Keeping tabs on: Fairway

[markk]

Also for the past few weeks I've been buying this goat Gouda stuff, which I'm really enjoying.

←

Me too! I fell in love with the goat Gouda a few visits ago, and have been buying it ever since.

[twodogs]

and now out at the Plainview Fairway, Prime, yes real Prime rib eye on sale for $8.99 #

Will have to investigate.

[pups224]

A glorious morning at Fairway. On account of the snow, sleet and slush, the store was blissfully empty. It was like getting locked in the store alone overnight or something.

I noticed today that Fairway now has a second Fra'Mani salume product. In addition to the salametto, which has been around for a while, they now have the chorizo. I didn't buy it -- I needed (needed!) the salametto and didn't want to spring for two pricey Fra'Mani products -- but it's there on the top rack of the dry sausage shelf facing the deli counter.

Also for the past few weeks I've been buying this goat Gouda stuff, which I'm really enjoying.

←

Too much cumin in the chorizio.

Got some prime hanger steaks.

[Fat Guy]

I should also mention a couple of products I've been buying that I've mentioned on other topics but maybe not here:

1 - Reggianato cheese from Argentina. A very respectable fake Parmigiano priced at just $4.99 a pound. Not as good when eaten straight, but virtually indistinguishable (to me) when grated and melted (mentioned on the Low-effort, low-mess pizza @ home topic).

2 - Lazzaroni Amaretti di Saronno cookies in 1 lb. tins are only $17.99 at Fairway. That's the best price I've seen. Any data points from elsewhere in town? (Mentioned on the Lazzaroni Amaretti di Saronno topic.)

[juuceman]

Probably the best oil they had out for tasting was the Puglia oil under the Fairway label, but I have to confess that I avoid the single-origin series of Fairway oils because those particular liter bottles are just a little too tall for the tallest shelf in my cabinet. Isn't that awful of me?

This is our 'go to' olive oil.

[Fat Guy]

I noticed today that Fairway now has a second Fra'Mani salume product. In addition to the salametto, which has been around for a while, they now have the chorizo.

←

Too much cumin in the chorizio.

←

Wow, you are right about that. I bought some today. The Fra'Mani chorizo is a terribly unbalanced product. It's just not good. A waste of eight bucks. I'm really disappointed that Fra'Mani would allow something like this to go to market, and that Fairway would sell it.

Once in a blue moon schedules require that I shop at Fairway on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. Sunday morning is much more pleasurable.

[dougw]

Yeah, I didn't care for the chorizo, but the mortadella is quite good, albeit a bit mild. I like it with a little more peppercorns.

The Harlem Fairway is my favorite store to shop at. I find the staff far friendlier than the UWS location. Besides, I'd rather hang out at Citarella or Zabar's if I'm on the UWS.

As for the olive oils, I enjoy the Umbria and the Pugliese.

[Fat Guy]

I like Zabar's a lot but the lack of more than token produce means it's not a complete store. The thing about Fairway is that it has most of the quality of the best gourmet stores but a sufficient breadth of product selection to make it usable as a real supermarket where you do your full weekly shopping. Citarella is good for some specific items (fish, needless to say) but if you try to do your full weekly at Citarella you'll spend a lot more than at Fairway and you won't do as well overall. I certainly like to visit Zabar's and Citarella for limited incursions (ditto for Eli's, Vinegar Factory, Citarella and several other East Side places that are relatively convenient to me), such as if I need fish and happen to be near Citarella that day or if I'm having a party and want appetizing from Zabar's, but Fairway is where I do the weekly shopping. Back in the day, I might have made a stop at Zabar's and a stop at Citarella before going to Fairway, then taken everything home at once. But now that I shop with a two-year-old it's just not happening. The one-stop aspect of Fairway becomes decisive.

When the Harlem Fairway opened, it was in many ways superior to the Broadway Fairway. That state of affairs didn't hold, though. When Fairway expanded into the new space and the upstairs, I believe it became as good or better overall. There are, however, specific things that are cool about the Harlem store (e.g., the cold room is pretty amazing, and they have a lot of interesting Latin produce).

[dougw]

I just love my fishmongers and butchers at the Harlem Fairway. Plus, I'm affectionate towards that place. In the summer of 99 when we had an awful heatwave, I couldn't afford an AC in my Bronx apartment. Me and my roommate went there and hung out in the cold room all day. This guy at the fish stand would give us slices of raw tuna and he'd buy us cold seltzers. Good times...

[Fat Guy]

I understand the sentiment. It's how I felt for a long time. But I really think that if you take the Broadway-store expansion into account and you shop at off hours as I do, the present-day reality is that there's a lot less of a reason to go to Harlem.

I think I mentioned above that one of the more irritating aspects of Fairway is the inconsistency of its inventory. At normal supermarkets you very rarely show up and find something missing. It happens, but it's a surprise. At Fairway, when you make your shopping list, you're pretty much forced to have a backup for every product you list. Some products are particularly unreliable in their appearances, so it's best to buy multiples when they're present.

For example, in the back corner freezer case, they stock two brands of frozen cheese ravioli: the excellent ones from Fiorella Pasta Co. in the Bronx, and the totally inferior ones from Yoni's. They always have the Yoni's, but they only have the Fiorella about a quarter of the time (in other words, I go four times a month and see it once). Another place the inventory is inconsistent is on the chips/pretzels/crisps rack. You never know when they're going to have the brand and shape of pretzel you set out to get. Upstairs, the Solana Gold apple sauce is always there but the all-Gravenstein variety with the darker green banner on the label only makes occasional appearances -- and it's much better than the regular.

Drives me nuts.

[wannabechef]

I'm a semi-regular at the Brooklyn Fairway. Aside from the two times I bought spoiled kosher chicken there I've been pretty happy with it. My wife and I have been doing FreshDirect lately and I'm curious how much it would come out to if I entered all the items from my last Fairway trip ($175) in FreshDirect.

Anyway, I saw this in the meat case the last two times I was there. A few questions as I've never bought this cut before:

1) This is a tenderloin, right? Is that the same as a filet mignon?

2) Is this a good price?

3) Has anyone bought this from Fairway before? How was it?

4) Any recomendations for how to cook these bad boys? I guess roasting it somehow is best? How many people one of these serve?

Also, I noticed something interesting in the fish case. They had fresh sardines which I've never seen here before. I usually eat them when I visit Turkey where they're grilled and fresh, and absolutely spectacular. Has anyone tried these from Fairway? I wonder how they would compare to the ones I get in Turkey. (In Turkey we usually buy them right off the fisherman's boat so it may be hard to compare the freshness! I wonder though if the species is the same...)

[rooftop1000]

If I see that beef anywhere for 5.99 I buy it, usually BJs (like Costco).

It is a little messy to play with but you trim off the fatty edge (chain) I save that for adding to pasta sauce or to eat when home alone.

You then carefully remove the silver skin and chunky fat.

There is a very thin end, that usually gets lopped off to go with the trimmings then I move into big fat filet steaks but you could get a nice sized roast out of it also. I usually get 6-8 big steaks and a bag of "stuff" out of one.

Tracey

[docsconz]

I'm a semi-regular at the Brooklyn Fairway. Aside from the two times I bought spoiled kosher chicken there I've been pretty happy with it. My wife and I have been doing FreshDirect lately and I'm curious how much it would come out to if I entered all the items from my last Fairway trip ($175) in FreshDirect.

Anyway, I saw this in the meat case the last two times I was there. A few questions as I've never bought this cut before:

1) This is a tenderloin, right? Is that the same as a filet mignon?

2) Is this a good price?

3) Has anyone bought this from Fairway before? How was it?

4) Any recomendations for how to cook these bad boys? I guess roasting it somehow is best? How many people one of these serve?

Also, I noticed something interesting in the fish case. They had fresh sardines which I've never seen here before. I usually eat them when I visit Turkey where they're grilled and fresh, and absolutely spectacular. Has anyone tried these from Fairway? I wonder how they would compare to the ones I get in Turkey. (In Turkey we usually buy them right off the fisherman's boat so it may be hard to compare the freshness! I wonder though if the species is the same...)

←

Technically they shouldn't be advertising that beef as filet mignon. Filet mignon is a cut taken from the tenderloin, which that is and is generally more expensive. There is currently an active topic on cooking beef tenderloin, but we have had good results pan searing it and finishing it in an oven. I agree with rooftop that the price is excellent.

The sardines are probably very good, but they will not compare to what you get off the boats in Turkey. I suspect the species is the same.

[wannabechef]

Thanks - I checked out the tenderloin thread just now. The thing I don't understand is the price. I saw filet mignon on fresh direct for almost $20/lb. This can't be the same cut for 5.99 a lb right? I think if money is not an option, and I had to choose between this and a rib roast, the rib roast would be much more flavorful, right?

[johnder]

Thanks - I checked out the tenderloin thread just now. The thing I don't understand is the price. I saw filet mignon on fresh direct for almost $20/lb. This can't be the same cut for 5.99 a lb right? I think if money is not an option, and I had to choose between this and a rib roast, the rib roast would be much more flavorful, right?

←

The is pretty much the same as you will get from freshdirect. The big difference is it is not dressed or tied. In order to have a proper dressed filet you need to trim all the gristle/silver skin off, remove the tail and preferably wrap the loin in leaf fat and tie it.

It is the same piece of meat, just takes a little work to get to the final product.

I buy this all the time, I have seen the price range from 5.99 a pound to 12.99 a pound. I usually pick up one when they are this cheap, trim it all up and cryovac it into portions.

I just used piece of one last night in a stir fry.

[slkinsey]

Whole untrimmed tenderloin will have a certain amount of waste, whereas beef sold as "fillet mignon" will already be trimmed. That contributes to the higher price for fillet mignon. there is also the issue of the grade of the beef. I might expect to pay $20 for prime fillet mignon, and $5.99 a pound doesn't seem out of line for untrimmed choice tenderloin.

[Fat Guy]

Vande rose farms Iowa Duroc Heritage bacon. Applewood smoked in the meat section, next to the Niman Ranch at 73rd Street.

←

Great call, pups. On Sunday I finally bought a pack of this stuff -- 12 ounces (aka single-serving size for the bacon lover) for $5.99 -- and was really impressed. So many of these artisanal bacons disappoint. I was a member of the Bacon of the Month Club for a couple of years and most of the time what they sent out wasn't as good as, say, Schaller & Weber. But this Vande Rose Farms stuff is wonderful. A nice restrained balance of smoke, salt and sweet ham flavors. And I like that the slices are nice and thick. The way I counted it each slice was about 3/4 of an ounce.

In other Fairway news, on Sunday I was reminded of why I rarely utilize the deli counter. It's a real shame, because they have some excellent stuff back there, but the management and labor at the deli counter are just abysmal. On this latest adventure, I decided to try all the Fra'Mani products on offer. They proudly claim, on two little signs, that they have six varieties: five salamis and one mortadella. The first two products I asked for triggered lengthy searches by clueless employees and, finally, the claim that they don't carry them. The other problem is that nobody at the deli counter comprehends the Fra'Mani casing. That white bloom is the best part of the salume from Fra'Mani, but if you don't intervene quickly they'll cut it right off before slicing. In general the Fra'Mani salume in large deli sizes are problematic, though: first, they have all this string around them that's a challenge to get off without mangling the products (which tend to be pretty soft-textured); and second, because the casing with the white bloom is exposed to the outside world (Fra'Mani products don't come wrapped in plastic), it gets repeatedly manhandled during slicing. So it's kind of gross if you keep it on, but if you take it off you lose the best component of the Fra'Mani flavor. In the end I'm going to stick with the individual Fra'Mani salami because I can better control the situation.

[slkinsey]

I think what I love most about the appetizing/deli counter at Fairway is when it's three deep of people waiting for a chance to order their cold cuts and you get to listen to the 300 year old woman in line in front of you engage in a lengthy monologue about whether she wants the grilled salmon or the poached salmon (why people wait until it's their turn to make up their minds about what they want is beyond my ken) and then argue with the counterman about how he isn't packing her cole slaw dry enough. Oh, and it's really awesome if people with grocery carts bump into you every 5 minutes while you're waiting through this.

[slkinsey]

This is why it's good to go to Fairway during a rainstorm. These pictures were taken during what would ordinarily be peak hours (pardon the crappy cell phone pictures).

The entrance

Appetizing counter

Express checkout lane

What's missing? About 600 people that should be in those pictures.

Edited March 10, 2008 by slkinsey (log)

[Fat Guy]

That's even emptier than Fairway at 8am on a Sunday.

This week I was out of town on Sunday so I did my shopping today around 1:30pm. Now that was crowded.

Not much new to report, except that there seem not to be any Pomi tomatoes at Fairway any more. There were warning signs last weekend: they only had the pureed and not the chopped. This week they had nothing, not a single box of Pomi tomatoes in either of the locations where they usually are (with the canned tomatoes, and in an end-cap display on the pasta aisle). Then again they could be in a new location in the store and it could take me until 2009 to figure our where that is.

[pups224]

Go to the salami store on Arthur Avenue. They have Fra'Mani and their own fabulous salamis. They also know how to slice!

Vande rose farms Iowa Duroc Heritage bacon. Applewood smoked in the meat section, next to the Niman Ranch at 73rd Street.

←

Great call, pups. On Sunday I finally bought a pack of this stuff -- 12 ounces (aka single-serving size for the bacon lover) for $5.99 -- and was really impressed. So many of these artisanal bacons disappoint. I was a member of the Bacon of the Month Club for a couple of years and most of the time what they sent out wasn't as good as, say, Schaller & Weber. But this Vande Rose Farms stuff is wonderful. A nice restrained balance of smoke, salt and sweet ham flavors. And I like that the slices are nice and thick. The way I counted it each slice was about 3/4 of an ounce.

In other Fairway news, on Sunday I was reminded of why I rarely utilize the deli counter. It's a real shame, because they have some excellent stuff back there, but the management and labor at the deli counter are just abysmal. On this latest adventure, I decided to try all the Fra'Mani products on offer. They proudly claim, on two little signs, that they have six varieties: five salamis and one mortadella. The first two products I asked for triggered lengthy searches by clueless employees and, finally, the claim that they don't carry them. The other problem is that nobody at the deli counter comprehends the Fra'Mani casing. That white bloom is the best part of the salume from Fra'Mani, but if you don't intervene quickly they'll cut it right off before slicing. In general the Fra'Mani salume in large deli sizes are problematic, though: first, they have all this string around them that's a challenge to get off without mangling the products (which tend to be pretty soft-textured); and second, because the casing with the white bloom is exposed to the outside world (Fra'Mani products don't come wrapped in plastic), it gets repeatedly manhandled during slicing. So it's kind of gross if you keep it on, but if you take it off you lose the best component of the Fra'Mani flavor. In the end I'm going to stick with the individual Fra'Mani salami because I can better control the situation.

←

[dagordon]

I should say that I love Fairway. I think the Roque anchovies, with the yellow tops, are pretty much the Platonic form of anchovy. I make it a point to stock up on the prunes d'agen and the French raisins, both of which are outstanding, whenever I'm there.

But lately I have been on somewhat of a mission to correct misconceptions about iberico pork products, one that has sometimes landed me in hot water. Yes, it's possible that I have too much free time; but I really love these products; I think that they are some of the finest edible substances on the planet. I think people should understand exactly what they are.

It surprises me that my latest mission brought me to Fairway, on the UWS (though I suspect the other Fairways are suffering from the same problem). I was told by a friend that they are selling and advertising (with big, bold signage) "jamon iberico bellota."

Well, this isn't available in the US right now, and won't be until around July.

I suspected that they were selling paleta, which is shoulder, not jamon. Predictably, the people behind the meat counter were pretty unhelpful. I asked to see the packaging that the product they were claiming was jamon bellota came in, they told me that they didn't have the packaging. I then spoke with a store manager, Ed, who was actually very polite and helpful. He brought up the product in its packaging and we confirmed that it was, in fact, paleta.

I've occasionally emailed Steve Jenkins in the past, so I shot what I thought was a very polite email about the issue, just giving him the head's up. I don't feel comfortable relaying the details of personal correspondence here, but suffice it to say their position is that ham is ham, whether it's from the front or hind quarters.

Well, I called La Tienda, who was instrumental in bringing the iberico products to the US. They said that you absolutely cannot call paleta "jamon." I then called Despana, who I think pretty unarguably knows their stuff. They said that you absolutely cannot call paleta "jamon". I then called Fermin USA. They make the freaking product in question. They said that anyone who is calling paleta "jamon" is misrepresenting their product.

Listen, people make honest mistakes; no problem. What matters is how they are handled. It seems like Fairway will continue to misrepresent their product, even after being informed that they are doing so.

Maybe this wouldn't bug me so much if the product weren't $100/pound. Seems to me that when it's that expensive you should really be completely accurate about what it is.

Please understand that this isn't an issue of terminology. The paleta is obviously a completely different cut from the jamon, plus the jamon is aged considerably longer.

Part of me suspects that no one at Fairway really knew of the difference between paleta and jamon, and now they're too embarrassed to admit this.

[SusanGiff]

You know, I specifically went on eGullet just now because I was in Fairway yesterday, saw the Iberico, and wondered if anyone had tried it (I almost sprang for it but held back). So thanks.

[dagordon]

Like those people who used to speak at assemblies in grade school used to say: if I can help just one person, then my work will have been worth it. Susan, I'm glad that my post reached you.

[Fat Guy]

In honor of its 75th anniversary, Fairway is selling its house-brand olive oil for $5.75 per liter. (It's normally $8.99.)