Gourmet Markets In Denver

[psnup]

I will be moving to Denver in the next few weeks and am interested to find some sellers of high-end specialty goods. Does anyone have a compiled list of restaurant vendors who dabble in the foie gras, 100 year balsamics, and prosciuttos of the world?

[psnup]

OK, maybe these items are not available? How about purveyors with a decent selection of olive oils and vinegars? There must be someone who does specialty foods?

[Rehovot]

Like any major U.S. city, Denver has many places where you can find specialty foodstuffs. You could kick a stone and hit about 5 Whole Foods in the metro area.

If you're looking for smaller, independent stores, people are bound to have their neighborhood favorites, but here are some of mine...

Federal Ave. is packed with Mexican places and tiendas...

The Highland Gardens area (West 32nd Ave.) has great places like this -- St. Patrick's Cheese Shop is brilliant.....

The highest-end vinegars and oils are probably hidden somewhere in Cherry Creek / Lodo, but I'm not sure...

Oh...you mean wholesale, rather than retail? Maybe call 5280 or Westwordfor tips... Or the Post / Rocky Mtn. News.

Hope some of this helps...

Edited April 4, 2006 by Rehovot (log)

[Maybelline Centurian Waffles]

I don't know about wholesale, but you might want to try Marczyk's Fine Foods http://www.marczykfinefoods.com/ at 770 E. 17th Ave or Cook's Fresh Market http://www.cooksfreshmarket.com/ or maybe one of the Tony's Markets http://www.tonysmarket.com/. Parisi's is a restaurant with a small deli section. You might want to try them, too http://www.parisidenver.com/. If none of these places have what you're looking for, they'll most likely be able to tell you where to go to get it. Good luck with your move.

Edited April 6, 2006 by Maybelline Centurian Waffles (log)

[psnup]

I do mean wholesale, but thanks for the tips. As far as retail goes, I have heard that "The Truffle" www.denvertruffle.com is a good source for cheeses and vinegars, etc. I am sure that I could find many high-end items on the retail side of things and hopefully they will be open to providing their suppliers. I have worked in some great restaurants over the past few years and am interested in talking to some wholesale purveyors to see how I might transition to a different aspect of food service.

Edited April 8, 2006 by psnup (log)

[jrgoldsm]

I am in sales with Altamira Foods. We supply a good portion of the fine dining restaurants, clubs and hotels in Colorado with their speciality food needs. Please let me know what you are looking for. Contact jrgoldsm2@msn.com.

Regards,

Jack

[purplewiz]

(I've tried searching for a similar topic, but no luck. If there are, please merge as appropriate!)

I'm looking for a gourmet market in south metro Denver - we recently moved to Highlands Ranch/Littleton, and while I do know about Marczyk's and Cook's Fresh Market, they are a bit farther than I'd hoped. The Yellow Pages were useless. Google's not helping, either.

(I'm looking for canned roasted chestnuts and amaretti cookies specifically, in addition to finding a good place to browse for interesting ingredients!)

I'm hoping there's something in the Littleton/Centennial/Englewood/Highlands Ranch/Greenwood Village area.

Thanks for any pointers!

Marcia.

[BekkiM]

Tony's Meats on Dry Creek carries a bunch of "gourmet" stuff in addition to fine butchery products--you might try there (go during the day if you can--it'll be a zoo this weekend).

And, while not exactly on topic, I heard yesterday that there's a new, and very nice, wine/liquor store at Bellevue and I25. Haven't checked it out myself yet, but a fellow wine-drinker at work has raved about. He says (and I quote) that it's called "Incredible Wine and Spirits give or take the 'and Spirits part'"

[purplewiz]

Thanks for the recommend - I'd received a couple of other recommendations for Tony's so I ended up there this afternoon, and found exactly what I was looking for. (And a bunch of other stuff, but like that surprises anyone here?) Even during the day on a Wednesday the place was hopping.

If you check out the new wine please, please let us know - I'm still sampling wine stores to find a favorite that carries a good variety and the stuff I like to keep on hand.

Marcia.

[BekkiM]

I went to Incredible Wine and Spirits (find it here) last night and it was okay--it's no Applejack, but it stacks up well (in my not-incredibly-broad-experience) against Argonaut. On the plus side, it's a heck of a lot closer than Applejack AND they take credit cards. On the other hand, Applejack is a quick detour when we're coming home from the mountains on a Saturday (darned blue laws--WHY can't I buy wine on Sundays?!?!?) and the selection is amazing.

I did pick up some decent deals on some wine for Thursday (2 bottles of Wishing Tree Shiraz, a Shoo Fly Shiraz, and a couple of bottles of Shoo Fly white), along with a bottle of Calvados for under $100.

[BekkiM]

I have just discovered my new, favorite, shopping obsession... HMart, at Parker and Havana, kind of behind the McDonalds which is behind Colorado Ski & Golf.

It's amazing! It's an Asian grocery store, so it's got all sorts of produce you can't find anywhere else (at least, not that I know of) in the Denver area, including several varieties of baby eggplants, fresh kafir lime leaves, huge bundles of lemongrass (for $1.29!!!!), tons of greens I can't identify... It's fricking awesome! And the fish counter is beautiful... And they sell all sorts of cuts of meats that I haven't been able to find even at Tony's or Fred's, such as fresh pork belly, pigs feet, stuff I can't even identify. Have I mentioned that it's awesome?

Highly, highly recommend a trip there. The place is always packed with shoppers, which is a very good sign, since it seems to me that it means the turnover of fresh produce and fish is high and therefore stuff's better quality that your local Albertson's or Safeway (even the "good" one on 14th and Krameria).

Just thought I'd share!

[gfron1]

Any chance we can pics? It sounds great. Are the customers mostly Asian or mixed?

[Rehovot]

Does the Savory Spice Shopcount as a market? Maybe everyone already knows about them, though. I've spent more time in the Littleton shop than in the Lodo one, but the way you can wander around happily, unscrewing giant jars of spices and spice blends, and hearing about where they came from, is great. I got the Pike's Peak Butcher's Rub, Table Mountain Blend, and the Lavender-Vanilla sugar blend for Christmas.

As far as real markets go, we usually end up at Heine's for fresh veg, in the summer. A run by there and Edwards Meats, in Wheat Ridge, and you're set, if you want to grill. Edwards is tiny, but they have a great selection and always do custom cuts.

(I'm not affiliated with any of these places--am just a long-time West-Side girl.)

I second the photos request for HMart!

[BekkiM]

Any chance we can pics?  It sounds great.  Are the customers mostly Asian or mixed?

←

I'll take some the next time I'm there.

Customers are mostly Asian, but not entirely so. And all of the signs are in both English and a language I can't identify (Asian, obviously, but I'm terrible at these things--doesn't bode well for my upcoming trip to Thailand and Cambodia)--at any rate, everything's labelled so that it's identifiable and I'm sure the other patrons would be happy to answer questions.

[rlm]

H Mart is Korean. They even have a Wikipedia entry:

H Mart

[purplewiz]

Thanks for the pointer to HMart, BekkiM - since my plans for today were cancelled, I took the opportunity to head out there and check it out, since I ran out of dried fungus last week.

I wanted to weep with joy. Thai birdseye chiles. Chinese Eggplant. Choi Sum. Chinese Broccoli (what is the official name of that? This is how they labeled it.). Keffir lime leaves. Fish cake. Shiro-whatever noodles (the yam noodles). This instant Miso soup I always call "cup o' miso" that I haven't been able to find for about 3 years.

Not to mention all the samples they were giving out .

I had to restrain myself because it was so crowded there was a wait for wheeled shopping carts, so I had to make do with a basket. I have one heck of a soup planned for dinner tomorrow.

Oh, yeah. I'll be back.

Marcia.

[qrn]

Thanks for the pointer to HMart, BekkiM - since my plans for today were cancelled, I took the opportunity to head out there and check it out, since I ran out of dried fungus last week.

I wanted to weep with joy. Thai birdseye chiles. Chinese Eggplant. Choi Sum. Chinese Broccoli (what is the official name of that? This is how they labeled it.). Keffir lime leaves. Fish cake. Shiro-whatever noodles (the yam noodles). This instant Miso soup I always call "cup o' miso" that I haven't been able to find for about 3 years.

Not to mention all the samples they were giving out  .

I had to restrain myself because it was so crowded there was a wait for wheeled shopping carts, so I had to make do with a basket. I have one heck of a soup planned for dinner tomorrow.

Oh, yeah. I'll be back.

Marcia.

←

Yes Thanks for the tip!!

I was there on Thursday mid day and wandered around like Gomer Pyle , going Gollleee, ....The fish display was mind boggling for us, out here on the high desert...I have never seen a whole 3 foot long carp as big around as my leg in a market...among the rest of the stuff...Bought a chunk of pork belly and have it curing as we speak...Also whole head on shrimp, Never seen 'em here..Wasn't sure what some of the produce was...

Tnks agn!!

Bud

[CoyoteChef]

Hi

Check out Italco Foods for wholesale all things Italian. There is a Wholesale Outlet for game and foie gras in Loveland. My computer crashed and I lost the website, but you should be able to find it with google Game meat Colorado. There are a lot of International markets on Leetsdale and Parker with a good variety from Eastern Europe to Middle Eastern. H Mart has awesome produce and fresh fish including abalone(live) and skatewing. Right across the street is Arash, an Iranian market with a co-op of growers for spectacular locovore produce. Also good selection of lamb and goat. Sakura Square at 19th and Lawrence in Denver for all things Japanese, Find out when the fish is delivered for best results. Asian at Alameda Square west of I 25 on Alameda and the Far East Market at Alameda and Federal. Avanza Market on Federal South of Mississippi chiles both fresh and dried, nopales, prickly pears, salsa ingredients(fresh).

Hope that helps.

Good luck

Bill

[CoyoteChef]

The game and fois gras purveyor is Game Sales International.

Bill