Wegmans Tandoori Oven

[Curlz]

Made the trip to Woodbridge today...VERY easy to get to off of the NJ Tpk, and with the winds blowing the way they are, I got there even faster!

I must say that I timed my arrival perfectly, though it's not that easy to get out of the office the way I did today; arrived at 1;30, at the tail end of the lunch frenzy in the prepared food section, so I started in produce, then moved on to cheese, and just wandered up and down the aisles for 1 1/2 hours! By the time I got over to the prepared foods section, the crowds were only 1-deep, so I really got to check things out. Seafood, meats, bakery, cheese, produce are all first-rate. It really is a beautiful store, and without exception, I could have bought something in every department. The cheese guys are particularly cute , and very helpful, which I appreciated. Bought a little bit of everything (a Wegman's tasting menu!)...some gorgonzola, some drunken goat cheese (YUM), the apple cider golden raisin bread, and more stuff that I had no business buying! I also sampled and purchased some pumpkin creme fraiche, a small treat that I'll take to my Cooking Light group for this weekend's gathering.

Across the store, employees and managers were visible, accessible, and very friendly---a rarity, as many of us know. I don't believe that anyone has mentioned it in this thread, but the timing of this opening was interesting to me, as I had just read an article about how Marks & Spencer has taken Kings off the market. The M&S rep acknowledged that their customer service + selection has waned a bit in recent years; maybe a little healthy competition will get them back to their basics. I'd still love to see a Wegman's in my area, but if one comes to Wayne, that's closer to Bergen Cty than Woodbridge!

Definitely worth a trip, but I'd certainly recommend doing it on a weekday for a while if you really want to take it in properly and not deal with the HUGE crowds!

[Steve Klc]

"I spent 30 minutes in the tea aisle alone. The other posters were right though... the coffee selection is pretty low end, now that I took the time to look it over. Illy is always great to have, but at the same time there should be more highend offering in the regular wholebean coffee side than Starbucks and the house brand."

My feelings exactly, but then I was that other poster! The Illy was the pre-ground stuff, not even whole bean, as well. I also haven't tried enough of the "house" brand selections to have an opinion yet as far as their quality--to see how they compare to Whole Foods Allegro in turnover and taste--but you've nailed the seemingly glaring tea vs. coffee disparity--a wealth of nicely packaged teas plus that bulk tea bar with tea in big jars reminiscent of the early bulk spice jars from Whole Foods Markets. The thing is--just in case Woodbridge Wegmans is reading along--there is no scale to weigh out the bulk tea right at that counter--AND--it seems the checkout clerks are also unable (or insufficiently trained) to weigh out your bulk tea purchase according to item number or price per pound. So I expect that too to change. Also, it is harder to do coffee well than it is to do tea well, inherently.

[laurenmilan]

My feelings exactly, but then I was that other poster! The Illy was the pre-ground stuff, not even whole bean, as well. I also haven't tried enough of the "house" brand selections to have an opinion yet as far as their quality--to see how they compare to Whole Foods Allegro in turnover and taste--but you've nailed the seemingly glaring tea vs. coffee disparity--a wealth of nicely packaged teas plus that bulk tea bar with tea in big jars reminiscent of the early bulk spice jars from Whole Foods Markets. The thing is--just in case Woodbridge Wegmans is reading along--there is no scale to weigh out the bulk tea right at that counter--AND--it seems the checkout clerks are also unable (or insufficiently trained) to weigh out your bulk tea purchase according to item number or price per pound. So I expect that too to change. Also, it is harder to do coffee well than it is to do tea well, inherently.

My first reaction when I heard a Wegmans was opening in Woodbridge was - does this area really have such expensive tastes as Princeton? I've never known it to in the past (but then again our local stores have had pretty poor selection.)

Take me for example, I consider having access to Scharffen-Berger chocolate (without it being so old that it has bloom on it) or Valhrona bars, a luxury. My knowledge of better brands is very scanty. Access to Illy espresso is similarly limited, and my knowledge of high-end coffees is pretty low. And I don't know many people in this area who demand even that.

Is there really a clientele in our area that is going to demand high-end product the way Princetonians do?

[Steve Klc]

Interesting point--that area is utter crapola foodwise. When I compared the Bridgewater store to Princeton it seemed lacking and I wondered if the (perhaps unappreciative) clientele was the factor; however, in my experience, the high end is a flexible, relative barrier--it's different for everyone--as soon as someone's awareness gets raised a little bit--be it in wine, chocolate, coffee, cheese, butter, fruit, whatever--there's a tendency for that consumer to keep delving, to keep going down that road of exploration and possibly even developing an appreciation. Plus, let's say a consumer is very price-conscious--well, for some things such a consumer might splurge--like buying toilet paper or dry pasta in bulk at Costco but the "best" in some other categories elsewhere--like those darn good Herme-consulted desserts at Wegmans or chocolate or espresso or line-caught fish, etc. And why Wegmans seems to excel is that it realizes each consumer is going to have their own "splurge" categories, their own passions or weaknesses where they will spend.

I already mentioned the price of butter--$1.29 at Wegmans, $3.99 at Whole Foods. Part of Wegmans job is to make sure its customers know that 2 containers of pristine fresh raspberries from California for $5 is a GREAT deal (at the moment those same Driscoll raspberries are $4.99 for one container at Whole Foods VA) and that $3.99 for a quart of heavy cream is a GREAT deal (at the moment Whole Foods VA offers heavy cream for between $6.50 and $7 per quart) That Sharffen berger we were talking about? $7.99-$8.49 at Whole Foods.

But you are right--if Bakers chocolate squares are the only chocolate someone has ever had even that Sharffen Berger unsweetened chocolate might be a tough sell. However, that's where I think Wegmans efforts at customer service might eventually win people over--inspiring trust and loyalty over time.

Illy is over-priced w/r/t quality even at Wegmans--I'd like to see Wegmans bring in a good, freshly roasted espresso bean blend at a fair price--the way Whole Foods in Philly stocks La Colombe for instance--or in DC stocks Quartermaine--it's a pattern Whole Foods mimics around the country, in addition to Allegro (their house brand) they offer some local roaster's beans as well. If there isn't some quality local microroaster we can't fault Wegmans, but I suspect there's someone doing good work in central Jersey who will contact them.

I'm not sure I buy the "expensive tastes" argument--the bigger question is do they have "taste," period, will Wegmans foster in consumers an ability to appreciate quality and an ability to make up their own minds, as consumers, with respect to price. (I'm not sure of the answer to this question.) Clearly Woodbridge and environs are not as sophisticated culinary-speaking and not as well-served as "Princeton" but Woodbridge is centrally located and easily-accessible: for every Avenel there is a Colonia (I grew up in Avenel and was bussed to school in Colonia) and a lot of commuters drive through that 1/9/Turnpike/Parkway nexus going to and fro. So Avenel might not shop there but I'm not sure I'd bet on it once they actually go there and start tasting things. (I'm a firm believer that if you get something good in their mouths, people can tell the difference, they can tell something is good.) I'd expect prepared foods and those take-out stations to do very, very well in Woodbridge precisely because that whole area is vastly underserved with quality restaurants as well--for many Wegmans will become the best restaurant nearby price to quality.

Perhaps mitigating all of this is that I believe Wegmans sees this store more as a regional hub, a regional destination, rather than your typical local supermarket. You know, the supermarket equivalent of "It's not TV, it's HBO." It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[laurenmilan]

Before Wegmans arrived, I did the bulk of my shopping at the Asian markets, and the bulk of my dining at Asian restaurants. The more Eurocentric options in this area were pretty depressed compared to my upbringing in Northeast Jersey (ie, very Italian-american).

And now I can go to Wegmans... and buy naan. no seriously, the European-style foods in Wegmans really are a treat, esp. when Corrado's is 40 miles away! (Man, I just wanna run off with the cheese-counter guy )

Edited November 14, 2003 by laurenmilan (log)

[Randi]

We made it to Wegman's late this afternoon, sitting in all the mall traffic (I will be smart and go a different way next time). It was our first time in a Wegman's and I must say it left us starry-eyed. We loved it! We spent 2 hours and didn't see all of it, but I was running out of steam.

Some of the goodies I got included vegetable terrine, a country pate with pistacios, peach cider (too sweet), some gouda (they cleverly gave us a taste and of course I had to buy it. Yum!), amazing bagels including sunflower seed coated, multi-grain with flax seeds, asiago cheese bagels etc. The french toast egg bagel looked great! Also picked up a rosemary olive oil loaf, and tasted the cider golden raisin bread that everyone else here seemed to buy (but we wanted savory to go with our treats).

Got a sampling of olives, some marinated garlic cloves and fava beans from the olive bar, some excellent cold cuts (delicious roast turkey for only 5.99 a lb) and ham and lebanon bologna (bought both the sweet and regular smoky), tons of produce, gigantic shrimp and much much more.

The prepared foods looked amazing and we loved everything they gave us to taste. It wasn't till we got home that we realized we'd gotten nothing sweet for dessert. Oh well! Next time!

Wegman's really is a Disneyland for foodees!

(I know this is old news to all of you...but I was a Wegman's virgin!)

[Steve Klc]

Well, I went back to the Woodbridge Wegmans about one week after the grand opening--7:30PM on Saturday. Gone were the durian, jackfruit, Buddha's hands, the white truffles just sitting out in a bed of rice; old and brown were the banana leaves which just one week prior had been green, moist and tropical; nary a much-touted-in-the-media tandoor oven item was in sight--nothing on the buffet table and nothing for sale behind the glass wall to the open kitchen, where the tandoor skewers sat vertical, empty and alone. All the microgreens, shoots, baby mache, tat soi, etc. had been picked over and not replenished in what seemed to me like hours. So it was no naan for me that night, Lauren! I settled for some pretty tasteless shrimp salad, a fantastic crusty baguette, a nice Spanish cheese and some lobster salad sushi.

Then I went over to the "new" Shoprite, which as has been mentioned here, used to suck. It doesn't suck anymore--in fact, it is clearly going to compete with Wegmans and help keep them honest, keep them trying, and keep them price competitive in case anyone had any doubts. Those same Driscoll raspberries (in similarly nice shape) were 2 for $5--just like at Wegmans. While prepared foods still lacked the panache, depth and interest of Wegmans, Shoprite did impress me with a very strong produce section (its previous GLARING weakness) a very strong deli emphasis--equal if not superior to Wegmans in depth and price actually, a much better array of hot dogs and frankfurters, for instance. It's clear someone from Shoprite scouted out the Herme/Wegmans line because it had its own knock-off version of Herme's cakes and tarts, much less clean and much more sloppy, though. Poor bread except for the very good line of La Brea breads--in stock were the sourdough and French baguettes, and maybe 3 other loaf varieties, including a nice pan rustica. Again, just with La Brea a big improvement over what it used to carry.