98 replies to this topic

[LonghornGal]

Its actually HEB product but I have to say that the fully cooked smoked briskets are wonderful. I bought one yesterday and have to say its better than all but 2 of houstons briskets at BBQ joints. Has anyone else tried this?

If you liked the brisket you should try the Fully Cooked Prime Rib. It's in a pretty red foil package at the prime beef counter...

Actually, I can't think of a FC product that I haven't thought equal to mainstream americana restaurants. I'm not big on fried things, but they're good, and the new Asian chicken and beef products are great! The fajita strips are good too. Oh, and the cheese burgers... mmmmm mushroom swiss - with the cheese mixed into the patty. Yum!

As far as the new CM products, my favorites are:
Wasabi Mayo
Morello Cherry Preserves
Flax Seed and Sea Salt Tortilla Chips
Popped Popcorn
Balsamic Vinegar...

And if you look in the background of the photos posted on the Pastry Queen Thread, you can see the beautifully colored bottles of the CM Italian Sodas downstairs from the cooking school.

[lovebenton0]

no heb's,  I am north of the Red River.  But I can at least use that as an excuse for a weekend excursion to Dallas

from what I understand there are no regular HEB's north of Waco, don't know if that is true or not, but I do not remember seeing any in DFW.

there's an HEB in Waxahachie, that may be closer to you.

[LonghornGal]

So... y'all are famous. Seriously. Well, at least within the world of HEB.

Today at work I opened a company-wide presentation about CM and Organics, and there, in the middle of the presentation, is a page of "consumer quotes about CM products." And it was you guys - Nacho, Irodguy, Fifi, going into raptures about chips and blood orange soda.

I was cracking up! My boss asked, what's so funny? And I said... I KNOW these people!

She thinks I'm nuts. :)

If you wanna eat a bunch of free CM Organic products, go to HEB Friday between 10 and 3. Every HEB out there is supposed to be running demos.

[RebeccaT]

I've tried two more recently, and wasn't nearly as happy as I have been with earlier offerings.

First, I picked up the Cheese Crackers - CM's version of Cheese Nips. I was hoping to love them since they are trans-fat free and they have a bit of cayenne. Well, they just didn't have enough taste! The cheese flavor is a little too understated for me, and they were harder and not as flaky as I would have liked them to be. I prefer Late July's cheese crackers.

I also tried the CM Organics Honey Nut O's. These were pretty good, although they were a little on the hard side. I enjoyed my box, but I think I will be going back to Cascadian Farm Honey Nut O's instead. I am looking forward to trying the Raisin Bran next.

[tupac17616]

Okay, I realize I'm probably a little late to this thread, but I finally tried the CM Blood Orange Italian Soda, which my mom's been buying for a while now. Man, that is some good stuff! I'm a weirdo when it comes to drinks (I only drink ice water, no soda, no alcohol, no juice, nothing), and even I liked this Italian soda.

[nacho]

It's time to bring this thread back to life a bit as I noticed some new Central Market brand products at my local HEB this weekend. The most intriguing are the CM Italian Style Wood Fired (frozen) Pizzas. I picked up two...the 4 cheese and the veggie, but have not tried them yet (b/c I had ordered a large pizza from Reale's the night before, and had plenty of leftovers). Anyone tried these yet?

Also, I finally got around to trying the Wasabi Mayo. This is great stuff. I find myself having a little dab of it with all kinds of stuff. The best so far was with a steak that I did in the cast-iron-pan-stove-top-then-oven method as described in another egullet thread. That will definitely be a repeat.

On a different note (since this thread has also previously discussed HEB locations, etc) are there any insiders that know what's being planned in the Victoria, Tx market? My parents live in that section of Texas, and mom said she heard that HEB had bought a huge site previously inhabited by a Big K [Mart] that went under several years ago. She was hoping for a Central Market, but I don't think the Victoria area has the right customer base (e.g. this part of Tx loves their chain restaurants). I suspect an HEB Plus is being planned (b/c I know a lot of people down there that shop at Wal-Mart for their groceries...wasn't HEB Plus conceived to compete more directly with Super Wal-Marts?).

[Grovite]

no heb's,  I am north of the Red River.  But I can at least use that as an excuse for a weekend excursion to Dallas

from what I understand there are no regular HEB's north of Waco, don't know if that is true or not, but I do not remember seeing any in DFW.

there's an HEB in Waxahachie, that may be closer to you.

There's one in Ennis too if you feel like making the short drive to get your Blood Orange Soda fix. My parents live there and I went to visit this past Sunday and ran in to the HEB, and low and behold, there they were! I walked out with 4 bottles and a bag of the CM Organic Popcorn

Edited by Grovite, 25 October 2005 - 02:18 PM.

[Grovite]

The most intriguing are the CM Italian Style Wood Fired (frozen) Pizzas.  I picked up two...the 4 cheese and the veggie, but have not tried them yet (b/c I had ordered a large pizza from Reale's the night before, and had plenty of leftovers).  Anyone tried these yet?

I have tried the 4 Cheese CM pizza and it is great, better than the frozen California Pizza Kitchen line in my opinion.

[FoodMan]

My most recent product try out was for their CM Organics Frosted Flakes. Very good, extra crunchy and I even think a little sweeter with a more deep flavor than Kellog's Frosted Flakes. My wife however loves her Kellog's and is not willing to make a complete switch

[fifi]

I am glad this thread came back up. I have a funny story. The HEB's in my area continue to add more CM products. There is a smaller one in Clear Lake City on El Camino and the big one at 646 and I-45. The smaller one is in an old Albertsons and they had been schlepping along with the existing store furniture. Then they decided to do a complete revamp, new shelving, reorganization, the whole nine yards. The funny part of this massive undertaking (well, probably not funny to them) was that they started the process right before the pre-Rita bug-out rush. I stopped in to get some supplies for the country place and the store was complete chaos. They actually had to put folks at the end of the aisles to help direct folks. . . "Where is the canned milk?" "What happened to the chips?" You get the picture. I am sure that the original plan was to start the shake up on a normally slow day. I gave my sympathies to the manager. All I got out of him was a heavy sigh.

Anyway, it looks like there is a plan afoot to upgrade and include more CM products at the smaller HEBs as well. If that is so, I applaud the effort.

Must . . . get . . . blood . . . orange . . . soda!

[joiei]

no heb's,  I am north of the Red River.  But I can at least use that as an excuse for a weekend excursion to Dallas

from what I understand there are no regular HEB's north of Waco, don't know if that is true or not, but I do not remember seeing any in DFW.

there's an HEB in Waxahachie, that may be closer to you.

There's one in Ennis too if you feel like making the short drive to get your Blood Orange Soda fix. My parents live there and I went to visit this past Sunday and ran in to the HEB, and low and behold, there they were! I walked out with 4 bottles and a bag of the CM Organic Popcorn

Where is Ennis? I know very little about Texas if it is anywhere far off of I-35 between DFW and Austin. I get out west more often than I do down south. I have to make a run down to Dallas on the 19th of Nov and will be making my ususal stock up at the Lovers Lane store. .

[Grovite]

Where is Ennis?  I know very little about Texas if it is anywhere far off of I-35 between DFW and Austin.  I get out west more often than I do down south.  I have to make a run down to Dallas on the 19th of Nov and will be making my ususal stock up at the Lovers Lane store.  .

Ennis is 25 minutes south of Dallas on I-45. It's a rural suburb of about 20,000 people (and growing) that make some mighty fine Czech food

[joiei]

Thanks, next time I am down and have extra time, I will look into exploring a part of Texas I know nothing about. Yee Haw.

[Bill Miller]

I work for Central Market, and it's wonderful to hear so many positive comments about our "own brand" products. A tasting panel worked hard for over a year selecting the right ones. Personally, I love the pasta sauces, the whole-grain mustard and the frozen cookie dough as well.

My daughter Allison transfered from the Dallas store to the one on Lamar--I believe she is still in cheese. She is enrolled at UT in January-- CM has been good to her. She is in Journalism and her experience has her considering going into food writing. Regards, Bill

[LonghornGal]

New product alert - CM Pomegranate Italian Soda. Red. Slightly fizzy. Festive.

A potential excellent mixer with the libation of your choice for the holidays.

[Kent Wang]

To be honest, I find neither the pomegranate or blood orange sodas anything special. Very sugary, not a lot of "genuine flavor". I tried mixing the pomegranate with Crown once. It was not very good. I was pretty desperate -- and wasted -- at the time of course. What do you think it would mix well with? Rum, gin?

[fifi]

Vodka!

Please note the time stamp on this post. I am setting up the Weber bullet for some pork butt. Vodka is a required part of the process. And I just went to HEB earlier today. But I prefer the blood orange.

[LonghornGal]

To be honest, I find neither the pomegranate or blood orange sodas anything special. Very sugary, not a lot of "genuine flavor". I tried mixing the pomegranate with Crown once. It was not very good. I was pretty desperate -- and wasted -- at the time of course. What do you think it would mix well with? Rum, gin?

To be honest, I'm glad you don't like 'em. That means there's more for those of us that do.

And are you sure you're thinking of the right Pomegranate soda? Seeing as it's a fairly new product and all. And btw, Crown is meant to be enjoyed alone, occasionally with Cola, but not with much else. Probably where you went wrong there.

[Bill Miller]

Vodka! 

Please note the time stamp on this post. I am setting up the Weber bullet for some pork butt. Vodka is a required part of the process. And I just went to HEB earlier today. But I prefer the blood orange.

I had a blood orange soda with vodka Sunday. Very good!

[FoodMan]

mmmmmm, pomegranate soda with orange vodka sounds promising. Kinda Xmas-y too.

[Papa Roja]

Hi Bill,

Sorry I missed your post until now. I'll say hello to Allison next time I'm in the store on North Lamar. (I'm have a journalism background myself.)

I work for Central Market, and it's wonderful to hear so many positive comments about our "own brand" products. A tasting panel worked hard for over a year selecting the right ones. Personally, I love the pasta sauces, the whole-grain mustard and the frozen cookie dough as well.

My daughter Allison transfered from the Dallas store to the one on Lamar--I believe she is still in cheese. She is enrolled at UT in January-- CM has been good to her. She is in Journalism and her experience has her considering going into food writing. Regards, Bill

[Papa Roja]

Tell us about your pork butt!

Vodka! 

Please note the time stamp on this post. I am setting up the Weber bullet for some pork butt. Vodka is a required part of the process. And I just went to HEB earlier today. But I prefer the blood orange.

[fifi]

The menu story is here. I didn't take pictures but there is plenty of butt discussion otherwise in that topic. I got my blood orange soda at the big HEB at I-45 and 646. I hid the soda and vodka before the folks came. I am a terrible person. But, I needed that after they all left.

[FoodMan]

My CM on Weslayan keeps getting better and better...as if I need more resons to spend my hard earned cash there . They are now carrying Muscovy duck fat! They were out today, but will get some next week. No store in houston has that. At least in CM they do not look at me funny when I request duck fat or veal tongue.

They seem to also carry lots of other variety meats such as veal kidneys and sweet breads.

They also gave me an application for the Society of Intrepid foodies! Once again, I do NOT need more reasons to shop in this place! I'm off to fill my application now....

[Kent Wang]

And are you sure you're thinking of the right Pomegranate soda?  Seeing as it's a fairly new product and all.

Yes, I'm sure. It was advertised as a new product. You were right about the blood orange + vodka. Thanks for the tip!

I stopped in to Whole Foods today, and I have to say that I find their 365 brand tangerine Italian soda to be better than either the CM blood orange or pom. I know this is the CM thread, so sorry for going off-topic.

I like the CM organic milk, it tastes identical to Horizon while being a few cents cheaper. Plus, I've read some bad stuff on these forums about Horizon's practices in certain areas.

The HEB brand soy milk is also the best, regardless of price. Better than Silk, etc. It has more soy flavor, while the others try to mask it. It may be an acquired taste.

[Tremor]

LonghornGal, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that there is a Dr. Kracker -like cracker offered under the Central Market label.

Do you know if these are manufactured by Dr. Kracker for the CM brand, or is CM "making their own"?

[fifi]

I don't know who is manufacturing the crackers but, while in my big HEB last week they had a display of both together on a big table in the deli area. As I remember, the Dr. Kracker brand was in hard plastic containers and the CM brand was in bags. The crackers looked absolutely identical. They had some out for tasting but didn't say which the samples were. Very confusing from a marketing perspective. Maybe they were trying to make the point that they were the same. The crackers were pretty good, except for the sunflower seed. Those tasted a little over the hill.

[Tremor]

I don't know who is manufacturing the crackers but, while in my big HEB last week they had a display of both together on a big table in the deli area. As I remember, the Dr. Kracker brand was in hard plastic containers and the CM brand was in bags. The crackers looked absolutely identical. They had some out for tasting but didn't say which the samples were. Very confusing from a marketing perspective. Maybe they were trying to make the point that they were the same. The crackers were pretty good, except for the sunflower seed. Those tasted a little over the hill.

Thanks, fifi. I thought at first that they were probably the same, but I was also confused by the side-by-side display at the new HEB Plus here.

I've been buying the Dr. Kracker flatbreads for about a year (first found them at Wheatsville), but a couple of weeks ago I saw in the 1431 store that the CM brand had apparently replaced the DK, so I tried the Sesame Cheese ones. I didn't really like them.

Anyway, just curious...

[docsconz]

My local Price Chopper Supermarket in upstate New York has been carrying Central Market products for awhile now. I only recently decided to try some, however, based on this thread. The products they carry are limited. I bought some cheddar crackers and asiago crackers. The asiago crackers were good, although the cheddar were all spice and no cheddar flavor. While they weren't bad, I was looking for cheddar. I also bought a variety of stuffed olives. They were ok. I'll keep an eye out for the Italian sodas.

Price Chopper used to carry President's Choice products from Canada. Now that is a quality line!

[Kent Wang]

Docsconz, that's amazing! I had no idea CM products are now being carried all over the country. Where else have they been popping up?