Italian food
Baking focaccia has only increased my desire for Italian food. I went to the Strip District in search of some good fresh mozzarella, and all I can say is, why have I never gone to the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company before? It's huge, has a deli counter and a cheese counter, bins full of spices and nuts, a huge pantry section, and even some produce. (I did not, however, find semolina flour, but I forgot to specifically look for it.) I got fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, smoked turkey, and some green provençal olives. And what's for lunch today? A roasted red pepper, artichoke, and green olive sandwich on focaccia.
Seriously though, the store is amazing, in its old-school glory. If you're looking for nuts in bulk, they have far more varieties than Whole Foods or the East End Food Co-op. (Why didn't I get cashews?) They even have little trial sizes of spices for $0.99, in case you're not ready to commit to huge container of dried marjoram. And the woman at the cheese counter handed out samples of cheese while we waited (it was some sort of parmigianno-type cheese with peppercorns in it), and she kept calling me "dearheart."
And while they are mostly an Italian grocer (the list of cheeses is sorted by country, with Italy taking up probably one-third of the list), they have a good range of foods; I saw pepitas in the nut/seed bins, and white and red quinoa in the pantry section. And the prices seemed much more reasonable than, say, smaller local specialty Italian grocers like the one on Liberty Ave in Bloomfield. I think this will be my go-to place for good deli meats and cheeses.
EDIT: Oh, they have a website. It is pretty ridiculous. I think they have far more products in the store than listed. http://www.pennmac.com/
Seriously though, the store is amazing, in its old-school glory. If you're looking for nuts in bulk, they have far more varieties than Whole Foods or the East End Food Co-op. (Why didn't I get cashews?) They even have little trial sizes of spices for $0.99, in case you're not ready to commit to huge container of dried marjoram. And the woman at the cheese counter handed out samples of cheese while we waited (it was some sort of parmigianno-type cheese with peppercorns in it), and she kept calling me "dearheart."
And while they are mostly an Italian grocer (the list of cheeses is sorted by country, with Italy taking up probably one-third of the list), they have a good range of foods; I saw pepitas in the nut/seed bins, and white and red quinoa in the pantry section. And the prices seemed much more reasonable than, say, smaller local specialty Italian grocers like the one on Liberty Ave in Bloomfield. I think this will be my go-to place for good deli meats and cheeses.
EDIT: Oh, they have a website. It is pretty ridiculous. I think they have far more products in the store than listed. http://www.pennmac.com/