Bum Trip at Stanley's

-I feel bad writing this. I haven't been to Stanley's (fruits & veggies) for 5 years or more, and decided to go there to shop for the 2 side dishes I'm making for Easter. (I'm creating a cauliflower paprikash thing, and some greens with pork hocks, also fresh horseradish)
-Anyway, get there at 7:15 this morning- no cauliflower, no greens (except 3 micro-bunchs of sad looking organic collard), rotten lemons, limp horseradish, no white onions. Did buy some great leeks, liked the music...some other stuff looked fine. Somebody tell me I was horribly unlucky.

Unlucky. But that's stanley's.. you tend to get very unlucky sometimes.

gleam wrote:Unlucky. But that's stanley's.. you tend to get very unlucky sometimes.

I agree. Stanley's is a complete crap-shoot and you got un-lucky. I like the place but I think that whomever runs their purchasing or re-stocking needs a little kick in the pants. The stock is wildly inconsistent.

Best,
Michael

We've noticed that Wednesday nights are especially spotty...as if they wanted to completely run out the old stuff before restocking the shelves on Thursday.

And then there's Vital Information's theory that Stanley purchases produce that's on it's last leg (at a cheaper cost).

Evil Ronnie wrote:And then there's Vital Information's theory that Stanley purchases produce that's on it's last leg (at a cheaper cost).

I fully subscribe to this theory, too. It seems to be pretty well known that you only buy at Stanley's what you plan to use within 24-48 hours.

I think that's true of a lot of the places with "Produce" or "Fruit Ranch" anywhere in their names. I find that, most of the time, if the veggies are a real bargain, they're not long for this world.

Agreed with all of the above.

Here are my two cardinal rules for Stanley's:
One, as mentioned, plan to eat food within the next day or so and
Two, Don't go expecting anything.
No list, no recipes in mind, no particular ingredients.

The asparagus they had last week for 1.49 or 1.89 a pound looked a little thick and tree-like, but it was actually quite tender (and wonderful grilled during our first grilling of the season). The baby spinach has also been young and undamaged and pretty consistently on sale for 2.49/lb recently.

They actually had several colors of cauliflower a few weeks back (yellow, purple, and white). Doesn't surprise me that there was none this week.

Limes and lemons have been expensive everywhere (i.e. Stanleys, mex markets and devon) for the past 3 weeks or so. Not sure what is up with that. We've just been using bottled til the prices break again.

The fun of Stanley's is seeing what you can get, and then planning the meal based on what was there and whats in the freezer/pantry. I really like this game, it makes you think about ingredients in a different way -- imaging what can take the place of spinach in mainstream recipes, how pumpkin and sweet potatoes can run the gamut and serve in the place of fruits and starches and sometimes meats. We have also had fun finding lots of uses for avocado when they are 25 cents each (our new obsession is with bacon and avocado sandwiches).

You can't go planning to get anything in particular.
Its always hit and miss, and sometimes this means you walk out with just a handful of garlic.

1) I have had similiar experiences at Stanley's, from about 1985
til I finally said the hell with it, dispite the fact that I would be
driving by the place all the time.
2) Try the avacado & bacon sandwich on brownberry ovens, or
similarly grainy whole wheat. Munster cheese goes well & I
seem to remember Mel Markem's (sic) putting alfalfa sprouts
on it. I'd toast the bread & let it cool.

dashboard diner
"come as you are, you can eat in your car"

the thing is...that's how Stanley's started....buying those case of lemons, etc, where one or more in the case was moldy/bad- and the others, if you picked thru the case, were salvagable.
The industry term is "kick-overs".
(from, carefully -"Kicking-over" the case, to better reveal the fruit/produce beneath the top of the box).
This term, and Stanleys "edge' was explained to me by a Produce Market maven,Brad, many years ago- during my Catering career at the now shuttered China Club.
I belive that it is very hit and mis at Stanleys. I often find items for less at Whole Paycheck (for example Silk Soymilk Vanilla Creamer,excellent in Masala Chai!)...or even better priced & fresher at SuperMercado Jimenez on Fullerton.
Shelf life of the produce at Stanleys is .........very short.