Delallo's

Key Food in Brooklyn, NY carries olives from Delallo's in Jeannette, Pa.

Some good deals at Key Food

Key Food keeps selling me jars of pasta sauce for $1 each. Ragu the other day and now Francesco Rinaldi. I also got some pasta for $0.80. I was at someone's house the other day and whoever lived there (I forget) said she got a box of pasta for only $1.25. Nothin' doin'!

The anchovies wouldn't ring up, so the cashier made up an amount. She picked $1. They are worth at least $3.79.

On Friday I spilled red wine on my sheets and had a stain a foot around. On Sunday I bought Oxiclean at Key Food and soaked my sheets and it came out. Wow.

Giant Eagle Really Sucks

I used to be a fan of Giant Eagle, but no more. I've witnessed outrage after outrage in its aisles. Boxes of pasta are all $1. Pecorino romano is $8.99/lb if you're lucky! In New York City, where groceries are reasonably priced, I buy my pasta for $0.50 or $0.67 and my pecorino romano is $4.99/lb.

I paid $4.99 for a little jar of anchovies. I found them later at an Italian specialty shop for $2.99. They also had my pecorino romano for $4.99 LIKE GOD INTENDED IT TO BE PRICED!

I don't know who Giant Eagle thinks its impressing--the ignorant I suppose.

Resealable Bags at C-Town

C-Town puts its lunch meat in resealable bags now!

They were out of muenster, so I got mozzarella instead. I wonder how I'll like that with my turkey breast.

The Price of Eggs

I went to a Pathmark in the Atlantic Center in South Brooklyn. It was huge like a suburban grocery store. Eggs cost $2.50+ for a dozen of large ones. Not large as in I thought they were big, but large as in not extra large or jumbo.

A C-Town, I got a dozen jumbo eggs for $1.50.

Second Trader Joe's in NY

In Rego Park! Well, not quite. But I call it all Rego Park.

With all the fireworks, New Yorkers assumed that a second Trader Joe’s wasn’t far behind, probably in a hip and well-heeled neighborhood like the Upper West Side or SoHo.
They were half right. A second Trader Joe’s is headed for New York, but the where will surprise many. This time, the company is setting up shop in Queens, in a long-dormant factory on the southwestern edge of Forest Hills.

There's more here.

In Praise of Key Food

This afternoon, frequent commenter Italian Grandma called me. She was planning to go to Whole Foods in Manhattan, but then she realized she didn't have to. I told her I needed to go to Key Food to get instant coffee, and she offered to come with me.

She was in awe. She didn't know grocery stores like this existed in Williamsburg. Her praise, coupled with my hunger, resulted in my deciding to buy food to make baked ziti with veal sauce. Giant containers of ricotta cheese were on sale for cheap, so I got one. Now I have leftover ricotta.

After Key Food, we went to the Jesus vegetable store, where Italian Grandma was taken aback by the cheap vegetables.

Then we went our separate ways. But I see Key Food through new eyes now.

Trader Joe's Now Takes Amex

The big news at Trader Joe's is that now take American Express. When I signed up for a new credit card specifically to use at Trader Joe's, I got a $50 credit. Now I'm done using that credit card. Ha.

C-Town has chicken thigh/legs for $0.49/lb. I have 3 in the oven right now. I'm not sure what I'm doing with them, but so far they have butter, sea salt, and pepper on their skins. There's a half onion in each corner of the pan with the same things, plus a little balsamic vinegar. The oven's at 450 right now, but in a second I'm going to turn it down to about 325 and cover the chicken with aluminum foil.

Is eating at home cheaper?

Metafilter thinks so.

Cheap Tomatoes

I miss them. I have to figure out what's cheap now instead.

Garlic

I bought a tall jar of chopped up garlic the other day. I'm a bit leery. I was going to cook with it on Thursday but Debussy wanted to peel garlic and she went to the store and wanted me to update that she did so.

I was out of table salt, so I bought $4 of sea salt at Trader Joe's. It's too expensive for me to use, so I have to go buy the 50 cent Morton salt tomorrow.

I got 5 boxes of pasta for $2 at C-Town on Sunday. Now I don't have to starve. For a couple of weeks there was no acceptably inexpensive pasta, so I refused to buy it because it wasn't a good deal. I lost weight those weeks.

I learned a recipe for corn and black bean salsa.

Corn and Black Bean Salsa

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1 can corn
1 can black beans
whatever else you want, like maybe some cayenne pepper or rooster sauce. some cut up onion is good, especially if red. salt. lime juice. garlic. cilantro. vinegar. anything that seems like it fits.

New Condiment

Sriracha is hot sauce with a rooster on the bottle. It's on the tables at 5 Dumplings for $1 (not the real name of the place, but an effective nickname). I got it at a Chinese grocery store across the street from it. A small bottle was $2.49 and a big one was $2.95, so I got the big one. I think I'll attempt a bloody mary with it.