Category Archives: Markets

Whole Acme smoked whitefish at Costco for the holiday

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Just a quick note about my having seen and purchased whole smoked whitefish at the Richmond, California, Costco the other day.  My guess is that they are carrying this for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.   Recall that this Costco carried Acme Smoked Fish Corporation’s whole smoked whitefish and smoked whitefish salad for a couple of years, and then both products disappeared all of a sudden a few months ago, to my disappointment.  I wrote them a couple of cards about this, begging them to bring back the whitefish salad, at least, and to provide samples to shoppers because most people around here have no idea what this is and how good it tastes.

I was happy to see the whole whitefish, since I can make whitefish salad from it, but I am asking the people who monitor blogs on behalf of Costco (come on – you know you do this – there are numerous indicators) to ask the Richmond branch to bring back both products for the months of December and January.  Please.  I beg you.  Have a heart for this ex-New Yorker.

Now we can ring in 5770 in style!

Lunch at Berkeley Bowl West

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Matthew at Berkeley Bowl West cafe

Berkeley Bowl West (920 Heinz, Berkeley) is a good place to have lunch, but we like to buy stuff in the market and bring it into the cafe, rather than buy cafe food.  The eating space is much nicer here than at the Shattuck location, because it’s in another building and you don’t have the hustle and bustle of shoppers all around you as you eat – though it does get crowded at lunch.

So far we have not been thrilled with the cafe food, but they may just need some time to work out kinks.  My Mom had a Cuban sandwich there a couple weeks ago that was so skimpy and cold (they never pressed or grilled the thing) I though she was going to have a conniption.  I dragged her back there when Matt and I went so she could see the kinds of things we select.

Here are the things we like:

1)  The store-made sushi, in particular the spicy tuna roll.
2)  The egg salad at the deli, which Matthew loves.  We get a container and then select a couple of rolls from the bread department to go with it.
3)  The turkey meatloaf from the deli counter.  The texture is gluey, but I like this stuff.  I swear there is the flavor of liver in there.  Despite the fact that many people in the food business never order meatloaf from anywhere (you never know what evils lurk in a product that is ground and formed), I get it here.
4)  The Chinese food at the hot food counter.  You can’t go wrong, for the most part.  The potstickers are pretty good.
5)  The pecan roll.  At a buck fifty, I can’t believe they even make money on this thing given the volume of pecans on top.  They can be had at the pastry counter and are usually in the cafe, too.
6)  A little piece of cheese from the cheese counter.  (This is another place the rolls come in into play…)

Take your goodies across the little divide to the cafe, grab some utensils and napkins and set up shop.  You may purchase a beverage, but we usually just have water.

Oh, before I forget:  the house-made potato chips at the cafe are to die for.  Even my Mom had to admit this.

Best Foods mayo substitute

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Jars of Best Foods and Raley’s mayo

Since Safeway stopped producing its Safeway Select* brand of real mayonnaise – which was almost a dead ringer for Best Foods/Hellmann’s – I have been looking for another alternate brand that is equally as good.  I finally found one:  Raley’s Real Mayonnaise.  It’s  a bit thicker than Best Foods, but is the real deal, and I think I will be buying this on a regular basis now, given that the (full) price is about $2.50.  It’s also an actual quart (32 ounces).  Since I want to punish Best Foods for downsizing their quart size to 30 ounces, I’ll be doing that in addition to saving money.

*Note that, in my opinion, the store brand of mayo that Safeway now sells is not very good.  It has those off-notes that other store brands have – sort of like wallpaper paste – and does not have a fresh, clean flavor.

Good pupusas at Costco

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Casa Sanchez papusas

When I was in Costco last week I noticed a new product in the prepared food section:  Casa Sanchez pupusas.  A pupusa is a thick, closed tortilla made of masa that’s stuffed with various things, like beans, meat and/or cheese.  There are 10 griddle-ready cheese papusas shrink-wrapped in the package available at Costco.

According to most sources, Pupusas originated in El Savador, but are popular across Latin America, with numerous variants.  If you want to claim that pupusas originated in another country, I won’t be suckered into a fight.  The memory of something I wrote about the history of the chile pepper and its resulting warfare is still fresh in my memory.

I like some of the Casa Sanchez salsas, so I thought I’d give these a try, particularly because decent non-homemade pupusas are not easy to come by.

They’re good, but don’t microwave them.  Wipe a cast iron pan or griddle with a little canola oil and dry-fry the pupusas on each side until the cheese melts and they have some texture.  I also made them successfully on my baking stone in a hot convection oven.  Don’t overcook or the cheese will bake out.

I like the fact that they are plain, and work well as a quick side to something like chili or a salad; we even had them for breakfast one day. Casa Sanchez is generous with the mild, white melting cheese (Cotilla), and the masa is slightly salty.

If you don’t have access to homemade cheese pupusas, these will suit your needs at a cost of $9.99.

Costco’s pasta salad with salmon

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Costco started selling a bow-tie pasta and salmon salad recently, and I gave it a try a couple of weeks ago.  I applaud them for finding a way to utilize what I assume to be unsold farmed salmon, but the recipe leaves much to be desired.

I can’t prove it, but it tastes (and looks) as if chunks of cooked salmon are combined with bow-tie pasta and containers of one of the bruschetta spreads or tapenades they sell.  The flavor is very harsh, in my opinion, due to the lack of any creamy element.  They either have to cut that heavy, olive-laden “dressing” with something gentle, or start from scratch.  Perhaps a modified Caesar might work.  If they don’t want creamy then they need to use some kind of vinaigrette.  Something.  Anything.

I also taste preservatives in there, but it’s hard to figure out what is going on because it hits you like gangbusters.  My taste memory brings me to the subtle rancidity of some canned antipasto I tried once as a child.