The Wegmans in Brooklyn–Not Good!

Lewis made me go there today. I bought 1 hungarian wax pepper for $4.49/lb and so it was $0.52. I also rang up Lewis's marinated meat because I had a coupon on my app and his app wasn't working yet.

Butter was $2.99 which is a good price.

Overall, I didn't like it! On Twitter, I said it was like a Giant Eagle if Giant Eagle only had 1 brand of canned tomatoes. I really did like the app and using Apple Pay. I really can't understand what people like about it. It is significantly worse than the Giant Eagle in North Huntingdon, PA. And I don't even like that Giant Eagle. It's just that Giant Eagle does a way better job of executing that kind of approach than Wegmans does.

Here is my 2-star Yelp Review:

This isn't a very good grocery store. First, the things I liked: their app is good! I had coupons, it shows up on my phone easily, it integrates with Ibotta. I also liked that Apple Pay was so easy to use there. I never use that because nowhere I shop takes it, but I did like it. And the cashier was very nice. Nicer to C-Town? No, but nice.

Bad things: The parking lot was hostile to bikes and pedestrians. The hot bar of prepared foods was expensive (it tasted ok). The store seems to have been laid out by someone at Ikea, but without the method to the madness. It just didn't have things you would think a big grocery store would-there were no anchovies in jars. There were no brands of canned tomatoes except the store brand. It has Wagyu beef for $200/lb, but for a shopping experience, it is worse than the Key Food near me, the C-Town, the Ozzie's Fresh Market, every Trader Joe's, every Whole Foods, the Giant Eagle in my parent's town, the Bravo near me, and especially worse than Food Bazaar, which is an amazing shopping experience that has everything.

I do not think this store will be open very long. There cannot be enough deluded people from Rochester to sustain it when everywhere else is better.

Oysters seemed reasonably priced. Cheese wasn't. Overall, if you care about prices, and you know I do, this was a bad store. This is a store for people who don't know the value of anything.

Oh, back to positive things. The maple walnut ice cream for $2.50 tasted good. And the frozen pizzas for $4 looked good, but I didn't try them. The beer selection was good.. better than Stop n Shop at Rockaway. But not any better than C-Town. 

Oysters! Mussels!

Food Bazaar has a sale on oysters and clams and mussels. The oysters and clams are $4 for a dozen. They're usually $5 this time of year, and that's still cheap. You can get 2 lbs of mussels for $2.49. If you're lucky enough to know someone who got an oyster shucker for Christmas, you should buy a dozen and drop by his house. And realistically, if you're reading this, you know someone who got an oyster shucker for Christmas.

Oysters for Thanksgiving

GQ taught me to eat oysters and drink champagne before Thanksgiving dinner. And so when I head off to Krys and Quentin's later today, I am going to chuck oysters with a butter knife and open the André and do just that.

Food Bazaar has had pretty good oysters every time I've had them. The price went down since I last looked too! Maybe they're in season. They're only $5 for a dozen. I bought 2. I got 3 lemons too. I like oysters with lemon juice and a dab of hot sauce.

In Pittsburgh, 2 dozen oysters cost $28. I guess there are some advantages to living on the coast.

Seafood Deals at Food Bazaar

I've been reading a book about oysters and New York City that Dylan left here, so I went to Food Bazaar to peep their seafood. They have the best prices in this part of town and they don't say your selection is gross and wipe off their hands and cash register before finishing your transaction like Key Food does.

Oysters and clams are $4 for a dozen. They were $3 in February, but this isn't bad.
Mussels are $3 for a bag, which holds 2 lbs. That's a great deal.
Live crabs are $2.49/lb. I think that's a good deal, but I've never had a crab. If someone wants to buy a crab and prepare it for me and tell me how to eat it, I will tell you where to get them for a pretty good price.
Medium raw shrimp are $4.99/lb, which is also a pretty good deal.
I think the octopus was $3.99/lb, but I don't know how much octopus should be. The only time I tried cooking it I made a very very chewy food.

Lobster is $5.99/lb, which is a very low price as far as I can tell for lobster. Like crab, I've never had one. Everything I know about cooking lobsters and crabs I learned from the Little Mermaid.