A guide to groceries in in and around SF

[dkanter]

I moved to SF pretty recently, and I've honestly found it to be a bit tough for grocery shopping. I grew up in Seattle, and they have quite a few excellent places like Fred Meyer that can be counted on to carry wild salmon for less than an arm and leg, or have bulk foods and a wide selection at reasonable prices.

Sad to say, the only place I've found with reasonably priced salmon has been costco!

So I wanted to put together a thread that could serve as a guide for new comers to the area.

Bulk Foods

In general most folks recommend Berkeley Bowl, or Rainbow Grocery. Out in the suburbs, Grocery Outlet appears to be an option for the frugal and even some safeways have bulk foods (Santa Clara for instance). Whole foods is another choice, but they tend to be rather expensive.

Meats

No clue. Where do you go to get a nice lean cut of steak?

Fish and Seafood

Again, no clue - would love some help. Extra bonus points to anyone who can point out places that have *wild* seafood at affordable prices. None of that $10/lb for farm raised salmon...

Fruit & Produce

I've found my local safeway to be pretty reasonable in terms of price and selection, although I don't think they have a great organics selection.

Anyway - if you could help contribute to my guide and make SF an easier place to shop for groceries, that would be awesome!

[Agent 510]

There's a bunch of ideas in this somewhat messy thread I started a while ago.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/493184

(Not that this should pre-empt responses to this thread!)

[dkanter]

Interesting, so I think my favorite grocery store is Fred Meyer's in Seattle. They have good meats and fish, bulk foods, plenty of organics for those willing to pay for them.

It just seems like all SF has is super expensive stuff like Whole Foods, and Safeway/Lucky. Nothing in between at all that is reasonably priced.

[wolfe]

Ranch Richmond 99 has a good fish market,meat counter and reasonably priced produce.
Origin, fresh or farmed is frequently posted. Some of the fish can't be fresher. I got caught behind Asian Restaurant buyers stocking up with fresh killed and dressed fish for their shops. "Please 10 of those, gutted and scaled." Sure slows the line.

[ML8000]

I don't know what Fred Meyer's is like so It's hard to comments on compatibles. Also don't know what neighborhood/city.

In the Bay Area here's a list of supermarkets/grocery stores that usually get mentioned, locations vary:

Andronico's (small local chain, big prepared food section, slightly more expensive)
Dreger's (supermarket, considered pricey, specialities foods, Pennisula)
Nob Hill / Raley's (medium size local chain, good service)
Trader Joe's (do a search...great prices, organics, lots of them)
Molly Stone (indie supermarket, pricey but carries specialties stuff)
Lucky's (big mainstream chain)

Most of the people I know go to a couple of stores for stuff. I get a lot of dry, canned and frozen goods at Trader Joes but get produce, fish and bulk elsewhere (Berkeley Bowl, Chinatown, indie produce places, farmer's market). Each neighborhood usually has one or two decent mom and pop produce places.

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[Agent 510]

If I remember right, Fred Meyer combines a grocery store with a Target-type general merchandise store. Their stores are huge, considerably larger than your average Bay Area Target.

There really is no equivalent anywhere around the Bay....except possibly the lone Wal-Mart SuperCenter in American Canyon (Napa), which I think has actually been mentioned on this board before. Around the country, the equivalents would be Wal-Mart SuperCenters, SuperTargets, and Meijer, a Midwest chain.

[rworange]

Yep, here's the report on the American Canyon Walmart
http://www.chow.com/places/21116

Some of the other Walmarts like Oakland and Richmond have groceries, but not produce, a fresh meat and fish counter, a sushi bar, deli and in-house bakery. I have a rather swell recipe card collection from the AC Walmart that are actually good and simple.

The best Target for groceries (but no produce) is the one in Berkeley nearish Gilman.

The Asian supermarkets like 99 Ranch have good prices on fish, meat and produce. The fish are often still swimming in the tanks. Near that Berkeley Target is a 99 Ranch.

The civic center or Alameda farmers markets have some fish vendors with decent prices.

Mission Market Fish & Poultry in SF has had some positive mentions over the years. Also mentioned Lien Hing 2 at 5th and Clement

And if you are in Rodeo in season (May-September) there's Surf City Anglers, a bait shop. Go there for the halibut. OK, I've been dying to mention that one. I missed halibut season this year, but the owner's brother has a fishing boat and sells some of the catch at the shop.

Shopping is more decentralized in the bay area. You go to certain places for certain things. Seriously, once you start shopping at farmers markets, especially Alamany, you won't think too much of the prices and quality of Safeway's produce.

[JoyM]

Correct spelling, in case you're looking for these places:

Mollie Stone's
Draeger's

Two more supermarket chains on the Peninsula are Lunardi's and Piazza's. Lunardi's is much cheaper and has an excellent selection of relatively inexpensive fresh meat and fish, much of which is organic. (They don't have much organic produce, though.) No bulk stuff either, but a lot of interesting imported stuff. All in all, this is probably my favorite supermarket around -- not super expensive like Mollie Stone's, Whole Foods, Piazza's and Draegers, but much better variety and quality than Lucky's, Safeway, or Nob Hill.

Piazza's is pretty pricey, basically a slightly more interesting version of Whole Foods, with less organic stuff and even more gourmet stuff. Nice meat counter, but not cheap at all.

[pamf]

Another vote for Lunardi's locations on the Peninsula. They do have a great meat and seafood department which is entirely full service. Something you are not going to find in a Safeway or Lucky.

[MisterTrent]

FRUIT AND PRODUCE
The following link takes you to thirteen weekly farmers' markets in San Francisco. Between all of them you will find an absolutely bewildering array of produce, both mass and organic, at every single price point known to man.

http://www.cafarmersmarkets.com/find-market/index_html?mname=san+francisco

In addtion, for cheap but good produce I would recommend andy Asian market in the Inner Richmond district, or the produce markets around 22nd and Mission.

BUTCHER
This depends by neighborhood but there are plenty of them in SF: 648, in fact, according to Yelp. Please post this link into your browser and then search by zip, etc...

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=...

Hope this helps!

Peace, Trent.

[Paul H]

Since Yelp lists Liguria Bakery (wrapped in butcher paper) and Supercuts Barbershop (a barbershop, not a butcher shop), as San Francisco butcher shops, I'd bet that their estimate of 648 shops in San Francisco is a bit off.

I'd suggest using the Yellow Pages or Citysearch ( http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/ye... ) instead.

My favorite butcher shops are Golden Gate Meats in the Ferry Building, and Little City Meats in North Beach.

[Xiao Yang]

Yeah, I find it ironic that my original home town, pop. 15,000 has a better all around supermarket (Hannaford's) than SF.

I like Rainbow for bulk (not that I buy much bulk except for nut butters) and agree with you on Costco for wild AK salmon (not that there's anything wrong withat!)

For live/fresh fish, Chinatown or any of the larger Asian markets.

For fruit and produce, try Wai Kin on Clay street in Chinatown. It's where C'Town restaurants buy their Western produce.

Meat? Costco again for pork loin and lamb (boneless leg). I have little use for beef, so I can't help you there. Fresh/live chickens? Chinatown again.

[ML8000]

Yes but SF does cater to very diverse tastes, upscale, downscale, ethnic. Along with real estate prices and overhead, it drives specialization.

Costco does carry wild salmon at reasonable prices ($8-ish per/lb) but only in high season and large quantities. I'm sure Seattle does better and is fresher but that's geography.

[bong]

dkanter, welcome to San Francisco.
It would help if you mentioned where in San Francisco you are.

For "Fruit & Produce", the answer is obvious -- skip the grocery stores. Go to the farmers markets. You will get THE best fruit/produce for the best price.

I go to Alemany Farmers Market on Saturdays. Most of the fruits & produce are not-organic -- but almost all of it is pesticide-free. There are a few organic vendors as well.

There are plenty of other markets all over the city, search on Google. (The most famous one of course is the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. IMO its become more of a tourist destination rather than a true market.).

Then there are plenty of Asian and Latino grocery stores all over the city. They have good quality produce for good quality prices.

For meat, there are small butchers all over the city, you can probably again do Google. The one closest to where I live is Drewes Brothers, on Church and 29th. There is Good Life on Cortland as well, but they are overpriced. There is of course Whole Paycheck as well,. now they have multiple locations.

For Fish & Seafood, I usually shop at Manila Oriental Market, at Mission @ Hwy 280

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Manila Oriental Market
4175 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94112

Alemany Farmers' Market
100 Alemany Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94110

Drewes Brothers Meats
1706 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94131

[Calvinist]

In addition to the Alemany Farmers Market, our favorite for produce is Church Produce, in Noe Valley. Best prices and quality in our 'hood.

But like everyone else we shop in several different stores: Goodlfe, Avendanos, Trader Joe's, Safeway. I work across the street from a Whole Foods, so I get a few things there. Their 360 store brand is less dear than some of their other offerings. It seems like it's designed to compete with Trader Joe's.

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Church Produce
1798 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94131

[Pandora]

I find that Safeway actually has a good selection of farmed fish. I don't go there for produce, however. For produce, we do a CSA (Two Small Farms) and supplement from our local produce mart which has a lot of organic foods and is not outrageously expensive (Noriega Produce). If you're in the city, take a look at the little corner places. For meat, we go to Guerra meats in the sunset.

[xanadude]

Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market (also in Berkeley, but closed on Sunday) for produce. Rainbow for bulk dried goods. Grocery Outlet (if you're knowledgeable, willing to research, or willing to take chances) for wine. Farmers Markets.

Trader Joes and Costco for everything else.