Grocery Outlet - July 2011

[rworange]

For you Gertie's artichoke fans, it seems to be on sale at $1.50 at most stores. IIRC, it was once $3.99.

San Pablo

50 cents - Back to Nature chocolate chip cookies, graham crackers, etc

50 cents - Breakstone zesty blends sour cream (roasted onion, etc)

69 cents - Armour hot dogs

$1.50 - Hellman's mayo (30 oz) ... in back near the meat.

$1.99 - Horizon organic NOT from concentrate OJ 1/2 gal

1.99- Oscar Meyer all beef hot dogs

3.99 - Spectrum organic all vegetable non-hydroginated shortening 24 oz

3.99 - Chef's basket ($12.99 at Walmart)

7.99 up - lots of cast iron pans, griddles, etc

Pinole

17 cents - Planters salted peanuts

25 cents - Oceanspray apple juice 5.5 oz can

25 cents - One dozen Brach's chocolate covered marshmallow eggs

33 cents Juicy Juice berry juice

33 cents - Cadbury orange chocolate egg

33 cents - Ocean Spray Craisins 1.75 oz

59 cents - Planters flavor grove nuts 1.5 oz *jalepeno pistachos, sea salt and pepper almonds, etc)

69 cents - Breakstone zesty blends sour cream (chipotle, etc)

$1.79 - Arowhead Mills organic soy flour 22 oz

$1.99 - Blue Horizon wild caught tuna patties

$1.99 - Walnut Acres Organic blueberry juice 32 oz

$1.99 - Carafe of Paul Mason white wine

$2.99 - Clausen dill spears 80 oz (huge jar)

$2.99 - Nature's Pak frozen blueberries, raspberries and other fruit 1 lb

$2.99 - Smucker's organic chuncky peanut butter

$2.99 - J Roget sparkling wine

$3.99 - Heinz organic catsup 44 oz

$2.99 - Cabot Greek Yogurt

And LOTS of ice cream

69 cents - Roba Dolce individual serving blood orange sorbet or coconut gelato

$2.48 - Humbolt marion berry cobler

$2.99 - Roba Dolce dark chocolate gelato 33 oz

$2.99 - Simply Enjoy gelato

$2.99 - Dreyer's pumpkin ice cream

The Back to Nature cookies are quite the deal. For 50 cents there are 6 1.25 oz packages, the ingredients are, well, natural. I liked the chocolate chip cookies as much as any supermarket cookie with the bonus of no junk and Rainforest Alliance cocoa. Didn't get the Graham crakers, but it is a regular size box. Bin is located in the freezer department.

The Planter's Flavor Grove nuts are great. I'd pay the 99 cents listed on the package. At 59 cents, these are a great bargain. So far I've had the sea salt and olive oil almonds and the jalapeno pistachos (very hot). There's also Sea Salt and black pepper pistachos and creacked pepper almonds. At 120 calories a pack for the pistachos and 250 for the almonds, they are a tasty, long-lasting snack.

Check out the ingredient lists on the ice creams. Simply Enjoy and Central Market had HFCS. The others do not. I tried the Roba Dolce blood orange sorbet. While it didn't knock my socks off, I liked it well enough to try another flavor.

Lots of Easter candy on sale. Since I missed out on Easter food this year, I needed a chocolate fix. The Cadbury egg is fine. The chocolate marshmallow eggs were stale. Last month I had the chocolate marshmallow bunnies (now 25 cents for 8) and they were fine. Avoid the 33 cent milk chocolate bunny.

The mayo is past the expiration date by a few days. Honestly, imo, aging helped the Hellman's. It somehow tastes eggier.

[rworange]

San Pablo

50 cents - Danish Choice preserves (raspberry, strawberry, cherry or mixed fruit) 12 oz

Oddly enough, it is produced in Poland

[Glencora]

My husband has been buying that from the Berkeley store for years. I think it's too sweet and doesn't taste a whole lot like the fruit, but he finds it fine for PB&J sandwiches.

ETA: he says it's usually 1.99

[rworange]

I can't remember if I tired this before. I tried some jelly or another at a higher price and wasn't impressed. This time I bought the raspberry, but haven't tried it yet. Whatever jelly it was I tried before was either the cherry or strawberry and meh.

While I realize this isn't, as someone wrote, Cheaphound, even the jelly wasn't impressjve, it with was no worse than MaryEllen or whatever inexpensive jelly which doesn't have sugar but HFCS. At least these have sugar and at that price are quite the deal.

Will report back when I try the raspberry, but that might not be for a while.

[studio94109]

july 30, berkeley

sardines .79
prosciuto 1.99
wax aged cheddar cheese 3.17
singha beer (large) 1.89
cold smoked salmon 4.99
grace baking ciabatta 2.99
poptarts 1.50
trail mix crunch 1.99
calistoga water 6 pack glass 2.49
pita 1.39
milk 2.09
chex mix .79
kettle chips .99
naked juice .50
frozen peaches 1.99
pie shells .99
bag apples 2.99
bag sweet baby bells 3.99
hummus 2.99
yogurt .34
pastrami 4.59

[happybaker]

You people are posting this just to torment me, aren't you. Sigh.

I'm in SoCal.

[Melanie Wong]

Have you checked your Grocery Outlet branches in SoCal?

[happybaker]

Melanie, sadly I am at least an hour from a branch. Sigh. You go have some extra shopping fun for me!

[rworange]

OMG ... Lucerne Greek nonfat yogurr ... wonderful, wonderful, wondeful !!! ... and 25 cents.

Really .. lucerne

I grabbed the vanilla instead of the plain by mistake. It was lovely, not overly sweet and so smooth with a wonderful texture. No HFCS, there's just suger.No ... it's not really Greek yogurt, but it is lovely stuff. There's some pectin and cornstarch in it, but if it produces something this beautiful, I say ok.

The Oikos organic chocolate yogurt was pretty good, Four little cups for $1.49.

There was also Dannon Greek yogurt at 6 for $1 I bought Dannon and Yoplait Greek yogurts at regular price in a supermarket a few weeks ago. I did not like either. They just seemed weirdly solid rather than thick. I bought a Dannon yogurt but haven't re-tried it yet.

I was attracted by the Cabot Vermont style cottage chese hype in big letters on the front such as "NO artifical growth hormones ... and Vermont ... awww ... I saw cows munching emerald green grass in the fields. "

It was good, creamy small curd cottage cheese ... 4% milkfat with cream as an ingredient .. but too many acids (citric, phosphoric), gums (guar , locust been) and other stuff in the ingredient list. Still, it tasted pretty good. $1.99 for 1 lb.

All at the Pinole store, but I've seen the above elsewhere. The Pinole store has an ever-increasing cast iron cookware supply. Now there are pots and other stuff. A really good deal on cutlery set of 4 knives, forks, tablespoons and teaspoons for $2.97. Obviously not quality stuff but kind of good for picnic baskets. Black handles. There's also lots of plastic cutlery bags ... 48 pieces for 99 cents.

[Robert Lauriston]

At the Berkeley store I picked up a bottle of pretty decent 2006? 2007? Alsatian Pinot Gris for $3.99. They also had a Riesling from the same producer for $4.99, drinkable but a bit tired, not as good as the PG.

[Glencora]

Name?

[Robert Lauriston]

Not on the receipt and I can't remember. Green label, short name, maybe five letters, I think it ended in a double R, only Alsatian wines in the store.

[Melanie Wong]

Sparr?

[Luber]

Willm - I tried all three, and they all have authentic Alsatian varietal character and are OK at $4, but all are a bit over the hill and stale - which is actually a shame, as many Alsatian whites age beautifully - these got oxidized somewhere along the line. IMO, the gewurz and the riesling are both better than the PG, the gwrz is on the sweet side but has a real petrol and rose bouquet; the ries is drier and the nose is closed at first but opens up a bit after a day in the fridge and the sulfite blows off. I've had better and worse examples both at GO and elsewhere.

More interesting is the Schild 2009 Urziger Wurzgarten kabinett; a great nose, nice acidity, but unfortunately way too sweet for a kabinett for my taste - at 9.5% alcohol, I can't imagine why they didn't ferment it out more to get an 11-12% dry wine.

I think the best red wine value there now is the 2009 Tentacion Alicante (monastrel, aka mourvedre).

[Luber]

Maybe it was Sparr - I didn't see any at the Berkeley store, but I just got a bottle today at the Oakland store ('08 Reserve gewurztraminer) - very nice and better than the Willms, although twice the price. In a fairly sweet style (Auslese-ish) but with body and acid to balance.

The Cavia Malbec is also pretty good and $4.

[bgill]

$1.49 Dagoba chocolate bars, all flavors at the Pleasant Hill location today

[Melanie Wong]

I saw the Dagoba bars, also the drinking chocolate mix in Oakland, up by the registers.

[chocolatetartguy]

The Dagoba bars have motivated me to go to Grocery Outlet. If they are in Pleasant Hill and Oakland, does it follow that they will appear eventually in Berkeley or do I need to make a short roadtrip? The last three days, no Dagoba in Berkeley, although yesterday they did have a German brand with which I am not familiar.

[Melanie Wong]

I would say "no". Things tend to get distributed from the warehouse immediately. Then they last longer or less long on some stores' shelves. My spotting in Oakland was last friday and that was only for the lemon-ginger flavor.

[ourswimmer]

Lots of the Dagoba lemon-ginger bars in Oakland today. They also had Scharffenberger 41% with sea salted almonds for $1.49 per bar.

[paulj]

Chef Merito Puerco Al Pastor - diced pork in mildly hot Mexican seasoning
Ingredients list is kind of scary, and it certainly isn't Mexican 'gyro' meat, but compared to the equivalent diced seasoned pork that I've bought at carnicerias, it isn't bad. (Seattle area).

[studio94109]

Berkeley

coffee peru 1 lb 5.99
org green beans 2.99
ginger ale 1.99
gala apples 2.99
crystal milk 2.09
pineapple starfruit .99
paradise punch .99
org peanut butter 2.49
asparagus spears .99
artichoke tap 3.99
kosher cocktail pickles 1.49
stony field ice cream 1.99
org ground beef 4.59
mushroom 1.50
acai .99
strawbs 1.99
goat cheese 2.49
ritter milk choc .99

[chowmeaow]

At Fremont store

Naked Green machine 2 bottles 3.98
Cream of Celery soup 1.49
salsa verde 1.99
Smoked turkey slices 1.99
Hummus spicy red papper 1.99

[Ruth Lafler]

Lots of good stuff at Oakland today.

$2.99 Beerman's sausages, several flavors (have been on hiatus, apparently while they changed packaging)

$3.49 Le Pique Nique sausages -- several flavors

$3.99 Saag's Bochwurst and Bratwurst

$2.99 Nonni's biscotti, half a dozen flavors (also changed packaging)

A selection of Horizon and Organic Valley dairy products, including milk (whole, 2% and fat free), half and half, sour cream, etc.. I bought:

$2.49/lb Horizon butter (note: it was packaged with 2 boxes together for $5.99, but if you separate the packages they're still in the inventory and scan at $2.49 -- save another buck!)

$2.49/4 oz. Organic Valley grated parmesan. Only okay.

$1.29 8oz. Organic Valley cream cheese (in tub)

$1.99/pint Dannon greek yogurt, plain, fat- free. Good product, just milk and cultures

$.99/14 oz. jar Cirio pasta sauce "product of Italy" -- two flavors, pomodoro and arrabiata

$1.49/500 gm. (17 oz) Cucina & Amore pasta sauce "product of Italy" several flavors

$1.99 4 oz. bars SharffenBerger milk chocolate (41 percent cocoa solids) with salted almonds

$1.99 a couple of flavors of Ben and Jerry's (I bought "Neapolitan Dynamite": half cherry garcia and half chocolate fudge brownie)

Nonfood:

"patio citrus trees" -- lime, limequat and calamondin (I bought the latter two), $9.99

Landy excellence cognac Melanie suggested.

They have a zillion different kinds of tequila. And recommendations (for cocktails, not sipping)?

[...tm...]

Yes, there was a ton of Landy excellence cognac and tequilas at the Oakland store. The wine guy was highly recommending the cognac to another customer, but I just put it on my list to look up when I got home. Seems like a reasonable buy. I also took pictures of the Tequilas to look up later. Most are 750 ml for $9.99, and all I noted are Resposados that claim 100% agave: San Matias, Hacienda Vieja, Lom Azul, Herradura (the only one I'd seen before, comes in a package with a shot glass), Roble 2000, Rancho Allegre, and Cabresto. If anyone knows anything about these, please chime in. This thread http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/526792 mentions Hacienda Vieja and Herradura favorably, and these were the ones I was leaning towards based on packaging alone. I'm still leaning towards them, though I didn't find any terrible reviews of any online.
I also noted that they have the white Chateau La Louviere (Semillion and Sauvignon blanc, 2004 and 2005) for 22.95. I didn't buy any because I'm cheap, and not that intrigued by whites (which may be solely to indifference to trying them). I did get the Bluebird Pinot Noir, a 1.5 L bagged wine with a handle at the top ($4.99), making it perfect for clipping to a backpack and carrying in to a campsite. As a Pinot Noir it was overly fruity and not very interesting, but as a bagged/boxed wine in very convenient packaging for a camper it is quite good. Probably better than the Alice White tetra-paks I picked up from GO a couple years ago for the same purpose.
I either missed the Horizon butter, or it was gone by the time I got there (I'm always on the lookout for organic butters at GO). Both Berkeley and Oakland have been well-stocked in decent supermarket bacons (Farmland and Oscar Meyer, 2.49-2.99) lately. I also picked up the SO lemonade sorbet $1.99, as I enjoyed their mango popsicles, which have a similar coconut water base/concentrated fruit juice sweetening. The 3 lb bags of onions were 99c and I picked some up to caramelize in the crock pot while I have my house to myself for a few days. That, and broccoli at 99c is one of the few times the produce at GO is cheaper than at my local Berkeley Bowl West.

-----
Berkeley Bowl West
920 Heinz Ave, Berkeley, CA

Azul
1 Tillman Pl, San Francisco, CA 94108

[Melanie Wong]

BevMo sells Herradura reposado for something like $34, so that's a great buy. Remember that Sunday, July 24, is National Tequila Day!

[Melanie Wong]

I called a few of the GO's that sell spirits and didn't find any that had these tequilas. So I headed over to Oakland on Friday evening. Besides reposados, various silvers and golds also available at GO. I bought
375 ml Herradura, $10
1L El Charro $13
750ml Hacienda Vieja $13
750ml El Rey Bronze $10
750ml Cabresto $10
Alas, the San Matias, was already gone.

For National Tequila Day, one of my house guest mix masters improvised a cocktail from the lemons and basil we had on hand (with simple syrup). I asked him to open the El Charro, Cabresto and El Rey (since those were the ones new to me) and make a decision on which ones were worth purchasing more of. He said the El Rey smelled like benzene. He recommended the Cabresto for drinking neat, and he used the El Charro for mixing.

[foodeye]

I did buy two bottles of the San Matias, but I haven't tried it yet. It is reposado, but it says "100% natural" and not "100% agave" so it is mixto; I am thinking about giving them to less particular imbibers. The company's web site lists some reputable restaurants that serve its brand, including Nopalito, but there may be better selections than what was at GO. Have you tried it? Do you know if it is of relatively good quality, for a mixto?

[Melanie Wong]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. No, I've not tried San Matias, but the distillery is well-regarded by one of my friends who is a Tequila Doctor. But likely for other bottlings and not a mixto, as mixto makes her ill.

[rworange]

San Pablo, Pinole and probably other GO's

$1.49 - Oceanspray dried cherries, blueberres or cranberries 5 oz

These are selling for around $4 at supermarkets like Raleys. It is just dried fruit and sugar, no preservatives. A little sweet but good. The montmorency cherries were a nice change from raisins in my oatmeal.

[Melanie Wong]

Last week in Petaluma:

$1.99 for 4 lbs of organic Valencia oranges grown in Dinuba, CA --- really good juice oranges
$12.99 Landy Excellence Cognac (reg. $49) - A bit light as cognacs go and not one that I'd serve alone. But it's steal at this price, comes in a nice purple box for gift-giving, and will make good cocktails, spirits for spiking coffee or egg nog when the season returns. i'm using it to make brandied fruits. Here's the info from the wine's iimporter, W J Deutsch.
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...

I also spotted the cognac in the Redwood City store.

[rworange]

Berkeley

33 cents - Healthy Creations Pretzels Plus whole grain with flaxseed 3 oz
50 cents - Nature's Bakery fig bar (vanilla or peach/apricot)
99 cents - Ritter Sport 2.3 oz Milk chocolate, noisette, hazelnut, whiite almond 2.3 oz

The Ritter Sport seems the big bargain. They were $1.99 at Trader Joes and more than that in other stores.

I didn't like the pretzels. They had a fishy tastes ... maybe the flax?

THe fig bars were good, larger and with a softer coating than fig newtons. Still, 2 fig bars for 50 cents seems a little pricy. But as a take-along snack, tasty and healthy. Better than buying a candy bar. Both tasted just like fig ... not real apricot/peach taste. This had a brown cooking coating, the vanilla was white soft cookie with fig filling.

[tranewreck]

Did you happen to notice the cast iron maker? Lodge?

[rworange]

Sorry can't help there. Don't even know what a cast iron maker is. I assume Lodge is a brand. These were something generic.

[drewskiSF]

yep, Lodge is a brand of cast iron cookware.
http://www.lodgemfg.com/

[chocolatetartguy]

Was in there too late to score some Dagoba, but I did notice some bags of Shearer's Kettle Cooked Potato Chips.

I sampled this Ohio brand a couple of weeks ago while traveling. I found the regular chips and bbq to be be quite good: light on the salt, not too hard and with good potato flavor. The Kettle Cooked were the same, although bordering on too hard for my vulnerable molars. I think they were $1.49 a bag and well worth it.

[zippo]

Oakland Grocery Outlet yesterday afternoon, July 5:

They are conducting a food drive this month, “Independence from Hunger,” with cash or food donations going to the local community.

Drinks -

$3.99 - Graeser 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Pointer Run Vineyards, Graeser Winery, Calistoga, 13.4% ABV. Tasted of dark chocolate and cherry, in good shape after 15 years. There's a new wine guy at Oakalnd who seems very outgoing and has posted more tastng notes on the shelves.

$ .99 – Cotleigh Brewery, 500 ml bottles, Barn Owl Premium Ale, 4.5% ABV and Golden Seahawk, 4.2%ABV. Also a Tawny. Cotleigh is in Somersiet, England and the Barn Owl is a bitter with B and B+ ratings in Beer Advocate. The Golden tastes of honey and apple. The best before date is 1/1/11. Some extra chill in the fridge seemed to perk up the carbonation.

$1.89 - Singha Lager, 21.3 fl. oz., 5.0%ABV, product of Thailand. Would go good with spicy food. The tall bottle apparently has a high center of gravity because 2 times I was at GO, some had fallen off the shelf onto the floor and broken. A prompt “cleanup on aisle 7” took care of the matter but I did appreciate the free whiff of a German-style lager.

$1.29 – Hemp Dream Hemp Drink, Vanilla, 32 oz. , tetrapak. Manufactured in Canada for Hain Celestial with real hemp seeds and contains 500 mg. Omega 3's per serving. But be careful, there's a warning on the label: “This product may contain whole hemp seed specks.”

$1.29 – Westsoy Unsweetened Organic Soymilk Naturally flavored with Almond, 32 oz. tetrapak from Hain. Clearly, for the less adventurous amongst us. Low carb, 5 g per serving.

Sweets -

3/ $1.00 - Orcanel Organic Dried Fruit Mix, mostly 4 oz. cello packages, product of Turkey. My favorites are the 100% organic dried whole sour cherries and the Mediterranean mix of organaic sour cherries, plums, sultanas and apricots. A good deal for about $1.33/lb.

$.59 – Clif Bar, Black Cherry Almond, 2.4 oz.

$7.99 – Skinny Cow low-fat round ice cream sandwiches, 20 – 4 oz. Bars. Chocolate and vanilla.

Canned -

$1.99 – Zergüt Grape Leaves dolmas stuffed with rice, from Bulgaria, net wt. 9.9 oz. can. These are much better than the Olga canned dolmas from Turkey that they still carry. Melanie noticed that the leaves from the Olga can were tough and I ran across what felt like sediment in them. While the Zergüt aren't the tenderest ever, they are a big improvement over the Olga's and the Zergüt have a zestier taste due, in part, to the softened slivers of lemon at the bottom of the can. Amazon has these cans for about $3 each if you get a case of 12.

Out of Stock

$1.39 – Middle East Bakery Carb Watch Pita Bread, 10 oz. , 5 count. I usually grab a bunch of these when they're available for a chewier, veggie flavor with pea fiber added to the whole wheat and soy flours.

$2.99 – Grace Baking Rustic Multigrain or Pugliese Bread, 16 oz. Usually see these at Berkeley Grocery Outlet but Oakland had some last week.

$99 – The $99 designer
wedding dresses are gone but a nice story from Angela Hill of Bay Area New Group,
http://www.mercurynews.com/angela-hill

[Constant Velocity]

Zippo: I saw the carb watch pita bread there last week and was curious. It had a weird limpness about it that put me off. Is that the usual consistency? Do you toast it before using? I'd love to hear more about it!

[zippo]

CV: I haven't tried to toast it because didn't think that the denseness/moisture of it wouldn't make very good toast. I use them more like a tortilla, usually as a wrap with beans and cheese or other stuff inside. I bought about 5 packages since they holdup ok in the freezer and don't know when they'll be available again. Sometimes pop them in the microwave but I do love the chewiness/nutiness they have for a change of pace.

[zippo]

CV: just found this about a somewhat similar product with some serving suggestions:
http://www4.netrition.com/cgi/custome...

[Constant Velocity]

Good to know--thanks! Now we'll be fighting over them at GO!

[Melanie Wong]

Can't believe you noted my comments on the Olga dolmas . . . until you mentioned it, I didn't even remember tasting them!

[Melanie Wong]

Redwood City:

2006 Chateau La Louviere rouge Pessac-Leognan (Graves), $18.99
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:skHAE2kXcS0J:www.wjdeutsch.com/images/TRADE%2520MATERIALS/REVIEW%2520SHEETS/POST_4_16_09/LUR_ChateauLaLouviere_Rouge_06_WineAdvocate_Feb09_REVIEW.pdf+2006+chateau+la+louviere+rouge&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi82F-qOS3OsLfAbTcHrEgxmc3U-1br3tZmgFuUBfO1Q65GK2e5Y9AsDqAYy_DHGtptyH9HyIeQrEJG2ATPi3lrgBLki3vWlpoaSHHcAYi9er-ZL7QLpzFWUEQ2uqhObQRO73mm&sig=AHIEtbQWf-M8CvIrS1L9egXVZTv0KaLZvw
2007 Bürklin-Wolf Pfalz Estate Riesling, $6.99
http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku...

Nurnberg sausage imported from Germany (refrigerator case), $1.99

Lots of sausage and hot dogs for the holiday, including Alpine hot dogs (served at Giants games?)

[Melanie Wong]

Here's my tasting note on the La Louviere rouge, a buying opportunity.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/794414

The 2004 blanc was also available but a bit higher in price.

Also served the Nuremberg bratwurst and we enjoyed them very much. July 27 sell-by date, will be going back for more.

Keep forgetting to mention the Spectrum organic canola spray is available, didn't buy it so don't remember the price.

[...tm...]

I'll see if they have it at the Berkeley store tomorrow. Last weekend when I stopped by they seemed to have more than usual higher priced wines, but knowing nothing about the wine world I didn't make any particular notes.

[Melanie Wong]

Did you find La Louviere in Berkeley? A friend checked the Sonoma County stores (Rohnert Park, Petaluma and Santa Rosa, and none of them stocked it.

[...tm...]

I finally made it over to the Berkeley store and they did have some of the Chateau La Louviere left. I didn't notice any extra cass, but as of last night there were ~20 bottles shelved. I tried some, and it is definitely a good buy. Thanks for the tip, sorry I didn't make it sooner.

[sydthekyd]

What are "Gertie's artichokes"?

[kc72]

Artichoke salsa or tapenade?

[rworange]

Gerties artichoke tapanade

[paulj]

Is the big jar from Peru?

[rworange]

Didn't know there was a Peruvian version. The jar ws not as big as a 30 oz mayo jar, but a little bigger than the next size of mayo. What's the difference with the Peru stuff?

[paulj]

If it's 19..4 oz straight side jar, I think we are talking about the same thing.

Outlet is selling a larger version of this:
http://www.gertiesfinest.com/artichok...