Where's a good place to get truffle oil?

The subject line says it all. I am looking for a good source of truffle oil, preferably not Whole Foods. What store do Chowhounds recommend? Is there a brand I should be looking for? Thanks.

[igorm]

Sur La Table also sells truffle oil.

Binnys on Grand also has truffle oil. They have the smaller 5-7 dollar bottles. Not sure what you are using it for, but literally a drop goes a long way, you may not use a large bottle before it goes bad.

It's funny, La Isola, the museum-like Italian import store on Grand (with some very old, very expensive vinegars) has several truffle oils. The more affordable ones, imported by La Isola and sold under the La Isola label, are carried at the Whole Foods on Ashland -- near the cheese. Same retail price, as far as I can tell. I've noticed what seems like a surprising amount of local buying discretion among, especially, the cheese and the seafood counters at that Whole Foods. Terrible place to buy lots of things, but pretty darn good for a few others.

[lizwarton]

Where is La Isola located on Grand? I can't find a listing on their web site.

[nsxtasy]

Isola Imports is no longer located on Grand; a web search shows their address as 4525 S. Tripp Avenue, so they must have moved at some point in the six years since the above posts were written. www.isolaimports.com

However, there are other food stores located in the 1100 block of West Grand, including Bari Foods (1120 W. Grand www.bariitaliandeli.net ) mentioned previously in this topic, as well as D'Amato's Bakery (1124 W Grand) and Terry's Toffee (1117 W. Grand www.terrystoffee.com ), and May Street Market is a decent restaurant (1132 W. Grand www.maystreetmarket.com ).

[Eldon Kreider]

Isola Imports wholesale, mail order and Internet business has been at the Tripp Avenue address for years. The retail store on Grand was a very small part of their business and closed several years ago (at least before August, 2005). Eventually Coalfire Pizza went into the building.

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Coalfire
1321 W Grand Ave Ste 2, Chicago, IL 60642

[Harry Niletti]

Wouldn't it be great if timestamps permanently turned gold (or were flagged in some other noticeable way) on their first anniversary? There's nothing wrong with reviving the dead, but we should at least be warned that we're doing it.

Getting back to truffle oil, I'm not prejudiced against chemicals. In college, some of my best friends were chemicals. But even though I enjoy light applications of truffles of the earth, I've always intensely disliked truffle oil. The NY Times piece "Hocus-Pocus, and a Beaker of Truffles" helped me appreciate why: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/din... .

If you are anywhere near a Cost Plus (World Market) they have truffle oil and also I believe Trader Joe has it as well, somewhere in the $10.00 range.

Trader joes has the best value oil in my opinion. they have a large bottle for under 10 bucks. it is black truffle oil, not white, but since 95% of all truffle oils (even the expensive ones) get a lot of their flavor from an artificial additive, i dont notice a huge difference. In fact, we did a risotto tasting comparing the TJ's with an expensive white oil that my wife brought back from italy, and it was hard to tell much difference. Now, if you really want luxury, dartagnan sells white and black truffle butters that are amazing (and expensive).
-Will

Treasure Island, Fox & Obel or Bari Foods come to mind. May I ask, why the aversion to Whole Foods?

Sam's has Boscovivo brand white truffle oil for $15.99 ... I'm not sure the exact size of the bottle, but it's small ... maybe 55 or 75 ml. Everything I've read holds Boscovivo in high regard. They make a pretty wide range of truffle related products, so this is their niche.

I'm sure Fox & Obel has truffle oil as well. But, if my experiences hold true, they'll be slightly over-priced. They might have Urbani truffle oils, another good brand. I'd call first.

I'm sure the Italian markets around town - Isola, places out in the Harlem Italian corridor, etc - have other options. But, in terms of brands, Boscovivo and Urbani are fairly easy to find and high quality.

rien

Fox & Obel does have quite a few truffle oils, both white and black and a range of types of oil bases (olive, sunflower, etc.). While, sure, they're not cheap, they have one bottle of everything open and available for sniffing.