Mariano’s Fresh Market


Live Piano Player in Mariano’s


Jewel’s not the only one with the 10 for $10 deal!


Time for a Luau

When Dallas and I lived in Roscoe Village there were two supermarkets across the street from each other on Western at Roscoe: Dominick’s and Jewel. No one went to the Dominick’s because it was so old and dumpy. The Jewel was the clear winner in this contest. When we moved to Logan Square, we still went to the Jewel often, since it was still close.

Fast forward to the fall of 2011. The Dominick’s had closed and a new supermarket was set to open. The anticipation was palpable. And Jewel was kind of scared. They redid their parking lot, they fancied up the store by adding things like an olive bar. They rearranged everything, which was frustrating after years of the same layout.

Mariano’s Fresh Market, the new supermarket, opened with much fanfare. Everyone I knew was going to check it out. Hey, kids, this is how you know you’re old. All of your friends are talking about the new supermarket! Much of the packaged food, refrigerator, and freezer sections are the same as you would find in a Jewel or Dominick’s. But the stars of the market are the bakery, cheese, deli, liquor, and prepared food areas. The produce is good as well. It reminds me of a hybrid between something like Whole Foods and Jewel. With pretty reasonable prices. And the many free samples you’d find at a more high-end store.

Everything in Mariano’s is so bright and new. I get bored really fast with going to the same supermarket over and over and I found Mariano’s to be really refreshing. It has quickly become our favored place to grocery shop.

The store brand at Mariano’s is Roundy’s, which is based out of Milwaukee. I’m familiar with this brand because it is the store brand at some of the supermarkets in Wisconsin that I used to shop at. I’ve been getting the discounted Roundy’s products a lot at Mariano’s and have been happy with them all so far.

Everyone I’ve talked to so far aside from 2 people (Loden! Guy at work!) have all had good things to say about Mariano’s. I ran into a different coworker in the parking lot one day and he lives clear across town. Is it becoming a destination? Maybe he was just checking it out to see.. Another day I was in the kitchen in my office and someone commented on my Mariano’s bag in the fridge, which held my lunch. This coworker lives in Roscoe Village and was saying how much he loved the new supermarket.

The live piano player is a little over the top and unnecessary, but he’s positioned in spot that is out of the way, so live piano music? Ok, I’ll listen to it. It’s not hurting anything. Also, the areas I listed above as being the standouts of the store: cheese, deli, bakery, prepared foods, can get packed sometimes, but so far it’s been worth it. Dallas went to Mariano’s one weekday to avoid crowds and guess what? It was packed. Seems the Lane Tech students are now going to Mariano’s on their breaks to eat the sandwiches, pizza, sushi and salad bar food that is available.

If I could change one thing about the store it would be the parking lot. It’s horrible. The parking spots are not at an angle and they’re very tight. You can’t pull in without backing up and pulling in again to get the right angle. Also, the cart return areas are not always convenient, forcing you to walk clear up and back down aisles to return carts. Sometimes it’s easier just to take them back up to the store. Which is frustrating, especially for those cars who are waiting to take your parking spot.

Overall, though, we’re happy with this new store. I still go to the Jewel sometimes. It’s empty now, so it’s easy to run in and out. I wonder if there are die-hard Jewel shoppers over there. I can guarantee there weren’t that many die-hard Dominick’s at the old store. That Jewel has not has any real competition in Roscoe Village for years!

On Friday my office moved to Randolph east of Michigan and there’s a Mariano’s in the building next to the building we’re moving to. Maybe I’ll turn into one of those Lane Tech Students and start taking my lunch in the Mariano’s prepared food stations!

Strack and Van Til

strack_van_til_cart

While Dallas and I had the Ford Escape Hybrid over the weekend we ran many errands. Some of those errands took us to Elston Avenue where we popped into Strack & Van Til. This is a supermarket I’d only passed by before. The Elston location is the only of their stores that is in Chicago.

strack_and_van_tilSo, how was Strack & Van Til? I liked it a lot. The store was very new inside and set up well. Spacious, nice displays. Nothing was a mess. They had some great samples out (fried clams, yum!). All the name brands were there as well as some main brands of meat and stuff that we’d never heard of. The prices seemed about the same as other stores, although I must admit I don’t pay super close attention because we usually don’t have the transportation means to shop around.

Strack and Van Til’s “thing” seemed to be that they offer bagging and carry out service for no cost, no tipping. We turned down the service, but it was almost like they weren’t asking… like the guy was just going to take our stuff out automatically. We did ok on our own, heh. I do really like the carts they use for taking groceries out to the car. The carts have hooks so you can hang your groceries in the bags instead of trying to stack them up in a regular cart. If I was still in Roscoe Village and walking to all the markets, I’d have totally wanted to swipe one of these carts!

Oh.. and .. I spotted this: Asian Helper. Bought everything off the shelf. Dallas could use a bit of help!

asian_helper

Laughing Cow: Real or Fake Cheese?


Laughing Cow at Jewel, Roscoe Village, Chicago

At my local Jewel, Laughing Cow used to be located in an unrefrigerated aisle next to all the other fake cheese – the Velveeta, the Cheez Wiz, etc. On a recent trip to the supermarket it wasn’t there. I couldn’t find it anywhere. Then I had an idea: Maybe it was by the real cheese? And there it was. In the refrigerated section that houses all the fancy cheeses. Wikipedia says that because of the pasteurization process, Laughing Cow wedges don’t have to be refrigerated. Do you think Jewel put them there just because people had trouble finding them?

West Village

laguardia_houston.jpg
LaGuardia and Houston, West Village, Manhattan

associated.jpg
Associated Supermarket, West Village, Manhattan

pig_fly_building.jpg
Pigs Flying Building, West Village, Manhattan

open.jpg
West Village, Manhattan

atrium.jpg
The Atrium, West Village, Manhattan

bleecker_sullivan.jpg
Bleecker and Sullivan, West Village, Manhattan

caio.jpg
Ciao, West Village, Manhattan

indian_bread_co.jpg
Indian Bread Co., West Village, Manhattan

building.jpg
My Old Building, West Village, Manhattan

door.jpg
My Old Apartment Door, West Village, Manhattan

After I’d had enough of Chinatown, I walked up through SoHo to the Village, my old stomping grounds. I wandered around the streets I used to walk on every day, past my old grocery store (HATE that place), up to Citibank, across Bleecker, and up Bedford.

The Atrium on Bleecker is where I had corporate housing for a month when I transferred to New York from San Diego two weeks after September 11, 2001. The building on Bedford between Carmine and Downing was where I lived before I transferred to Chicago. My apartment door was between the Yoga boutique and the Palm Reader.

When I turned to take the photo of Ciao, the waiter was like “ohhh, you want to take a photo of me?” and I was like “eh, not really, this corner looks pretty, though.” So he moved to step away and I told him to stay in the photo so he had to put on his macho stance. Then after I took the photo and gave him the thumbs up he had to make kissing noises at me. Classy.

Finally, outside the Indian Bread Company I took a photo of the printout they have of my site in their window. This is the printout that Joe sent me a while back.

Oh, and I almost forgot, here are a few more photos of the pigs flying building.

No Pudge

no_pudge.jpg

My mom works for Weight Watchers and sometimes she gets coupons for new dieting food and products that companies would like for her to push onto people in the Weight Watchers program. Of course, Weight Watchers has their own line of food and partnerships with companies so they don’t want their employees to use the unsolicited coupons. When my mom got ten coupons for free ice cream novelties from a new company called No Pudge, she split them up and gave them to me and Amanda.

I normally order my groceries from Peapod but they’re a little late to the party when it comes to new products and I’ve nver been able to get No Pudge there. Yesterday I had a few things I needed to pick up at Jewel so I took my No Pudge coupons along just in case Jewel carried their line. Jewel not only carried their line, but they were having a sale. Buy one get one free. I didn’t just get 5 No Pudge products free.. I got double that! And they aren’t cheap. .. at about $4.99/box and along with a few other coupons I had and the Jewel Preferred Card, I saved over $50 on groceries yesterday.

So, tease me about clipping and saving coupons if you’d like, but that’s a lot of dough. Call me a grandma, but I’ll be the grandma with a freezer full of free ice cream all summer long! Don’t forget, I still have all those coupons for free Haagen-Dazs to use yet! Now which one of you kiddies wants a treat?