Union Market: Delish But No Bargain
Given Clinton Hill’s limited selection of gourmet food (L’Epicerie, that’s it), we decided to head over to Union Market (at Union and Sixth Avenue) in Park Slope on Saturday to shop for a dinner we were giving that night. We had a great experience–decent cheese selection, great meats, not too crowded–until we got to the…
Given Clinton Hill’s limited selection of gourmet food (L’Epicerie, that’s it), we decided to head over to Union Market (at Union and Sixth Avenue) in Park Slope on Saturday to shop for a dinner we were giving that night. We had a great experience–decent cheese selection, great meats, not too crowded–until we got to the cash register. Ouch! $1.79 for an Emmi yogurt? Manhattan prices to be sure. But the pork loin that we seasoned with just a little garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and threw on the grill turned out great so we weren’t complaining. Guess you get what you pay for!
I live in Greenwood Heights on 33rd Street and 5th Avenue. Fresh Direct won’t deliver here and there are no fancy supermarkets near by. Just Costco, which is not exactly the best place to walk for over and get a single bagel in the morning.
Fresh Direct needs to deliver to 11232!
If anyone knows anyone in the 11232 area, please have them sign up on their site!
Great point about Fresh Direct delivering for the elderly — they should actually waive the delivery charge for homebound or elderly. My problem with them is that they’ve decided that Brooklyn routes (or at least in my neighborhood) require only one person. Which means this one guy has to lug all the stuff up the stairs while his truck sits unguarded. He’s totally stressed about adhering to his schedule, which has resulted in phone calls to me at six o’clock when I had a delivery scheduled for 10:30 (and wouldn’t be home much before then) to ask if he could drop it off then because he was in the area. Also, because he has to turn the truck off at each delivery since it’s left unattended, my frozen stuff was melted the last time. Total worker exploitation, and I haven’t ordered from them since (but I’m all out of many things and am going to hve to do so soon).
One other thing I found at the Pathmark in Atlantic Terminal Mall — mache. No cheese though.
For people in southern Clinton Hill or the area immediately south touted as such, Delicacies boasts much of the same fare, no fresh product, but a far more bountiful cheese and processed meat selection. It is also on Vanderbilt, but in Prospect Heights, and the proprietors are delightful.
L’Epicerie is the BEST!! Couldnt live without it. Great butcher selection (I highly recommend the hanger steak and peppercorn pate!) Karrot on Myrtle is great too. Also, the Korean grocer across the street from Associated on Myrtle (and Hall-ish) Without that place I would be eating Crown fried and Whitecastle every night!
im anti doody. i say down with doody. a pox on the opressive doody and may the doody mongers plotz and die. thatll show ’em….
and one last thing. who does walmart serve and save money? would you think it is poorer working class people. and what neighborhoods does fresh direct serve? well lets just say i don’t see any trucks in carnarsie. no its more affluent brownstone brookyln and bay ridge. maybe i can’t articulate but to me that seems to be elitism. so don’t be a hypocrite fresh direct lovers,when a walmart wants to open up come out in favor of it. especially if it is around the corner from your brownstone
ust want you to know i only called the person a idiot becuase they were idiotic to suggest that my driving a car was equal to a truck double parked and blocking traffic so that they can get their precious groceries. i see i’m fighting an uphill battle but you haven’t convinced me. i’m anti fresh direct. perhaps you should tell the elderly person when their local supermarket closes(it happened in brooklyn heights on clark street) to either walk an extra mile or get on the internet and order fresh direct. and while fresh direct does employ non union people in NYC replacing union supermarket jobs lets not pretend if fresh direct was based in south dakota and could deliver your food you wouldn’t order it. i’m just curious, how many of you are against a walmart. i am but don’t i have a right to low prices that help create crappy jobs at the expense of better ones and small mom and pop stores. hey that kind of sounds like fresh direct.
Fresh Direct does have at least one redeeming social value. I order for my parents when winter weather is too much for them to go out and buy their own groceries. I’ve ordered from FD myself a couple of times. OK in a pinch for basic packaged stuff, but it doesn’t beat going to the greengrocer next door to Sahadi and picking out your fruits & vegetables by hand. But, of course, there’s the Mother of All Greenmarkets, Union Square, which I absolutely love because — for those of you who grew up shopping in supermarkets — vegetables DO have a fragrance. It smells just great walking through there, even if you don’t buy anything. Real, truly fresh food.
True Food Co-op story: The day my family moved to Park Slope, my wife, exhausted from the move, and 5 year old daughter went into the Food Co-op, unwittingly slipping by what we now no to be their air-tight security. My wife shopped for about an hour, basically putting everything in sight into the basket to fill our empty refrigerator and cupboard.
At check-out, the cashier asked for her card, and she said she hadn’t joined yet, so she’d pay the non-members price (that was the policy at our old co-op in the East Village). The cashier called over the manager, who told her not only was their no member’s price, but she couldn’t join ‘on the spot’ as my wife offered, because she had to attend a meeting first. She then accused my wife of ‘sneaking’ past security, and told her she had to put back all her groceries. My wife, emboldened by exhuastion told her no.
The next day, I took my kids for pizza, and my precociously anti-establishment daughter asked if we needed a card to get pizza in Brooklyn.
When adherance to rules trumps common sense and compassion, time to find a new place to shop.