nice things that food purveyors do for you

[Chad]

The only purveyor I deal with (YB Meats in Wichita) is absolutely amazing. I've lived here almost six years and had never gone in thinking they they only sold wholesale. In desparate need of a skirt steak one afternoon, I called. No one else in town had even heard of one, much less had one. They said, "how many pounds?"

When I went to the store I was in meat heaven. Rather than the expected fat guy in a bloody apron, chewed stogie hanging from his lip, I found big, well lit display cases of gorgeous meat, their "weird" case full of rabbit, emu, buffalo, sweatbreads, tongue and just about anything else you can imagine, and a friendly, knowledgeable staff. Very cool.

When they found out I was a first time customer one of the employees came out from behind the back and gave me a tour of the store. When I checked out they presented me with a small peach pie in honor of my first visit.

Now I shop there every week. They are always attentive and ready to do something extra. When I wanted to stuff pork chops their head butcher looked at the butterflied chops in the case, said "those won't do," and went into the back. After about ten minutes he came back with four hand-cut, three inch pork chops with pockets already cut into them for stuffing.

Last time I was in I asked if they ever gave meat cutting and meat fabrication classes. They said no -- then one of the employees called the owner to see if they could do it. They're still considering, but I suspect I'll be sharpening my scimitar in the near future.

Chad

[maggiethecat]

Think it may even be illegal (or highly frowned upon) for a bar in Ontario to pour a customer a free drink.

Oh, Canada!

But the barkeep at Cafe Mercurio, on my last trip to Toronto, slipped me his ashtray. Talk about a welcome lagniappe.

[tryska]

"......The local IGA always very thoughtfully tucks all the extra skin and fat from chicken parts under the chicken so I don't have to get upset until I've unwrapped it at home. Does that count?"

So, what is bad/good about that?

The 'water laden' weighing in at 4 oz., sponge type cushion, often smelly addition, I just do not like to pay for.

hey you can use it to make schmaltz!

[helenjp]

Yep, including the freebies, the neighborhood store may indeed work out cheaper than the supermarket. Ever since they razed the local shopping area and the approach to the temple to build a mall, we're rather short of owner-operated stores.

I remember the fish shop where the owner used to get excited if there was a crowd, and end up giving everybody about twice as much fish as they'd actually ordered and paid for. He was passionate about his fish, and just couldn't bear to let his customers leave without KNOWING what other good stuff he had in stock. Pretty good business tactic though, because we always went to him for fish when catering for guests.

...and the vege shop where the owner's mother would beckon me aside and press cartons of quiveringly ripe tomatoes on me, saying "This would be wasted on anybody who can't cook, I'd just love you to have it"...

The bread shop that would give my sons bags of crusts for me to bake up as snacks in the oven.

The pickle shop that always lets my sons taste this and that to choose what to buy Dad to go with his Friday night beer...he's become such a familiar person that one son just had to stop by his shop on the way home from his guitar recital to play his favorite piece for the pickle shop man!

But, I notice that in Japan, butchers almost never give freebies, apart from the occasional candy!