i moved back to la from ny a year ago and have come to the conclusion: the la food supply sucks*. the * being maybe for fish and definitely for produce, which is about as good as it gets anywhere. i see no reason to go to over-priced, usually subpar grocery stores (e.g., bristol, whole foods, gelsons) for produce when every day of the week you can find plenty of farmer's markets around the city (santa monica wed/sat and hwood sun being 2 of the best). as for fish, i live too far from santa monica to make it a regular stop. fish king in glendale, however, is top notch. as for meat, let's just say a real butcher does not exist in la. someone please prove me wrong. i'd love nothing more than to find one, but so far nothing. the place in the old farmer's market is weak at best. and as for specialty items, well i've given up just about. foie gras is difficult to find, but there is a french wholesaler in the valley (made in france) that sells flash frozen from france. they even sell pre-sliced in packs of 2 slices if the full lobe is too much. quality olive oil is another problem area for me. even when i find good stuff, which is very rare, it's usually been sitting on the shelf for too long (i.e., 2001 harvest at best being sold now at extremely high prices). surfas is decent for supplies (but prices nowhere near what broadway panhandler used to do for me) and the food is just fair, but overpriced in my opinion. just my 2 cents. i'd be glad for people to tell me i'm nuts and suggest places to go, specifically for meat, olive oil, poultry.
