Pistachios

[newfoodie]

Hi all,

I have a few recipes that call for pistachios and I can't seem to find them in any of my local supermarkets. Has anyone seen them recently anywhere around Manhattan?

Thanks!

[Cheese Boy]

I highly recommend Vintage in Brighton Beach if you feel like treking it out there.
I purchased shelled roasted pistachios recently and was *very* pleased with their freshness and flavor. Their lokum was a standout for me this time around. I think it was passionfruit flavored. Very good. They've got a lot of nuts, candies, dried fruits, etc to keep you entertained for quite a while. Worth the trek.

Have a look at this thread --> http://www.chowhound.com/topics/325147

And this thread too --> http://www.chowhound.com/topics/396812

[corgette]

I just bought a bag of raw, unsalted, shelled pistachios at Trader Joe's in Union Square, if you're near there.

[BluPlateSpec]

I've bought pistachios at TJ's on two different occasions and both times they were of really poor quality, dried out and tasteless.

[corgette]

Oh, no! The ones I just bought are mostly bright, crisp and kind of creamy. Though I bought some last summer that had quite a few rancid ones, I haven't seen that lately.

[NYCinephile]

I believe that Whole Foods and Eli's carry pistachios. You might also check Sahadi's in Brooklyn Heights.

[MMRuth]

Kalustyan's as well. They are a bit harder to find that certain other nuts - I rarely see them at Citarella.

[rose water]

Nader (28th St and 5th Ave) is a small Iranian grocery store which will certainly have plain and roasted pistachios.

Nearby is Kalustyan's--bigger and shinier, but more expensive.

-----
28th Street Nader Food Market
1 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016

[Pan]

Does Nader have high-quality roasted unsalted Iranian or Turkish pistachios?

[rose water]

Hmm, I don't know--my pistachio purchases always fall into two categories: raw and roasted/salted/lemony. I know Nader has both of those.

[roze]

Kalustyan's are high quality and carry different varieties depending on the day.

[Pan]

I know about Kalustyan's. They haven't had high-quality Iranian pistachios in a long time, except in the very unlikely event that things have changed within the last 2 months or so. The ones in the bags, if they still have those, are too old. I'm not sure whether they have high-quality roasted unsalted Turkish pistachios at this point.

I was asking about Nader's.

[MikeG]

On the whole, IMO, what Kalustyan's has in breadth, they make up for in lack of basic quality and freshness. Sometimes you get luck, but...

I do my "Iranian shopping" out in Great Neck and hadn't even heard of Nader's but if they actually cater mostly to natives, stale pistachios, especially, would be unthinkable.

Not being forced to, I don't buy stuff like that in supermarkets so I don't know might be up with that, but unless there's some sort of massive crop failure I don't know about, Zabar's and Fairway have had them always, forever. I'd be really suprised if Whole Foods doesn't, too, but I've never looked or noticed..

[MikeG]

"Zabar's and Fairway have had them always, forever. I'd be really suprised if Whole Foods doesn't, too"

To clarify, that was in response to the original post, and about California pistachios. If any of those stores has ever had Turkish let alone Iranian nuts, I never noticed.

And lastly, just for utter completeness' sake :), Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market has, or had, Sicilian pistachios. Those are always, unfortunately, very expensive.

[rose water]

But, the stuff at Buon Italia may be worth it. Their walnuts are consistently the freshest I've found in Manhattan--far better than Fairway and Sahadi's.

Nader's has been around forever, and was related to the restaurant Nader which closed in the 1990s. I will say that I can't really vouch for their quality-- I do most of my Iranian nut shopping in Iran. I'm lucky enough to have friends and family who travel there often enough that I've always got an exquisite pistachio supply.

[MikeG]

That's cool, I didn't know you could bring in things like nuts (or at least if they're not commercially processed/sealed).

FWIW, dental work prevented tasting for freshness but today I noticed Turkish pistachios, among other things, at a small mostly Turkish convenience store/deli kind of place right next to the King's Highway stop on the B/Q trains. (King's Highway Gourmet, I think)
I know it's Brooklyn, but since it's been mentioned a couple of times, and I just happened to be there today, I figured I'd throw it out. A bit closer than Brighton Beach and ironically a little easier to get to than Sahadi's which isn't near public transportation, though without more info, I'd probably trust Sahadi's more in terms of quality, if not necessarily turnover.

[MikeG]

Forgot to mention that, last Summer at least, the Sicilian nuts were like $30/lb shelled (I think that's the only way they're sold commercially, at least outside of Sicily/Italy. They are vacuum sealed and while I have no exact basis for comparison, they seem reasonably fresh.) As eating nuts, that's way out of my price range but OK for occasional use as an ingredient (pistachio pesto being what I've used it for) since they're sold in small packages...