as big as your torso!
If you poke around a bit, you will find not just huge candy-boxes, but an aisle full of chocolate bars. And many are vegan! And hella cheap! (There are often English translations on the back.)

This chocolate bar is as long as my forearm. Its title is “airated rum chocolate”. Yes, it is flavored like rum. It is vegan, and about $2.
Most tea is under three dollars, and comes in surprising incarnations.

That’s nearly it for pictures, except this weird beer! Just ignore the freeze-dried fish in baskets near the floor.

Oh man, I wish I could show you all the rows upon rows of bread! Squishy whole-wheat with seeds, round nutty loaves, so many kinds of pumpernickel, gigantic round bagels, baguettes, bread so dark and dense it was positively dangerous.

But they cottoned on to my camera and asked me to stop taking photos! And rather than sneaking around, I felt bad, and obeyed. Which is too bad, because the bread and the Things in Jars were completely awesome to behold.

More supermarkets, photos, and neighborhoods to come