America's Market

I mentioned this place in the thread about root beer, because they have so many kinds (I stopped by today, and they're up to 27 different root beers). Of more interest to me is the 8 varieties of ginger beer, but that's just me. But I wanted to write a little something here, under shopping, because even with 110 different sodas, beverages only represent about 20 percent of what's in this dandy new store.

These folks are looking to carry the best and most interesting foods from across the United States. They have nostalgia foods, such as violet-scented gum, but even more of the stuff they have is goodies from across the country, from garlic pickled mushrooms to splendid salsas to meats from Ream's Elburn Market.

I have lots of reasons for writing about this place. First, I want this place to succeed, as I want to be able to continue shopping there. I think it's a neat idea and the people who work there are terrific. Second, they are looking for the best products they can find, and I think we have a wealth of information in this group that can help them find nifty products to fill their shelves. (They've got a lot of fabulous stuff already, but they're only six months old, so they're still learning.) Third, it is a rich resource for goodies for all you LTHers out there. Finally, they are very excited about LTHForum, and they have said they'd be glad to do special events for us.

America's Market
9 Huntington Lane
Wheeling, IL 60090
847-850-2563

And if you need more incentive for the drive out to this place, it's a block from Chaihanna, the only Uzbek restaurant in the Chicago area, and it's only a couple of doors from a great little Russian deli. So you can kill several birds with one stone.

I was less thrilled with this shop than Cynthia is. It looks more suited to be at Navy Pier or somewhere like that, if you know what I mean, with touristy sorts of merchandise at premium prices. I noticed several items that I can buy at Dominick's for less than they charge.

They don't carry much in the way of real food, but lots of hot sauces, barbecue sauces, candy, and a wide variety of soda pops in 12-ounce glass bottles priced at $1.50-$1.75 each.

I'd call ahead if you're looking for anything in particular. If there were Elburn meats there when I was there, they were well hidden, although I did notice cryovac-packed ribs from Uncle Mel's, if anyone remembers that long-gone Evanston barbecue joint. (They also have Uncle Mel's sauce, along with Buddy Roadhouse, Head's Red and others.)

I wouldn't quibble at the prices and selection if they were somewhere in a high-traffic district, but they seem sort of precious for an out-of-the-way suburban shopping strip.

Well, they're actually hoping to eventually become a destination of sorts. They have plans to add a kitchen in the back and bring in chefs to do cooking demos. They regularly have special events, and they have happily offered to open at odd hours for LTHers. Plus, as discussed in the root beer thread, it does seem to be the only place in Illinois with more than five kinds of root beer (certainly the only one with 27 varieties).

I don't think it's intended to be a "real" food store, but rather a place you go for special "hunting trips." And even if they charge more for Elburn meats than the original market does, with the price of gas, it's a savings for me. (And the owner has said that, if there is anything I want from Elburn, let him know, and whenever he goes down there, he'll bring back what I want. Hard to beat customer service like that.)

I didn't go nuts shopping in there -- bought two different brands of ginger beer. But it's going to be the place I go for unusual things or specialty items from out of town or candies otherwise only available by mail from Vermont Country Store.

I hope they do well simply because they are so excited about what they're doing.

But yes -- I agree that, if there is something specific you want, calling ahead is a good idea (unless you live nearby). Because they are new and growing, so I suspect this will be an evolving thing.

I'm in Aurora, and I'm jealous that someone has a local resource for Ream's products from Elburn. I love to go there, but with gas north of $4 a gallon, it really has become an extravagance. But I'm really jonesing for some Ream's hotdogs.....

Cynthia wrote:Well, they're actually hoping to eventually become a destination of sorts.

I should have said "high-rent district" rather than "high-traffic."

The selection of items and the way they're displayed makes the concept seem more aimed at impulse purchases, the sort of thing you'd pick up if you were on vacation or perhaps buying a gift, than for anyone really looking for food to cook with. It doesn't seem like the kind of place where you'd go to stock up on anything.

Cynthia wrote:Plus, as discussed in the root beer thread, it does seem to be the only place in Illinois with more than five kinds of root beer (certainly the only one with 27 varieties).

The soda pop was the main thing that made them stand out for me, although it doesn't look as if you could buy a case of any of them. Or even a six-pack. Perhaps they have more in the back, but there's nothing to indicate that they so.

I'd love to see somebody do a concept like this that wasn't based on fancy foods. How many kinds of hot sauce or barbecue sauce does anybody need?

Things I'd like to see in an American foods store include: Southern-style flour (Martha White, I suppose, now that White Lily has been tampered with), beaten biscuits, cane syrup, tasso, andouille, crawfish, olive salad, country ham, mayhaws, conch, Dancy tangerines, kringle, Sheboygan bratwurst, Sheboygan hard rolls, walleye, Detroit pastrami, corn rye, old-dill pickles, city chicken, bumpy cake, zip sauce, pasties, sour cherries, paw paws, American persimmons, ramps, morels, black walnuts, hickory nuts, goetta, opera creams, buckeyes, modjeskas, gooey butter cakes, Lebanon bologna, black-and-white cookies, Fox's U-Bet, seltzer in old-fashioned glass siphon bottles, white hots, kummelweck rolls, whoopie pies, brown bread, quahogs, Concord grapes, fiddleheads, Autocrat Coffee Syrup, blue crab, chokecherries, green corn tamales, Hatch chilies, bizcochitos, sourdough bread, varietal garlic, marionberries, loganberries, olallieberries, huckleberries and Hawaiian salt.

I'd like a pony.

gleam wrote:I'd like a pony.

Sorry, it's illegal to sell horsemeat for human consumption in Illinois.

LAZ wrote:The selection of items and the way they're displayed makes the concept seem more aimed at impulse purchases, the sort of thing you'd pick up if you were on vacation or perhaps buying a gift.

Things I'd like to see in an American foods store include: Southern-style flour (Martha White, I suppose, now that White Lily has been tampered with), beaten biscuits, cane syrup, tasso, andouille, crawfish, olive salad, country ham, mayhaws, conch, Dancy tangerines, kringle, Sheboygan bratwurst, Sheboygan hard rolls, walleye, Detroit pastrami, corn rye, old-dill pickles, city chicken, bumpy cake, zip sauce, pasties, sour cherries, paw paws, American persimmons, ramps, morels, black walnuts, hickory nuts, goetta, opera creams, buckeyes, modjeskas, gooey butter cakes, Lebanon bologna, black-and-white cookies, Fox's U-Bet, seltzer in old-fashioned glass siphon bottles, white hots, kummelweck rolls, whoopie pies, brown bread, quahogs, Concord grapes, fiddleheads, Autocrat Coffee Syrup, blue crab, chokecherries, green corn tamales, Hatch chilies, bizcochitos, sourdough bread, varietal garlic, marionberries, loganberries, olallieberries, huckleberries and Hawaiian salt.

If you look at their website (still in the works, but it gives you the concept), gifts are exactly what they have in mind (including gift baskets) -- so if that's what it makes you think of, then they may have hit their target.

As for the other goodies -- while they are clearly not set up to be a full-service grocery store, they have asked for suggestions. I don't see blue crab, crawfish, or quahogs being carried (at least not fresh), but you could ask them for the brand-named dry goods on your list above with the knowledge that they would look into it. But no one can do everything. (Though it's clear the owners hope to do well enough to expand, so that someday they might have more of what's on your list.)

As for pasties, I think you can get those over at English Accents in Long Grove, which is actually closer to you than America's Market. (Besides, pasties aren't actually American, so they are really more appropriate at British Accents.)

I guess I just like their excitement and their desire to please (no other store has ever told me "just call if our hours don't work for you" or "tell us what you want from Elburn and we'll pick it up when we're down there"). They have regular taste testings. They have now said that they'd be glad to host LTH events (yes, I talk to them as enthusiastically about LTH as I'm talking to LTH about them). And as I said, I don't think of them as a place I go to stock up on cooking supplies -- and I don't think that's what they are even trying to be. I go there for fun, to try a few new things, to get stuff I can't get at the regular grocery store. And yes, I can imagine going there for gifts.

Cynthia wrote:(Besides, pasties aren't actually American, so they are really more appropriate at British Accents.)

Tell that to the good people of the UP.

stevez wrote:

Cynthia wrote:(Besides, pasties aren't actually American, so they are really more appropriate at British Accents.)

Tell that to the good people of the UP.

So, do they have a lot of Cornish tin miners up there? I didn't realize Cornish pasties had made it big anywhere in the U.S. Nice to know -- should I ever get up there. (I've been to Cornwall more often than I've been to the UP -- and I've only been to Cornwall once. )

That makes it possible that someone is selling frozen pasties, then -- so another possible recommendation.

Pasties are very popular in the UP. And yes, lots of Cornish iron and copper miners, although that was 100+ years ago.

Places shipping frozen pasties:

http://www.jeankayspasties.com/
http://www.dobberspasties.com/v2/
http://www.ilovepasties.com/
http://www.sheldonsbakery.com/sheldons_ ... sties.html

I'll vouch for the first two, though I'm not a big fan of the pasty. Get some of Toivo and Eino's Pasty Sauce, too.

Pasties are a big deal in the U.P., and you sometimes see them in other parts of Michigan. I don't know how close the Yooper version comes to the Cornish variety, since it seems to have been heavily influenced by Finnish immigrants.

I'm told, although I can't vouch from personal experience, that pasties are also popular in other mining regions, including parts of California, Arizona, Montana, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The last I can attest to somewhat, since I've bought frozen ones at Woodman's Market in Racine and eaten fresh-made pasties in downtown Madison.

Myles Teddywedgers
101 State St.
Madison, Wis.
(608) 257-2383

Cynthia wrote:Well, they're actually hoping to eventually become a destination of sorts. They have plans to add a kitchen in the back and bring in chefs to do cooking demos. They regularly have special events, and they have happily offered to open at odd hours for LTHers. Plus, as discussed in the root beer thread, it does seem to be the only place in Illinois with more than five kinds of root beer (certainly the only one with 27 varieties).

.

Im hoping to do a product/bbq demo there this summer sometime since they picked up my sauce.

Thanks for letting us know about this place! I know where to go to increase my bottlecap collection and get my root beer fix!

Hello to all from America's Market. I first want to introduce myself. I am the female shopkeeper to the store. I have a great interest in it. First of all, I love food. Second of all, when I first walked into the store, I said "piece of heaven". This thought in my head is what kept me coming back, and eventually working at it. I am committed to making this one of a kind store a success. The concept is great and the products in the store are unique to all types of people. The reason we first focused on the root beers is because we just had a very successful tasting that brought in many new faces and many new suggestions for the store. Just to let all of you know, from that day to now, we have been looking for new products and plan on loading up the shelves with them. There are not many stores, that can say they have 110 different sodas plus shelves full of unique food items.

Everyone has their own opinions about things and we really appreciate the suggestions. If there is something that needs to be changed, please let me know and we can look for new things. That is one of our goals at America's Market, we want to please the consumers out there and have you keep coming back. I appreciate the plugs we have had so far and I am looking forward to many more. Cynthia, thank you so much for everything and I am so glad I got to meet you. I am honored to be a part of this forum. One more thing, Cynthia, can I buy one of your books from you. Let me know. Have a great day! Cheryl

dimples wrote: When I first walked into the store, I said "piece of heaven". This thought in my head is what kept me coming back, and eventually working at it.

Lots of people talk about wanting to work at some store that caught their fancy. It's nice to know someone is doing it.

dimples wrote: I am honored to be a part of this forum.

And we're pleased to have you. Since you love food, you'll probably have a good time with this group.

dimples wrote: One more thing, Cynthia, can I buy one of your books from you. Let me know. Have a great day! Cheryl

You bet. Just let me know which days you work, and I'll make sure my next visit is when you're there.

Cynthia, I am pretty much here all the time. Let me know how much it is and I can leave you money. You can drop it off anytime. Cheryl

I found myself trekking to the Northwest Suburbs today, and lured by the promise of 110 different sodas, I paid a visit to America's Market. I had a chance to meet Dimples and explore the store a bit. It's an interesting store. It reminds me of a place you would find in a tourist-type area offering different regional specialties; however the selection at America's Market was top notch and worth seeking out if you are putting together a gift basket for a nostalgic foodie friend.

Yes, there are 110 different sodas (in full disclosure, I didn't count them)

America's Market Wall-O-Soda


In addition to the selection on the shelves, there is also a cooler in the back of the store offering many of the sodas cold and ready to drink.

The Cooler


I was happy to be able to purchase a bottle of Ale-8-One Ginger Ale (made in Kentucky) to try out. Ale-8-One was one of the "11 Regional Road Snacks" listed in the latest issue of Saveur.

Ale-8-One


Besides the sodas, there is an entire wall of condiments; including a good selection of BBQ Sauces.

America's Market Wall-O-Condiments


Among the selection of sauces, placed side by side by a twist of fate, are two brands represented here on LTH Forum.

Brothers in Sauce


In addition to the sauce and soda, they also have a pretty respectable supply of vintage candy and other regional snacks. I even noticed tasty-cakes for all those transplanted Philly people. Dimples seemed interested in expanding their offerings as people request different things. I'm not sure the store is right for the location (they'd probably do better in an area with more tourist traffic), but hopefully they will be able to survive if enough people discover them and make it a point to visit. I know I'll be back to try more of the sodas and to pick up more of the hard to find red-packaged *Nestle Milk Chocolate bars that they carry.

* A childhood guilty pleasure

stevez wrote:II was happy to be able to purchase a bottle of Ale-8-One Ginger Ale (made in Kentucky) to try out. Ale-8-One was one of the "11 Regional Road Snacks" listed in the latest issue of Saveur.

Ale-8-One

Wow, it's been a while since I've seen that bottle - should have had that for the kids on Derby Day, except IIRC, it's quite heavily caffeinated - funny that they call it ginger ale, I remember it more like Mountain Dew.

Was the Netherlands Coke available? The description really piqued my interest...

Mhays wrote:Wow, it's been a while since I've seen that bottle - should have had that for the kids on Derby Day, except IIRC, it's quite heavily caffeinated - funny that they call it ginger ale, I remember it more like Mountain Dew.

Was the Netherlands Coke available? The description really piqued my interest...

Saveur describes Ale-8-One as gently fizzy with a soft lemon-lime finish. It's chillin right now in my fridge and I'm planning on drinking it with dinner. Hopefully there won't be too much caffeine in it or I'll be up all night.

I asked again about the Netherlands Coke, but so far there is no word one way or the other. She said they are looking into it.

UPDATE: I just looked at the Ale-8-One bottle and caffeine is indeed listed as an ingredient, although it's the last one in the list. Hopefully it's not too caffeinated.

Oh my god, look at all the bottlecaps! I'm definitely going this weekend. And I shall beat everybody at the next Wacky Pop Nite! Muahahahahahaha!!!

Guess what all you "America's Market" fan, it's dimples, here to tell you I should have the Netherland's Coke by the end of next week. I am going to take my daughter up to camp and I found a contact who has it for me. I will e-mail all of you when I have the beautiful bottles in my hand. I am so excited!

Man, I have to get to this place. Thanks for the photos, steve.

dimples wrote::D Guess what all you "America's Market" fan, it's dimples, here to tell you I should have the Netherland's Coke by the end of next week. I am going to take my daughter up to camp and I found a contact who has it for me. I will e-mail all of you when I have the beautiful bottles in my hand. I am so excited!

There were two ladies there when i dropped off the case of sauce a couple weeks ago..were you one of them? I keep meaning to stop back up at lunch

No, Iwas not there. I have brown curly hair and I do have a dimple. I hope to meet you next time. Dimples

I think I'm in love.
I was there just about an hour ago, and it was so nifty! I made off with 6 bottles of sodie, a difficult task considering the unusual array. The six: Original Moxie (with the Moxie cap), Orange Moxie (with the cap-bellied creature on the cap), Diet Cheerwine, Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray, Buddy's Grape, and Ski (citrus, with real citrus bits floating in the bottom)! So many of the candies and sweets I remember from childhood were there, even ones I haven't seen in ages, and "vintage" ones that I always wanted to try. Tomorrow's lunch shall be a banana moon pie, Owyhee Cherry Cocktail, Old Faithful Peanut Cluster, and afterwards, a good old fashioned chocolate cigarette. This is a great place to go for stuffin's for foodie gift baskets, stockings, etc.
I was too shy to introduce myself, but the person working today at one was fabulous. Any item that I asked about, she promised to look into for me if I wrote it in their guest book. Upon buying 6 bottles, she found a little paper six-pack holder to keep them intact. And if I could think of anything they were in need of selling, I should let her know. She was incredibly helpful and sweet, so please, all, stop in soon and bring your friends.

Thank you for the compliment!

I'm in love, too. Beth and I made it by today (after a lunch at Wiener and Still Champion, where Gus indulged me by making a dipping dog using one of his polish sausages -- incredibly hard to eat, and truly delicious) and had a blast.

We came back with 6 cans of cane sugar Dr Pepper (bottles are coming in soon) and 10 bottles of assorted root and ginger beers, most of which I haven't tried. We also got some Booberry cereal, taffy, rock candy, orange-dyed coconut oil and popcorn salt, Zotz (hard candy with sour sugar inside them), Wonka bottlecaps, a Tootsie caramel apple pop, and some Sen-Sen licorice candies. Beth was also excited to see Coffee Crisp, an old Canadian favorite of hers.*

We also spent a while talking to Todd about sodas, Canadian and Detroit specialty items, hot sauces, and tons of other stuff.

Restricting my list to American stuff that is non-perishable, here's a quick list of stuff from my childhood and not:

Candies: Push Pops, Bubble Tape, Pixie Stix, Lik-m-aid fun dip, fruit flavored tootsie rolls, bit-o-honey, Laffy Taffy, Now and Later, Runts, Chupa Chups, Hot Dog Gum, Cow Tales, etc, etc. Many of these are probably still widely available, though.

Sodas: Gale's Root Beer (unless I missed it), Sonoran Root Beer, Faygo Red Pop (I hear this is on the way already), AJ Stephans' Ginger Beer (I might have just not noticed it).

Misc: Garbage pail kids McClure's Pickles.


*Her brother brought her 48 of them a year or so ago, and after eating almost all of them, she now claims to be burnt out.

stevez wrote:Saveur describes Ale-8-One as gently fizzy with a soft lemon-lime finish. It's chillin right now in my fridge and I'm planning on drinking it with dinner. Hopefully there won't be too much caffeine in it or I'll be up all night....UPDATE: I just looked at the Ale-8-One bottle and caffeine is indeed listed as an ingredient, although it's the last one in the list. Hopefully it's not too caffeinated.

Steve, my one and only experience with Ale-8-One was at Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati where a manager explained the name to me thusly:

Ale-8-One is meant to read, "A Late One", as in, "It's going to be a late one cramming for my finals here at University of Cincinnati. Guess I'll chug a couple of Ale-8-Ones to keep me going."

So yeah, I suppose the name says it all in terms of the level of caffeine involved.

I wasn't too fond of the taste, and I don't recall any specific difficulties that night in falling asleep, although I did consume the beverage mid-afternoon, so maybe the effects had worn off by then.

Bottoms up!

Buddy

gleam wrote:Faygo Red Pop

Meijer carries Faygo.