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Pan

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    Great hard-to-find condiments

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    By the way, would you all suggest that we start with only spicy products such as hot sauces, or with both spicy products and savory ones that are unspicy or only very slightly spicy? This is one of the planning questions under consideration, and your input as people who purchase these kinds of products could help us.

    Great hard-to-find condiments

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Hi, everyone! I'm just back from a trip to San Francisco, where I attended the Fancy Food Show at the partially under-construction Moscone Center - my first Fancy Food Show. It was a very interesting experience. It's easy to get sidetracked: I tried some outstanding 13-year Wisconsin cheddar, the best asiago cheese I've ever had (also, amazingly, from Wisconsin) and some delicious chocolate and toffee, but none of those are things the site will carry. My brother, who's assisting with this project, and I concentrated on the purveyors of spicy and other savory condiments and sauces. For example, there is a man named Jake who makes barbecue and hot sauces, and we liked every one of them - here is his website. He was friendly and gave us the last two ribs he had cooked, so that we could have lunch. In fact, most of the purveyors we spoke with were nice, which is not surprising if you think of them as people who are passionate about food and delight in bringing people pleasure. Some other highlights were a Bavarian company named Essendorfer - I thought all their flavored pestos were delicious, so I'd like to carry some of them but have to make a decision about the scope of what we're selling, at least at first. Another category of great condiments we tried were mustards. For example, there's a guy from Wisconsin who makes an outstanding Fig Balsamic Mustard. He also makes a great lemon curd, in case we decide to carry sweet sauces sooner or later.

     

    The scope of the items we will carry is one of the things that has to be decided on before launch. We're currently planning on concentrating on spicy and savory sauces, though we might also include some dry spices or spice mixtures that are really outstanding. A propos, there was a vendor who had voatsiperifery for sale. We sniffed it and were very impressed. However, the wholesale price is very high, which is a consideration.

     

    Also while I was in San Francisco, I tried a bunch of Japanese condiments my brother bought during trips to Japan. We can't even read many of the labels, but quite a lot of the sauces were very good to excellent, well-balanced ones. My sister-in-law is Japanese, so either she may translate the labels or we can get someone else to do that. Then there's the task of contacting the companies and finding out what the wholesale prices and minimum wholesale orders of the products are.

     

    You might think that at a food conference, everyone stuffs themselves, but that's not the case when you're walking through every aisle looking for the best condiments and sauces you can find. It actually requires a lot of stamina to do business at the show when you're scouting out whatever you can find in one or two categories, and someone who's as focused as we were doesn't eat more than small amounts of samples of extraneous products. On the afternoon of the last day, though, a lot of vendors give away large quantities of products, because they can't take them back with them. So my bag almost broke that day, but mostly because of samples of hot sauces.

     

    In the coming weeks, we will be trying more samples of sauces and condiments and getting more pricing and minimum order information. If you have any other ideas of particularly great spicy and savory condiments the site should carry, of course we're all ears, and thank you for all your advice.

     

    • Like 7

    Great hard-to-find condiments

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Great, liuzhou!

     

    A question about Sriracha: The kind we usually have in the U.S. is manufactured by Hoy Fong in Rosemead, California. Have you compared the Sriracha sauce from Sriracha with the Hoy Fong Sriracha sauce?

     

    Also, what brand makes the Thai Ginger Sauce? Is the brand name really "As Delicate As Thai Performing Arts"? If so, my web searching skills may need work to get a useful result.

    Great hard-to-find condiments

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Anna, all of you are helping me make preparations to start this business, and I will certainly continue to post while I continue to do research and get this off the ground.

     

    andiesenji, thanks a lot for the link. Australian $145/kg isn't cheap, but how long would it take you to use up that amount? I see they're currently out of stock in that, but they do have the extract: https://cherikoff.net/shop/product/wattleseed-extract-1kg/. Would you use that, or do you prefer the powder?

     

    haresfur, I don't think I would want to sell a product that might be dangerous for children. But in terms of wattle seed, would you trust the safety of the product Vic Cherikoff is selling? https://cherikoff.net/shop/product/wattleseed-1kg/

    Great hard-to-find condiments

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    On 11/7/2017 at 5:23 AM, Anna N said:

    I was just given some passion berries from Ethiopia and some Timur pepper from Kathmandu.  Fabulous. 

    Anna, could you describe these a little? I don't think I've had passion berries before. Do you find this description accurate?

     

    Quote

    A native of the central desert regions and another of Australia's many and varied wild tomatoes, Passion Berries are a real sweet surprise.[...]The amazingly sweet and aromatic fruit are generally 1-1.5cm in diameter and hang in great numbers right at soil level under the plant. The fruit are ripe when creamy yellow, and taste somewhere between banana, caramel and vanilla.

     

    Are the ones you have dried? What do you use them for?

     

    Also, how is Timur pepper different from other varieties?

    Great hard-to-find condiments

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    On 10/27/2017 at 6:04 PM, andiesenji said:

    I have ordered some things from Australia that were not readily available here.  Wattleseed is one. I have purchased it a couple of times and experimented with several recipes.

     

    andiesenji, which company have you ordered wattleseed from? Can you compare the taste to anything else you've tried?

     

    I hope I can find a jam like the one you described.

    • Like 1

    Restaurant history of the Upper West Side

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    On 3/22/2017 at 10:24 PM, West side guy said:

    i miss those days - when nyc wasn't so expensive and the west side didn't feel like the east side...

    You're right. The neighborhood was rough, dangerous and gritty, but it was integrated ethnically and in terms of income, and families and non-rich single people could afford to live there.

    Restaurant history of the Upper West Side

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    To nyctc7: Nedick's was on the northwest corner of 97th and Broadway, and I remember from my early childhood that they had artificially red grape drink and artificially orange orange drink. They were definitely not "long gone" in 1973, and I think they hung on until the mid-to-late 70s, then the place was empty for a couple of years, and then (I think after several businesses that lasted only a few months at a time) there was a Korean-owned bar/lunch counter that had a separate little room with video games. I went there often in the late 70s to play Dig Dug. I lived a block away, on 97th and West End.

    Need restaurant for my wedding!

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    First, congratulations, and may you have a long and happy marriage! I saw your post on Food Talk Central. You want to spend no more than $65.00-70.00 per person. That can be pretty difficult with large groups in New York, especially if that figure includes alcohol. Also, if the ceremony will be at the restaurant, are you looking for a private room or looking to rent out the entire restaurant?

     

    My general feeling is, if your guests are OK with going far south in Brooklyn (e.g., Sheepshead Bay), you'll have a better chance at getting something old-school that's not expensive. I'm not so knowledgeable about this, but I had a very good lunch a few years ago at Vesuvio in Bensonhurst. They're not so cheap but my lunch was certainly less than $65 including a glass of wine and tip but excluding dessert. I'm not sure how much seating they have, but I thought the place had charm. I hope you get some good recommendations.

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