Reading Terminal Market (Part 2)

[rlibkind]

Back in September I reported that Reading Terminal Market GM Paul Steinke would like to relocate the Fair Food Farmstand to the space since vacated by Rick's Steaks. It's looking more likely, as the market and the Farmstand are now working on the details of such a move. Steinke said Fair Food could pop up along 12th Street as soon as early 2009.

From the RTM's perspective, having a produce purveyor located behind a broad expanse of windows on the market's busiest pedestrian perimeter cements its image as a place to buy food for home preparation and consumption rather than as a mere food court.

For the Fair Food Farmstand, the move would further its educational mission by dramatically increasing its visibility while providing needed expansion space.

More details can be found here.

[rlibkind]

The Down Home Diner put cheese steaks back on the menu and is touting that fact with their blackboard.

Cheese steaks are also on the menu now at the Dutch Eating Place as well as Spataro's, which added them when they relocated to center court more than a year ago.

But that's not all.

The market recently gave permission to Carmen's and By George to augment their existing menus with cheese steaks, beginning in the New Year.

GM Steinke says any number of existing cheese steak sellers from outside the RTM have filed applications to become vendors. He said those application will be considered if a suitable space becomes available. Steinke's point of view is that the demand for cheese steaks is big enough to profitably support multiple vendors.

One suitable space could be the vacant stall opposite Tootsie's Salad Express, which formerly housed Everyday Gourmet and, before that, Andros. The space already has a heavy-duty exhaust system installed, which is necessary for any sort of grill operation.

In the adjacent space, temporarily being used by Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce, the paperwork is moving along for a new pork purveyor to replace Dutch Country Meats, which gave up the ghost earlier this year. A draft lease is now being reviewed by prospective butcher.

New Day Stalls

The Reading Terminal Market's day stall space on Saturdays is nearly at capacity, with the addition of two new vendors.

Lindendale Farm of Lancaster County, operated by Andrew Mellinger and his family, is selling various goat cheeses and goat cheese cake made from milk provided by their herd. Also new is the "Applesauce Lady" who claims to sell an applesauce that "tastes like apple pie". both are located near Fisher's Pretzels.

Edited December 6, 2008 by rlibkind (log)

[rlibkind]

Fair Food Move Advances

Much of the funding is in place for the Fair Food Farmstand's move to the 12th Street side of the Reading Terminal Market, according to RTM GM Paul Steinke.

In addition to the previously reported grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the SVF Foundation of Newport, R.I., is kicking in a substantial proportion of the needed funds. The SVF foundation is largely the creation of Campbell Soup heiress Dodo Hamilton. Its primary mission is to help protect the world's food supply by preserving rare and endangered breeds of livestock, and it sees Fair Food's mission as complementing its goals. The SVF Foundation has a history of supporting efforts of the White Dog Foundation (Fair Food's parent organization) furthering the marketing of heritage breed farm animals. SVF is based at Swiss Village Farm in Newport, where Hamilton maintains a home. Much of SVF's breed preservation work is done in conjunction with the Tufts University veterinary medicine school.

Steinke said about 75 percent of Fair Food's moving costs appear to be covered through these and other grants. Much of the remainder will probably come in the form of a low-interest loan from the Reading Terminal Market Corporation, the non-profit organization which runs the market. Similar loans have been made to other vendors at the market for improvements.

Christmas Fish

John Yi, the center court fishmonger at the Reading Terminal Market, has added a fine array of swimmable food for Feast of the Seven Fishes celebrations. Although baccala could not be found, there was plenty of fresh cod, octopus, squid (whole as well as cleaned and separated), as well as herrings ($3.99/pound for either large for smaller sardine-sized specimens), smelt ($4.99) and spearling ($3.99).

Giant oranges are traditional holiday fare, too. The Fair Food Farmstand was selling organic varieties from Florida for $1.50 apiece; the prices for similar conventionally-grown large oranges were only slightly less dear at Iovine Brothers where tangelos seemed the best deal in orange-type fruits, at six for $1. Juice oranges and small navels were twice that price.

Also at Iovine, Hass avocados from Mexico were down to 89-cents apiece; alas, if you want to make guacamole, the limes (and lemons) remain pricey at three for a buck. Iovines was selling organic Granny Smith applies for 99-cents a pound, the same as for many conventional varieties, including Grannies, Staymans, Red Delicious, etc.

Back at Fair Food, a split open sample of watermelon radish was drawing attention from passersby who had never seen them before. As always there was an interesting collection of winter squashes, varyingly priced about $1.50-$2.00 a pound, including Blue Hubbard and Turban.

Dwain Livengood was back at his family's Saturday stall helping out before he and his wife Audrey leave for a year in Honduras volunteering at a Christian home for children. They spent this past week in Florida at a training course, where Dwain learned the wonders of the Moringa tree, which can grow in subtropical climates with poor soils and can be used as food (its leaves offer complete protein), animal feed and fuel; its powdered seeds (in the form of defatted meal) can be placed into a container of turbid water and will remove 99 percent of the sediment and organic impurities. Alas, it can't withstand Lancaster County winters, so don't expect to see Moringa tree products at the Livengood farm stand.

[rlibkind]

Case Histories

Top photo shows the new cases at Golden Fish at the Reading Terminal Market. Makes their product much more attractive looking.

Bottom photo is the recalcitrant freezer at the Fair Food Farmstand (that's co-manager Sarah Cain at right). For the second time in about a year the freezer went kaput and had to be repaired. It happened on a Friday, so that day and Saturday all frozen items (primarily meats) went on sale at half-price, to the delight of shoppers. The few items that didn't sell were donated to food banks. When the Fair Food Farmstand moves to its new location within the market, probably in the spring, new cases will be obtained.

[Holly Moore]

For the second time in about a year the freezer went kaput and had to be repaired. It happened on a Friday,

Most essential restaurant equipment, including freezers, dishwashers and ice machines, only go down on Friday, usually in the evening. Ice machines also go down on New Years Eve.

[rlibkind]

When Charles Giunta opened his Giunta's Prime Shop at the Reading Terminal Market his goal was to offer strictly organic or hormone-free meats. Though his signage suggested he'd be carrying USDA prime grade meats, he did not.

Now, Charles' products happen to be of excellent quality; I think his wet-aged beef, particularly the steaks, are about the best value you can find in red meat protein.

But the signs are misleading, and only a portion of the beef he carries is hormone-free, let alone organic. You have to ask whether a particular cut is hormone-free before you buy it, and the staff is not uniformly informed. Although I prefer hormone-free meats, I don't have hard-and-fast rules about it – if the beef tastes good. But I don't think he signs should suggest otherwise.

As for the "Prime" moniker, while that is also deceiving, I don't have as much of a problem. When USDA changed its grading standards more than 20 years ago, the difference between Prime and Choice became a lot fuzzier, as far as I am concerned. There's plenty of Prime out there that isn't, and, likewise, it's not that difficult to find Choice that tastes like Prime. And I won't even get into how most of the prime rib roasts (more properly called standing rib roasts) sold in this country are not Prime grade beef.

Likewise, only some of Charles' poultry products are hormone-free organic. He initially carried a lot of Eberle product, but now he focuses on Bell & Evans, which is a natural bird, i.e., no additives, non-therapeutic antibiotics or growth hormones. The all-natural ducks from Joe Jurgielewicz & Son of Shartlesville, about half an hour north of Reading, are superb.

When I recently asked Charles about this issue, he observed that he simply couldn't have survived on just organic and natural meats because they are more expensive; his customers just didn't purchase them in high enough quantities to justify basing the business on them. While there are a few customers who will pay $18 or $23 for a steak, the vast majority of shoppers, including those at the Reading Terminal Market, look for the least expensive product that still offers reasonable quality.

A tip of the hat to blogger Gaetano of Philly Market Cafe for refocusing my attention on the signage discrepancy.

[rlibkind]

By the time Flower Show comes around in early March, the soft pretzel operation at the Reading Terminal Markets will have moved under new ownership.

Miller's Twists will be the name of the new business, and it will be located across the aisle from the existing pretzel stand operated by Paul Fisher, occupying some of the space that's now a seating area. Miller's will also add ice cream, another transplant from Fisher. Once Miller's opens, Fishers will expand its candy business from its current tiny alcove into the current pretzel/ice cream space; design work for that expansion is not yet completed.

The space formerly occupied by Dutch Country Meats will be shared by two related businesses. One will be a butcher primarily selling pork products, the other will be a lunch vendor selling cooked sausage and related products for both on and off-premises consumption.

Absolutely no movement on filling the space vacated by Everyday Gourmet (before that it was Andros), though RTM GM Paul Steinke would love to locate an ethnic grocer there, perhaps a Russian, Polish or Ukrainian food purveyor.

[KatieLoeb]

By the time Flower Show comes around in early March, the soft pretzel operation at the Reading Terminal Markets will have moved under new ownership.

Miller's Twists will be the name of the new business, and it will be located across the aisle from the existing pretzel stand operated by Paul Fisher, occupying some of the space that's now a seating area. Miller's will also add ice cream, another transplant from Fisher. Once Miller's opens, Fishers will expand its candy business from its current tiny alcove into the current pretzel/ice cream space; design work for that expansion is not yet completed.

No more Fishers pretzels??? Will Miller's know to brush the still warm pretzels with butter and coarse salt?? Will it be the same?? Fishers pretzels are the absolute Holy Grail of soft pretzels. I'll be completely devastated if I can't get a good soft pretzel at RTM anymore. Do we know anything about Miller's?? Do they have operations elsewhere? Do they know what they're doing?

This on top of the Eagles game is more than I can handle today. I'm off to go cry in my pillow...

[rlibkind]

It will be the same pretzel. iirc, Miller works for one of the other Amish merchants and is setting off on his own. My guess is it's just a change of location and ownership, and the ovens, recipe (and probably much of the personnel) will remain the same. Fear not, Katie.

[wkl]

The all-natural ducks from Joe Jurgielewicz & Son of Shartlesville, about half an hour north of Reading, are superb.

←

i was actually disappointed with the one jurgielewicz duck i bought. the one i bought had an insane amount of fat that rendered off. which isn't a bad thing as i used it all but, it was at least twice if not three times more than what i get from a dartagnan duck. more importantly, i found the flavor was not up to dartagnan quality.

have you cooked many of these jurgielewicz ducks and found consistent quality? i'd be willing to try again if your experience has been different than mine.

[zeffer81]

My mom bought a duck from Giunta's to cook on New Year's Eve. She made up from stock in advance and then braised it in its own stock and some wine. I didn't eat it, but reports are it was DE-licious.

[rlibkind]

The all-natural ducks from Joe Jurgielewicz & Son of Shartlesville, about half an hour north of Reading, are superb.

←

i was actually disappointed with the one jurgielewicz duck i bought. the one i bought had an insane amount of fat that rendered off. which isn't a bad thing as i used it all but, it was at least twice if not three times more than what i get from a dartagnan duck. more importantly, i found the flavor was not up to dartagnan quality.

have you cooked many of these jurgielewicz ducks and found consistent quality? i'd be willing to try again if your experience has been different than mine.

←

Was the D'Artangan duck a Pekin duck? Although they sell Pekins, most of the ducks they offer are either magret or muscovy, which have considerably less fat.

Also, I simply don't have a problem with lots a fat on a Pekin duck. That's the way it's supposed to be.

I last purchased one about a year ago, using everything except the breast meat (which I froze) for rillettes. I thawed the breasts five months later and pan roasted them; they were meaty, juicy and flavorful.

btw, the ducks sold in the Chinese markets I visited (admittedly, only a couple) are Joe Jurgielewicz. Also, keep in mind there are two Jurgielewicz duck producers -- same family, different operations, one in Pennsylvania, the other one of the last remaining Long Island operations.

[wkl]

interesting. i'm pretty sure the duck i bought was from long island. did he carry both at one time and now just selling the one from pennsylvania?

i usually buy whole pekin ducks from dartagnan and break them down myself. i render off most of the fat and use it over the next week or so. i was floored by the amount of fat i got from the guinta duck. i'd estimate i render about a cup and half maybe two cups from a dartagnan pekin but this jurgielewicz was at least three cups and maybe four.

[rlibkind]

interesting. i'm pretty sure the duck i bought was from long island. did he carry both at one time and now just selling the one from pennsylvania?

i usually buy whole pekin ducks from dartagnan and break them down myself. i render off most of the fat and use it over the next week or so.  i was floored by the amount of fat i got from the guinta duck. i'd estimate i render about a cup and half maybe two cups from a dartagnan pekin but this jurgielewicz was at least three cups and maybe four.

←

At least since the beginning of 2008 the only Pekin duck I've seen at Giunta's is the Joe Jurgielewicz bird.

To me, yielding that much fat is, as Martha says, a good thing. Especially considerably how much D'Artangnan charges for it! It keeps perfectly in the freezer and will make all your fried potatoes taste wonderful. If you really don't like that much fat, I'll be glad to take it off your hands!

[rlibkind]

A steaming bowl of chili or cauldron of soup seems essentially in cold weather. Fish chowder also satisfies that craving for me.

I went with a piece of haddock from John Yi's last Saturday. Since I'm the only one in the house who enjoys this New England classic, I only used about a quarter pound of filet. A lot of folks think New England chowders have be creamy and thick. They don't. IMHO, whole milk allows the flavor of the fish to come through best.

I start out by gently sautéing in bacon fat a small onion, a stalk of celery, and half a carrot, all diced to about one-quarter inch. Once they turn translucent I add a medium diced potato, and gently sauté for about 10 minutes. Next comes about a cup of stock (I used vegetable stock made primarily from last fall's red celery from Tom Culton of Headhouse Square, though either fish or chicken stock would work very well) and a cup of whole milk, which simmers the veggies for another 10 minutes. By this time the potatoes are just about done, so it's time to add the fish (cut up into spoon-sized pieces), salt and pepper to taste, and thyme, dried or fresh, maintaining the pot at a simmer. After five minutes add a tablespoon of butter -- don't stir, just let it melt atop the liquid. By the time the butter adds its yellow sheen, the fish is probably cooked through. Once in the bowl, I top the chowder with fresh chopped parsley. To accompany, I used the last of my precious stock of Crown Royal crackers, a Maine favorite which has been discontinued by Nabisco, but OTCs would work well, too. Saltines and oyster crackers just don't have the necessary heft for this soup.

If you don't like plain white fish, no reason why you can't use shrimp, lobster, scallops or clams.

That filet of haddock at John Yi's in the Reading Terminal Market set me back $7.99/pound, which was also the price of the flounder. Fluke was $9.99. It was also one of those weeks where wild striped bass cost less than its farmed-raised cousin (a striped bass-white bass cross), $4.99 vs. $6.99 for whole fish. Boston mackeral has made an early appearance (it's strongest runs start in the spring), with prices ranging from $1.49 to $2.59, depending upon size. Medium-sized porgies were $2.99, cod filet (which would be an other good choice for chowder) $9.99, black sea bass $5.99.

A Wan's Seafood, the haddock would have set me back $11.99/pound. Whole striped bass as $3.99 (though the quality didn't look quite as good as at Yi's), though the filets were appealing at $9.99. Wan's was the only RTM fishmonger still selling sardines, $3.99.

Golden Fish's new cases displayed wild striped bass at $4.99, whole black sea bass at $4.99, Bronzino (another sea bass, farm-raised in Europe) for $7.99 on the bone, and particularly good looking, fat mackeral at $2.99.

btw, I only used about half the haddock I purchased in the chowder. I wrapped the remains of the raw fish well and placed it in the coldest part of my fridge. Four days later it still looked and smelled very fresh. I cooked it via sauté meuniere, finishing the sauce with capers, anchovy and sliced olives. It reminded me of just how good a decent piece of easily cooked a simply sauced fish can taste.

[rlibkind]

More on Miller's Twists. The proprietory-to-be, Roger Miller, has worked at the Dutch Eating Place for the the past nine years, as the store manager.

[rlibkind]

I counted more than a dozen varieties of citrus fruit at Iovine Brothers Produce Saturday morning. Here they are, along with prices:

* Temple oranges 5/$1

* Jumanji oranges 2/$1.49

* Blood oranges 4/$1

* Tangelos 5/$1

* Tangelos (3-pound bag of about 11) $2.99

* Tangerines 10/$1

* Ruby grapefruit (medium) 3/$1

* Red grapefruit ( large) 2/$1.49

* Navel oranges (California) 2/$1.49

* White grapefruit (medium) $2/1

* Honeybells 2/$1

* Cara Cara red oranges 2/$1.49

* Navel oranges (Sunkist medium) 3/$1

* Juice oranges (Florida) 4/$1

* Red navel oranges (Florida) 4/$1

No guarantee the prices and varieties will be identical this weekend, but they'll probbly be close.

Among those varieties I've tried in the last couple of weeks, the red navels from Florida were interesting, but I don't think they hold universal appeal. The sweetness and juice levels were well below those of regular navels, and the taste was more akin to grapefruit. I've been unable in web searches to pin down this variety's ancestry, and wonder if it's a cross or derivative of grapefruit. Not a bad orange at all, and a nice change of pace. But not a knock-your-socks-off variety.

If organic and small grower citrus from Florida is one of your requirements, you might consider stopping by the Fair Food Farmstand and paying a premium. Navels and Cara Cara red oranges were selling for $1.50 apiece, Sunburst tangerines 95 cents each. A premier juice variety, Hamlin, priced at 60 cents apiece. Red grapefruit were $2.75.

[wkl]

interesting. i'm pretty sure the duck i bought was from long island. did he carry both at one time and now just selling the one from pennsylvania?

i usually buy whole pekin ducks from dartagnan and break them down myself. i render off most of the fat and use it over the next week or so.  i was floored by the amount of fat i got from the guinta duck. i'd estimate i render about a cup and half maybe two cups from a dartagnan pekin but this jurgielewicz was at least three cups and maybe four.

←

At least since the beginning of 2008 the only Pekin duck I've seen at Giunta's is the Joe Jurgielewicz bird.

To me, yielding that much fat is, as Martha says, a good thing. Especially considerably how much D'Artangnan charges for it! It keeps perfectly in the freezer and will make all your fried potatoes taste wonderful. If you really don't like that much fat, I'll be glad to take it off your hands!

←

i got no problem with lotsa duck fat. what i'm wondering is if there is any difference between the jurgielewicz birds from long island vs pennsylvania?

i had one from long island and was underwhelmed with the flavor.

in terms of price the dartagnan birds i've bought at rtm (either giunta or martines or ochs) were around 2.99/lb, maybe a touch more. are the jurgielewicz that much cheaper?

[rlibkind]

i got no problem with lotsa duck fat. what i'm wondering is if there is any difference between the jurgielewicz birds from long island vs pennsylvania?

i had one from long island and was underwhelmed with the flavor.

in terms of price the dartagnan birds i've bought at rtm (either giunta or martines or ochs) were around 2.99/lb, maybe a touch more. are the jurgielewicz that much cheaper?

←

I don't recall seeing D'Artagnan birds at the RTM, then again, I never looked for them in particular. I'm not sure that Ochs or Martin's handles duck; Godshall's, however, does, at least the Muscovy variety, which is, for all practical purposes, a different animal. I'll peel my eyes for them tomorrow.

I'll also check the price on the JJ birds, though they I don't think weren't less expensive than $2.99/pound. In fact, a year ago I paid about $3.50/pound.

As far as species goes, the Long Island and Berks County birds are both Pekin ducks. And they are raised in similar fashion, though obviously differences in feeds, conditions, etc., could make a difference. I haven't done a taste test. Virtually all ducks available commercially in this country are "natural". Hormone use in poultry is prohibited by federal regulation, and none of the major producers allow antibiotics in feed.

As info, on its website D'Artagnan offers whole Pekin ducks at $26.99 for a bird of five to five-and-a-half pounds; that's about $5/pound. Website sales are where they charge the most, but I find it hard to believe a retail butcher or supermarket could charge only half that price. Their "Long Island" ducks come from Indiana, which probably means either Culver or Maple Leaf Farm.

[wkl]

i buy whole dartagnan pekin at jannssens grocery in wilmington, which is the most expensive grocery in america, for $3.49-$3.99/ lb.

i've seen plenty of d'artagnan products at rtm. i don't get there anywhere near as often as you do because of where i live, but i swear i have seen dartagnan duck, pheasant, squab at one of the meat purveyors near guinta.

guinta used to sell eberly chicken and someone else in rtm still does. isn't eberly a dartagnan product?

i've bought them for $1.99/lb before, which i always thought a great deal.

eta: i've bought duck at godshalls before and whatever they sell is nowhere near the quality of dartagnan or jurgielewicz.

Edited January 23, 2009 by wkl (log)

[mrbigjas]

i've seen plenty of d'artagnan products at rtm. i don't get there anywhere near as often as you do because of where i live, but i swear i have seen dartagnan duck, pheasant, squab at one of the meat purveyors near guinta.

godshall's carries d'artagnan, for that stuff.

[rlibkind]

After a check of all the Reading Terminal Market butchers yesterday, only two handle Pekin (Long Island) ducks.

The first, as discussed upthread, is Giunta's Prime Shop. The price is $3.89/pound.

The other is the Fair Food Farmstand, selling pasture-raised ducks at $8.75/pound from Friendly Farm (I don't know anything about Friendly Farm), supplied via Lancaster Farm Fresh in Quarryville, an organic coop of Amish and Mennonite farmers.

Godshall's has whole muscovy ducks, $4.99, magret (moulard) parts -- plain and seasoned -- from D'Artagnan at $14.99, and confit, but never handles Pekin duck. You can find some game birds from Eberly. L. Halteman sells whole muscovy ducks as well as parts. Neither Harry Ochs nor Martin's regularly handle ducks.

Eberly, btw, is not owned by D'Artagnan, but is a major supplier of poultry to that distributor. D'Artagnan is primarily a distributor of other producers' output. Eberly also supplies certain varieties of bird to Bell & Evans.

[pennbrew]

Can anyone tell me if there is bulk fresh ginger root for sale in the market? If so, how much per pound?

Thanks!

---Guy

[rlibkind]

Can anyone tell me if there is bulk fresh ginger root for sale in the market?  If so, how much per pound?

Thanks!

---Guy

←

Whole hands of ginger are certainly available: both Iovine Bros. Produce and O.K. Lee Produce sell them. I don't recall the price, however.

If youre planning on purchasing a lot and price is an issue, you'd probably save a few shekels by walking two or three blocks to Chinatown. Better still, if you're buying in case lots, head to the regional produce terminal in South Philly.

[pennbrew]

Thanks Bob!