Until today, I’d never been to a grocery store so popular that I had to wait in line to get into the parking lot.
Mental note: Next time we venture up to Caputo’s Fresh Market, pick an off time, if there is such a time for the Elmwood Park grocery.
We’d been wanting to check out the store ever since we started reading last month that owner Angelo Caputo had opened up a more spacious grocery at Grand and Harlem, about two blocks away from where he opened his first store more than 50 years ago.
More spacious for sure — from 12,00 square feet to 50,000 square feet — but that didn’t stop the bottleneck at the expansive deli counter. We didn’t even try to wade into that crowd.
But we did enjoy taking a quick spin through the aisles, taking mental notes about the wide variety of produce (beets w/beet greens or without) and more varieties of squash than I see at my local farmers market. The butcher there is pretty fantastic too. Lots of well-labeled, well-sourced meats.
We’re stocked up on chicken for now, but it’s good to know that Caputo’s sells Miller Poultry, Amish and Mennonite raised poultry from Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan.
We used to go to Caputo’s when we would meet friends in the area for dinner. It’s always been the place to go for hard-to-find Italian fixins.
But this new grocery is even better and not just for Italian fare. It’s a full grocery and I could easily knock off my entire shopping list there, down to the burlap sacks of basmati rice.
Today, we picked up a brand of coconut milk we have trouble getting elsewhere and our new favorite El Pato enchilada sauce for the cream cheese enchiladas I made tonight.
Of course I couldn’t resist the olive bar. To. Die. For.
We will be back, just maybe not on a Sunday after church.
Virtual Farmgirl 