Shopping in Niles (aka Why bother with Domincks, part VII)

Thats right...NILES. Better known as a TV character than a shopping destination.

Had to go up to Niles to pick up some plumbing fixtures at Advantage Plumbing for a Bathroom renovation and thought I would check out a couple local markets.

First, and not local in any sense - but I can never resist - the obligatry stop at Costco where I always marvel at the great deals to be found - always wide though rarely changing vaiety of cheeses, raw frozen shrimp, Oats, very good natural peanut butter, case of Pilsner Urquell, and whole chickens for (gasp) $0.79 a pound. That said, we ate one of the chickens last night and it lacked in flavor - typical mass produced chicken. I've had better luck with the "organic" chickens at the Clyborn Costco ($.99/lb) - similar in quality to what I usually get at Whole Foods ($1.99/lb). Prices and selection aside, I am almost always impressed with the customer service at Costco. Efficient, friendly, helpful.

After picking up a medicine cabinet and shower diverter at Advantage, it was off to Jerry's Fruit and Garden (7901 N. Milwaukee). Jerry's was packed. Even with the mini shopping carts, you could barely get through. Tempers ran a little short, but most seemed to take it in stride. Why would people put up with that? For the fabulous selection of well priced and high quality produce: dozens of kinds of leafy vegetables, several tighty packed aisles of dry goods, excellent ethnic offerings (asian, hispanic, indian, E. European) all jammed into a mid sized grocery. Some of my haul - head of mustard greens ($.66), 4 stalks lemon grass ($.72), pound of carrots ($.50), two packs of tortillas ($.33 each), big hunk of very fresh ginger ($.19), pound of walnuts ($4.99). I left with 5 bags of groceries for $31.00.

Why do I ever go to Dominicks?....

And next, up to Oakton, down Waukegan, and off to Super H Mart. Super H mart is essentally a Korean mega-grocery store - a national chain growing to 30 stores (and soon coming to Naperville). As big as a Domincks, very clean, enormous selection of food with a korean slant, but also very good SE Asian/Japanese. Big and comprehensive Produce section, huge seafood selection, big meat selection, and aisle after aisle of dry goods. They even hit on the usual chain store standards (lean cuisine, cereals, etc). Most impressive of all to me was the seafood/fish selection - all of which appeared to be of excellent quality - conservative choices like tuna steaks, swordfish, snapper, salmon, live lobsters, but also huge monkfish cuts, a big cooler of live crabs in the middle of the aisle, thin cut jelly fish as well as jelly fish heads. Not sure what you do with all of that, but it was certainly impressive, and all well priced - similar to Dominicks sale prices for all items and much higher qulity. I just picked up a pack of Vermicelli, spring roll wrappers, and Kaffir lime leaves ($4.67 total). Plus a very helpful staff, and it seemed to rub off on the clientelle as well - guy with a big basket of groceries let me get in front of him. Nice gesture.

And why do people go to Jewell? You can't even buy this stuff at Jewell.

All in all an excellent day of shopping. If only they were a little closer to downtown where I usually resort to Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Stanleys. Fortunately, now that I am regularly in Naperville, I can take advantage of Michaels Fresh Market and soon the H-Mart.

Leah A. Zeldes wrote a fantastic piece a few months back about shopping in Niles. It appeared in the Sun-Times back on February 14:

The near northwest suburban community of Niles, best known for its village landmark -- a half size replica of Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa, built as a water tower in 1932 -- made news last year for two events: the dramatic arrest of its mayor and the opening of a new supermarket.

Reporting on the June felony fraud indictment of Nicholas B. Blase, mayor of Niles since 1961, paled next to the coverage given the August debut of Super H Mart, the Midwest's largest Asian grocery store.

Yet for those in the know, Niles, at Chicago's northwest border, long has been a multi-ethnic food-shopping destination.

Super markets

=R=

wak wrote:And why do people go to Jewell? You can't even buy this stuff at Jewell.

I ask a lot of people why they shop at Jewel or Dominick's as opposed to the smaller independents that are just coming out to the Crystal Lake area. And the comment always seems to come back that the two chains have cleaner stores.

Personally, I do not see much of a difference except that the large chains seem to be a lot brighter.

Re: cleanliness

The Dominick's that left Mt Prospect Plaza (Rand & Central) over a year ago was certainly not the cleanest, spiffiest store around, but it was mostly dingy finishes on a store that hadn't been updated. The Garden Fresh that moved into that space appears much more clean and bright, but it's really just fresh paint, tile, new coolers, etc.

I can say that some of the ethnic groceries around here definitely fail on the bright and clean impact: The Carniceria at Wolf and Camp MacDonald (Prospect Heights) has dim lighting, produce that often looks old, and the meat counter gives off a vibe of things recently slaughtered. That ought to be a good thing: we've gotten used to out-of-sight butchers at Jewel and Dominick's, that probably do nothing more than unload pre-wrapped packages. It's never stopped me from buying arrachera, etc., although I usually tell them not to run it through the tenderizer.

I certainly don't think any of the places I've been in seem unhealthy, but bright lighting, shiny chrome certainly help me want to buy stuff.

Thats right...NILES. Better known as a TV character than a shopping destination.

My mother is an excellent example of a devoted Niles shopper. Despite living less than a 1/4 mile from both a Dominick's and Jewel in Des Plaines, my mother does most of her food shopping in Niles. Her trip a few months ago is perhaps most illustrative of her dedication to Niles' bounty:

First, she went to H Mart for Chinese broccoli. I think she bought a few other things, but she insisted that she went there for the broccoli. Next, she went to the small Polish grocery on Milwaukee, just off Dempster, for some of their prepared soup. Finally, she went to her favorite Indian fish market (I think it's actually just a small general store) on Golf, just off Milwaukee, in the strip mall with the new Wal-Mart. She swears by their catfish, but on this trip she was looking for kingfish (not sure which kind exactly). Unfortunately, all they had was one 30-lb. kingfish, which she would have bought if she could carry it home. (She has a heart condition which prevents her from buying 30-lb fish without assistance.) With my mother's insistence on never rushing and the construction on Oakton, this outing probably took her almost three hours.

wak-

While you are in Naperville, check out the Casey's Market in the shopping center on Washington, just north of 75th Street. Spinoff and much larger edition of their Western Springs store. TOP quality meat and lots of upscale foods.

There's a TJ at the other end of the strip, too. Really one-stop shopping!

Mike

I'm thinking of making a blueberry/blackberry pie with a lemon cornmeal crust. Has anyone been to Jerry's lately? Are their berries cheaper than Fresh Farms (2 for $4)?

(From Fine Cooking, but you need a password, so: http://digitalgourmet.blogspot.com/2009 ... nmeal.html)

happy_stomach wrote:She has a heart condition which prevents her from buying 30-lb fish without assistance.

^^ Banner Quote!