Save-A-Lot Market, Prospect Heights (plus Mu Shu Fajitas)

While waiting for Ultra Foods to open in Prospect Heights in the long-shuttered Dominick's spot, Save-A-Lot opened on the other side of Prospect Heights, where Irv's Menswear was at Palatine and Milwaukee. It's got to tick off the Mango's Market which has aggressively advertised, to get another grocery put in immediately adjacent.

I went in to get some salad fixings the other day, and I have to say I don't expect I'll be in there much, except to grab something on the way back from my client, since it's directly between the tollway and my house.
Think Aldi... then take away everything you like about Aldi. It's industrial shelving, very few brand names, relatively low prices (but not on milk or tortillas), and none of the specialty food items you find for limited periods at Aldi.

The closest thing to a bright spot was some meat items marked at $1.00 off, due to the fact that their sell-by date was the following day. I wasn't going to get the ground beef (it looked a little grey), but some sliced pork shoulder cooked up very nicely on the grill as "mu shu fajitas":

1 lb pork shoulder, sliced 1/4" thick
1 medium yellow onion, sliced longitudanally
1 red bell pepper, julienned
a small handful each of dried shredded wood ear fungus and lily buds
soy sauce
chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
five spice powder
1/2" ginger root, minced
hoisin sauce
Flour tortillas

Preheat gas grill (yeah, charcoal would be better, this is a weeknight dish), if you have a grilling grate for vegetables, it's a good idea to put on now, to stop loss of veg.
Place fungus and lily buds in a bowl of hot water about 1/2 hour before serving
Put the pork in a bowl with the ginger, about 1 tsp each of the wine and soy and half a tsp of five spice powder, mix and let marinate while the grill finishes heating.
Grill the vegetables and meat, about 3-4 minutes per side, on high heat.
Drain the fungus and lily buds, chop if large.
Chop the meat into smaller than bite size pieces.
Warm the tortillas (I use a short blast of microwaves), serve the meat, veg and rehydrated stuff on a large platter for build-your-own fajitas. Apply a squirt of hoisin, roll up the tortilla, and you're done.
Serves 4