Looking for salsify in Chicago

I've been looking, quite unsuccessfully, for salsify in Chicago. In most years, I've purchased it from Nichols Farm, but each year their yield has declined to the point at which, this year, they only produced a single bunch. Time to go looking for another source, but where?

I tried calling Whole Foods, at a few different locations. In one case, I found myself on the phone with an employee who sounded genuinely stoned, who told me that corporate wouldn't allow them to purchase the stuff, because salsify was a chemical (!). When I assured him that salsify was, in fact, not a chemical, but a root vegetable often grown organically, I was informed that Whole Foods had a policy against carrying organic vegetables. News to me, probably news to their corporate office as well, but cluelessness is a market force, sad to say. The employee in question claimed to be their buyer, so scratch Whole Foods as a source. The other locations I tried didn't produce experiences quite so bizarre, but I didn't get any further, all locations apparently being dependent on the one guy who thought that salsify was synthesized by Dow Chemical or something like that. At least, so I am told.

Treasure Island didn't even know what salsify was. On the bright side, they knew that they didn't know, which is progress of a kind, I suppose. A Googlesearch produced a mountain of useless results, which Google tends to do. What I was looking for was a place where I could purchase the root in raw form, in quantities appropriate for home cooking. What I got was a large number of reviews of restaurants where somebody else had used salsify in a dish. Not really helpful at all.

Has anybody had any success finding this item here in Chicago, or do only chefs get to purchase it anymore?

I usually get it from Henry's Farm at the Evanston Farmers' Market.

Wow. That the Whole Foods buyer is so clueless is shocking, though the way you reported your interaction with him, it was at least the source of some chuckles here. As entertaining to read as the real experience likely was frustrating.

Maybe you could contact Chefs Bowles and Cantu (both LTH members) and ask them if they have a supplier who could help out. If anyone around here would have access to it, one would certainly hope the top chefs would.

One other idea: Have you tried Fox & Obel? They might have a supplier who has it.

Good luck... welcome...

Antonius

I have seen it at Fox and Obel in the past, though I can't vouch for whether they have it currently.

Well, it wasn't there today, and the gentleman working in produce had never heard of it.

Is there more than one Fox and Obel? The place I was in was on McClurg Court in the East Loop. I'd have to say, at least based on the Produce section, that I was underwhelmed. It struck me as being a store designed by a marketing department, more packaging than product. Nice looking website, largely devoid of content, pointing one toward an attractive store with a little French restaurant music playing in the background, one that looked so very much like a movie set of a fine food store, but like the movie set, didn't have as much in the way of an actual food selection as the atmosphere might have lead one to hope. It wasn't dramatically worse than most food stores, but it also wasn't noticably better than, say, Treasure Island, certainly nothing that would justify going that far out of one's way.

I can't picture myself going there again. Did I miss something?

I feel like there's a lot of commentary on Fox and Obel here, but maybe not all in one place.

Produce department is not real strong, although they do occasionally care some oddball stuff like salsify. Staff/service is hit or miss, some people really know there stuff, but it doesn't surprise me that you ran into someone who'd never heard of salsify.

The strengths, I think, are the bakery, charcuterie, and meat/fish counter. The bakery and meat/fish, in particular, are among the tops in the city. Cheese counter is a mixed bag. They have a lot of pre-cut, prewrapped stuff, but will cut a lot of nice stuff to order too. And they get some things no one else has. Suzanne, who runs the cheese dept., really knows her stuff.

Packaged foods...I don't buy a lot of this stuff, so I don't know for sure. It seems like a pretty eclectic and interesting mix...it's expensive and a lot of it can be had elsewhere cheaper, but a lot of people don't like to traipse all over town to pick up their fancy or ethnic stuff. Of course, I don't know that these people shop at Fox and Obel either.

I think their wine department is interesting, and I've had some very good conversations with the girl (Ashley?) who runs that too, but she's the only one who knows anything about it.

Oh, and I really like the cafe...soups are delicious, and I think the half sandwiches are a pretty reasonable and satisfying lunch. There are a lot of nits you can pick, I guess, but overall, I like having the store around, especially when I worked right upstairs. Now that I'm only back at the mothership about once a month, I still try to bring back a loaf of ciderhouse rye.

You can find some more comments here. Sorry that doesn't help with the salsify, though. Do tell if you find it.

Lakeshore wrote:
Is there more than one Fox and Obel? The place I was in was on McClurg Court in the East Loop. I'd have to say, at least based on the Produce section, that I was underwhelmed... I can't picture myself going there again. Did I miss something?

I don't go there often, in part because it is out of the way for me, in part because it's expensive, but it sounds to me as if you did miss something. The bread is excellent, the meat and seafood departments are excellent (though certainly not to be admired for bargains). For packaged goods, the prices are in many cases laughably marked up but there are many excellent and interesting items available, some of which are not readily findable elsewhere. It's a gourmet store with gourmet store prices. I generally prefer to find the things I'm looking for in far-flung ethnic stores but that's in part because I enjoy shopping for ingredients and in part because I'm not rich. If I had more money and more opportunities to get over there, I'd visit F&O more often (though certainly not on a weekly basis).

Like Aaron, I vaguely recall seeing salsify there in the past, maybe two years ago or so.

Antonius

I'd suggest giving Marketplace on Oakton a try - they seem to carry virtually every other veg I've ever heard of, and plenty that I haven't. I'm positive I've seen them with the other root vegs before, with the parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, etc.

MArketplace on Oakton
4817 W Oakton (just east of downtown Skokie)
Skokie IL
847.677.9330

I have seen salsify at A&G Fresh Market (Belmont in first block west of Central) within the last few weeks.

This Wisconsin farm is a salsify specialist. Perhaps they can ship or provide a local source:

http://www.weststarfarm.com/produce.htm