Caputo's 1st time: Delightful overall, some disappointments

A fellow parent from our daycare works out that way and generously sponsored a 2-family outing in her car. Of course I was thrilled to finally get there. There were many wonders to be sure, but a few real "issues."

PRO
* A sea of cheeses from all over at good prices -- fresh ricotta and mozz.(see "Con" below for the flip side of this issue)

* The many varieties of house sausage: mild, hot, extra hot, black pepper, garlic, sweet - Oh, bliss! Oh rapture!! Took home 3 kinds and improvsed a pasta sauce w/ crumbled sausage, dried porcini and domestic mushrooms, wine. Yum.

* Imported seafood and octopus salads.

* Imported spanish salami.

* Friendly help and, amazingly, no crowds on a mid-Saturday morning.

* The produce section prices: Nice looking asparagus at $1.79/lb, red/yellow/orange peppers at .99 (vs. $4/lb at either Dom's or W.F.)

* Nice selection of tinned goods (sardines, anchovies, etc. at good prices)

* Arancini

* Butter cookies at half the price of good bakery butter cookies in town (Swedish bakery or Selmarie)

* Olives at half the in-town prices: lovely mild green Puglia olives and some smaller dark purple ones whose name escapes me.

CON
* Surprisingly small selection of olive oils. House label and one or 2 other but that's it. No wine estate oils or extra good stuff.

* Lots and lots of pre-cut, shrink-wrapped cheese: this, I think, is a big problem. Plastic wrapping is just plain bad for cheese. I took a chance that they did so much volume maybe the cheese didn't stay smothered for too long. I bought a hunk of Taleggio. Very bad. Very stinky, mushy around the perimeter and ammoniated. Taleggio is a strong cheese, but this wasn't strong, just bad. It needs to be in wax paper and mature, not hermetically sealed in unbreathable plastic to decompose.

* Tried an imported pasta with the house label. It was a nice, rustic looking short noodle with a bit of a twist. But, it didn't cook up well. Went from under-cooked to kind of gummy without a perfect stage in-between.

All that said, I would return happily in a heartbeat. But for a place that seems oriented around the cheese component, all that shrink wrap seemed an odd way to treat it.[/u]

This sounds like Caputo Cheese Market, on 15th just off North Ave, rather than Caputo Fresh Markets, which has a location on Harlem in Elmwood Park.

Correct?

mrbarolo:

I was wondering about the same question which Ed just addressed, namely, which of the Caputo's stores you were at.

The only one of the sundry Caputo's stroes that I've been to is the one on Harlem Ave in Elmwood Park and it is a fine store in lots of respects. But the more deeply one knows a given cuisine, it seems to me the more one feels the need to build up a whole bunch of stores for various different items -- no one Arab or Mexican or Italian store comes close to satisfying me in all respects. One thing I like about going out to Harlem Avenue is that one can visit several different places for each of their specialties on one trip. But for a lot of packaged goods, bulk items and increasingly for certain cheeses (freshly cut from large forms), especially if you live in the city, I (again) recommend Graziano's on Randolph.

So then, which one of the Caputo's was the one you visited? I'm definitely interested in checking more of them out.

Antonius

Correct.

Are these unrelated enterprises? Are the Caputos posts I've read in the past all relating to the one I haven't visited? Oh, God! I'm so confused.

mrbarolo wrote:Correct.

Are these unrelated enterprises? Are the Caputos posts I've read in the past all relating to the one I haven't visited? Oh, God! I'm so confused.

I have an ad in front of me that states:

Caputo Cheese Market 1931 N. 15th Ave.
Melrose Park...
Owned & Operated by Wiscon Corporation...
Not affiliated with any other Caputo

Then another ad for "Joe Caputo & Sons" at 959 E. Oakton Street, Des Plaines, with a new location to open at 2070 N. Rand Road in Palatine...

Then "Angelo Caputo's" with three locations:
2650 N. Harlem, Elmwood Park
510 W. Lake, Addison
1250 W. Lake, Hannover Park

Website: www.caputomarkets.com

I hope that helps!

A

mrbarolo wrote:Plastic wrapping is just plain bad for cheese.

Perhaps this requires a thread of its own, but can anyone chime in on the proper home storage procedures for cheese? I have heard many conflicting reports, mostly from cheese shop purveyors.

I've been told to:

--Tightly wrap in plastic wrap, fresh plastic for each use.
--Wrap in parchment or wax paper and put in a plastic ziploc bag.
--Wrap in parchment paper with no plastic bag (odor is an issue here).

I'd love to hear what the truth is here.

Best,
Michael / EC

The Caputo's off of North and the Caputo's on Harlem are owned by brothers, but they are otherwise un-related from a corporate stand-point. The 15th Street (North Ave.) Capututo's, which Mr. Barolo went to, also manufactures cheese under the Wiscon and Caputo's labels. In fact, the store used to be the factory until a few years ago.

Here's a few of my opinions about the two Caputo's:

Cheese is the raison d'etre at the North Ave. Caputo's; their fresh mozz is very, very good, I think probably the best in the area (as is their ricotta). Prices are what makes it great for cheese not deep, artisianal choices. That said, in my experience, they will always cut/re-wrap any cheese you want. Really. Just ask.

The prices for packaged and canned goods, Italian tuna and pasta particularly, at the North Ave. Caputo's are insanely low.

I like the deli counter better at the North Ave. Caputo's also although you are more often able to find salt-anchovies at the Harlem Caputo's.

The Harlem Caputo's is all about produce, and it has a nicer overall produce selection, featuring both low prices and higher variety, especially rare-ish Italian products like big purplish-white Sicilian eggplants, cardoons, and the chickory that was subject to some discussion a while back. Also, seasonal things like chestnuts and fresh garbanzos.

Harlem Caputo's has a small but complete meat department with amazingly low prices for good quality skirt steak. You can also work your way through the Fergus Henderson cook book with all the parts for sale at Caputo's.

Bread. No Masi's (I'm still revealing at how good that Masi's bread was), but a huge selection of nearly every other Italian commercial bakery from around these parts at Harlem.

The Harlem Caputo's has limited but more than adequate supplies of Polish and Mexican stuff, including a full range of kefirs and farmer's cheeses that are staples at the VI house.

The Harlem Caputo's is right across the street of one of the two or three best espressos in Chicago.

Rob

Fascinating. I wonder if all these Caputi represent coincidence or some splintering of the ur-Caputo enterprise into now independent branches.

I guess I have to talk our new friend into a trip to Elmwood Park. From the website it looks very diffeent from the Maywood or Melrose Pk. establishment I visited.

Good to know about Graziano's. I don't remember seeing the reference before.

Re cheese wrapping:

I favor the wax paper in the ziploc approach. Not because it's ideal, but because it's a reasonable compromise. If I can consume the cheese fast enough not to just lose it to the drying out process, I just leave it in wax paper.

I suspect, but cannot confirm, that the best approach may depend greatly on the type of cheese. I haven't found that a standard brie suffers much from plastic wrap. But softer, stinkier cheeses definitely seem to.

Parm also seems to get mold quicker when sealed in plastic.

I'm sure that there's a solid chemistry/biology answer to this, but I don't know enough about cheese-making or science to provide it.

mrbarolo wrote:Good to know about Graziano's. I don't remember seeing the reference before.

mrbarolo:

Link to recent write-up with pictures of Graziano's.

A

I like the Harlem caputo's more for produce, and the North caputo's more for other items. A couple years ago, the North caputo's was absurdly cheap - good parmigiano reggiano for $7/lb. It's up to $10/lb now, same price as the other caputo's. Still a great price, but not quite the steal it was before.

I like the expansion, but I liked it before, too. As rob says, they will cut cheeses fresh off the wheel/block for you if you ask, usually regardless of the amount of cheese you want.

Caputo's on north, before the expansion, had some amazingly good sausage pizza during the lunch hours at the deli counter. A short crust (very short, lots of oil), maybe an inch thick with great cheese and the fantastic italian sausage they sell at the deli counter. $1 for a fairly small (but not for the price) slice.

Also, the pastries are great for the price.

The Caputo's in Addison is a very worthwile stop for those who live in or spend time in the further-west burbs. It's near R83, not so distant from the giant DiHo. It's a very large store.

I too was a bit surprised at the lack of olive oil selection, but the Caputo brand extra virgin is pretty good, its pretty olivey and fruity. It goes well with pasta alone.
The mini pastries are tasty as well.
A few other cool things:
Pocket Coffee - these are near the checkouts. Tasty chocolates with an espresso filling in liquid form. I normally dislike filled chocolates, but these are a nice treat and aren't too sweet.
San Bendatto fizzy water- I think a pretty good deal 10.99 for 12. Glass bottles though, and heavy to carry.
LO

LO wrote:San Bendatto fizzy water- I think a pretty good deal 10.99 for 12. Glass bottles though, and heavy to carry.
LO

Around Christmas time they where blowing the SB sparking water out for 7.99/case and I filled my trunk. Great stuff at either price.


The 2 Caputo's are related by blood but apparently not in business together. Besides the incredible prices, the deli and bakery at the melrose store are only part of the story. We all know places with great prices and poor customer service but Caputo's Cheese store wins on both counts. IF you dont see something, just ask and they will literally take you by the hand to show you where it is, go get it for you or tell you when they will be getting it.

If you want to sample something they have absolutley no problem with opening a package and giving you a sample. Want to sample the San danielle mortadella, just ask! The same can be said if you request a fresh cut of something, they are happy to do it. And the coffee is always free in the bakery. The manager, Jerry ,can always be seen working the store and greeting and shaking hands with the regulars. These are all reasons why I have been a regular customer for some time.

And dont think the owner hides behind the corporation. He regulary comes thru the store opening cheeses at random and sampling. I found this out over the holidays. They have a unique house brand of cheese called Monte Caputo. I buy 2 wheels of the stuff every month to divide up with coworkers that I have hooked it. Around christmas I was in the store to get my supply and there was none to be found. The deli manager asked me what I was looking for and when I told him the Monte he said " The owner was in here during the week and took a sample out of the cooler. He said the taste was off and had us pull the entire batch. So we will not have any until after the first of the year, I am sorry "

So I encourage you to visit again and dont be shy about addressing your concerns with them.

Bob

I only wish I could return weekly and get to know them. (North sider on the lake with no car.) The help all seemed genuinely friendly (though the deli person was clearly disgusted with the sandwich I ordered. It was to bring back to the doorman where I live and he has a delicate tummy, so no hot capicola, no giardinara, etc.) She was both mystified and dismayed by this.

I'm curious: what sort of cheese is the house "Monte?" I'm guessing a semi-soft cow cheese, but would love to knowm more.

mrbarolo wrote:I'm curious: what sort of cheese is the house "Monte?" I'm guessing a semi-soft cow cheese, but would love to knowm more.

It's semi-hard (think, aged provolone or a 4 year old cheddar) and I believe it's a cow's milk, but it might be a pecorino. I haven't tasted it in about a year...

It's a pretty good cheese, and a good deal.

Caputo's (fresh market) on Harlem is fantastic. I schlepp all the way there every once in a while just to get my hands on the fresh ricotta (do taste the , mozzarella, other cheeses, salume, olives, sausages and vegetables.

They do have a fair selection of good olive oils. Nothing ultra premium, but I recently picked up a good bottle of Frantoia and something else that escapes me right now - for an awesome price.

Michael/EC,
Blue cheeses should be stored in Al. foil.
Other cheeses I wrap in wax paper and then in foil.
They need to breathe. Especially the stinky ones - morbier, etc.
Most cheese molds can be scraped off and the cheese is still good.
Other cheese molds are part of the cheese



A little further north on Harlem is "Pasta Fresh"
Great fresh pasta. Hot Panzerotti!

The adjoining shop has Italian imports. From food to food related items.
A little on the expensive side. He doesn't store his cheeses too well.


Pasta Fresh
3418 N. Harlem Ave.
773-745-5888

sazerac wrote:Most cheese molds can be scraped off and the cheese is still good.

The mold you see on the surface is a mere fraction of the web of mycelium below. If it is a hard cheese, its recommend you cut a full inch beyond the mold and toss. If it is a soft cheese, then you toss the whole thing. When you consume molds/fungi haphazardly, you can be asking for trouble.

I've seen blue cheeses with a secondary mold, which was never intended to be there. A friend of mine did eat a blue cheese with a secondary fungus/mold present, which landed him in the hospital for a week with hives.

Welcome to LTHforum!

sazerac wrote:Caputo's (fresh market) on Harlem...
They do have a fair selection of good olive oils. Nothing ultra premium, but I recently picked up a good bottle of Frantoia

Don't know if this was the case for you or not, but I recently picked up a bottle of Frantoia--which I think is a quite nice, not terribly overpriced olive oil--and noticed after I arrived home that the "best by" date had either passed or was very close. The oil was not bad, certainly, but it didn't offer the vibrancy that a fresh bottle does, so if anyone is encouraged to seek out this particular product, it's worth checking the date.

Cheers,

Aaron

This follows from Aaron's post, but is somewhat off theme as it is not directly Caputo's related:


One really does have to look for olive oil dates. Those bottles can stay on the shelves for quite a long time, and often those shelves get direct sunlight, making matters worse. Especially when many of the less expensive oils are in clear glass as opposed to dark glass.

On a positive note: the last time I was at L'Appetito (where the oil selection is pretty good, but the prices on the high side for the more familiar every-day brands) I noticed a new (to me) line of oils with regional labels. They are all under one brand, but bottled separately as Tuscan, Sicilian, Puglia, etc. As if this wasn't interesting enough, they not only showed "use by" dates, but harvest dates as well. They're a bit pricey, so I have given some as gifts but haven't consumed any yet, but I am quite intrigued.

gleam wrote:

mrbarolo wrote:I'm curious: what sort of cheese is the house "Monte?" I'm guessing a semi-soft cow cheese, but would love to knowm more.

It's semi-hard (think, aged provolone or a 4 year old cheddar) and I believe it's a cow's milk, but it might be a pecorino. I haven't tasted it in about a year...

It's a pretty good cheese, and a good deal.

I had never heard of the stuff (Monte Caputo) until early last summer. I was at Caputo's and a tour bus full of geriatric italian-americans pulled up to shop. They where grabbing the Monte Caputo (approx 3.50/lb) left and right and the staff had to hustle to keep the free sample plates filled. I tried a sample and what it said to me was...asiago. But it was pretty clear these folks where buying it as a table cheese so I said what the heck and grabbed some for myself. I was immediately hooked on it and my mission in life soon became spreading the joy and wonder of this cheese.

I have noticed some fluctuations in the cheese from batch to batch. Not so much flavor differences but more of a texture issue. It is a fairly hard cheese but sometimes it is a bit more crumbly than I like.

During the great Monte Caputo shortage of December 2004 I kept asking the deli man why it would take so long to re stock. All I could get out of him is "It is a difficult cheese to make and takes a long time" I dont know anything about making cheese so I do not know if it is true or just an attempt to hype the "monte mystique"

anyway, I think it is great stuff and everyone I have turned onto this cheese has asked me to bring them more.

bob

Some changes at Caputo Cheese in Melrose Park. They've stopped trying to sell fresh produce. The cashier suggested they were in over their heads--didn't have people who really knew how to buy it, getting lower quality in the delivery than they'd contracted for, losing a lot to spoilage before it sold. That room, which they'd always kept colder than the rest of the store, is now blocked off and stacked with big wheels of aging cheese, with more hanging from the ceiling. They are also no longer stocking imported pizza flour--a greater loss since there are plenty of places to get produce but no other good sources I know of for cheap pizza flour.

On the other hand, their cheeses are now organized strictly by country of origin, with large sections devoted to Lituanian, Polish, and Brazilian cheeses, in addition to the more traditional suspects. I found it made shopping easier. I re-stocked on their Monte Caputo, having found that it makes an excellent open face sandwich of toasted cheese with tomatoes.

Caputos on 15th, N.of North Avenue-Melrose Park

So, last Friday at lunch time I'm having fun in the amazing Cheese Dept, grabbing fresh Mozzarella, some aged Wisconsin Provolone,
Locatelli, a French Brie, etc-
when I wander into the deli/Bakery area-
looking around ,getting my bearings- deciding between a Baba Rhum "snack" to tide me over in the ride back to The City-
or maybe a Sandwich-
(a "real lunch" as it were),
and I notice a guy going behind the counter-
looking as much as a character from the "Bada Bing" as you possibly can-
salt and pepper hair, definite air of distinction, mid 60's, quite Italian Lookin',
kinda bent over/stiff at the neck -
sample a container of the black olives,
and come back into the front of the Deli counter to greet some "paisans",
and then proceed with the "Old School Kiss to the Side of the Face"-
after which "da fellas" go and get seated at two 4-tops,
and the "Boss" goes behind the counter again to surface with 2 bottles of wine and a
corkscrew to set at the table.
All the while- the other customers at the tables,
mostly Union lookin guys,
are casually "checkin' out" this table full of "paisanos"-
and, I feel as if
I had taken a picture of this friendly gathering at lunch time-
I'd a certainly had my camera smashed outta my hands before my Cheeses even made it past
the mid-grade Italian Olive Oil aisle.....

Just a wonderful little observation, I felt appropriate to share here, with my fellow Italian Food lovers....
Badda Bing!

As long as the subject of Caputo's has come up, I'll add this. As much as I seek out all things local (and for cheese I stray only for the occasionaly Jasper Hill), for wine I'm no locavore. But I am cheap. And lucky to be near the Melrose Park Caputo's. They constantly have amazing deals on Italian wines. The wines are usually at the end of their useful life, but the quality of wine you can get under $10 a bottle is incredible. Again, if you make a few mistakes trying $5 bottles of wine, what do you have to lose? Me, Caputo's is locally made fresh mozzeralla (get the hand-made "nodini" not the machine made balls) and cheap wine. Oh, they make some good breads too.

Im abig fan of Caputo's I typically go to the Naperville location which is about 45 minutes from my house. Awesome deli, good produce, good beef and pork.

grabbed this beautiful standing rib roast for x-mas dinner:



nice marbeling for a $20 roast imho.

I also got a 2#+ bone in ribeye steak for NYE. surf and turf..

Regarding the cheese storage............I think wrapping in fresh wax paper and putting in a ziplock is the way to go. I think the less you touch the cheese with your fingers the better off it will be even if you wash your hands, mold spreads and cheese goes bad. Anytime you store something in the fridge if you put it in with out some air tight barrier, refrigerator smells will permeate it subtly or even more depending what you have in there. I always put things in plastic containers, jars, or other airtight storage and failing that I use ziploc. I am always forever admonishing my mother about this who is likely to use plastic wrap and or foil to wrap things and they pick up smells. I don't think she tastes them as she was a smoker for so many years and her tastebuds are deadened.
Okay TMI but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Recently-Remodeled, to the detriment of the overall zeitgeist of
Caputo's Cheese Market.
The large dry-goods main-section that once housed a vintage Fiat 500, is now closed
and the far western half of the store that once only sold Cheese,
is now THE ENTIRE STORE-
the dry-goods and the deli and the bakery (they no longer bake
cookies in house- including my beloved fresh PIGNOLI's the used to make there....) and
the wine and Grappa and Limonocella and frozen pastas and sauces (err......scuze!- GRAVY!)

One of the long, 3-tiered coolers that formerly housed cheese is not operational, and the whole store
felt- like a shadow of it's former self.
Also- I'd always felt their retail pricing was far below other Chicago-land retailers.....
for example their aged Wisconsin Provolone cheese sold for several dollars less per pound than other specialty retailers,
like Bari Foods,
and now- their prices are in step with other cheese sellers.
(so much for my Italian Cheese Arbitrage scheme I'd once plotted!)
I left- disappointed- no Pignoli's......no grated Locatelli-
just w/ a small bag of Italian Bread Crumbs (@.50cents!)

Did they rent out the other part? If not, maybe they're remodeling that side with new equipment (bakery production?) and this is just temporary...

I think they've moved some cheese production to the other side. Not temporary.

Hombre, which of the Caputi is the cheese market again? Thanks.

Hombre, which of the Caputi is the cheese market again? Thanks.

The Caputo's Cheese Market
subtitled WISCO -for Wisconsin Cheese Company,...not "The" WISCO Welding Supply store in Logan Sq.
1931 N. 15th Avenue
MELrose Park,IL 660160

just North of North (Avenue)...over dere by da Walgreens.

If not, maybe they're remodeling that side with new equipment

yes- the cashier said it was Cheese-Making
(in that lower lever/Retail Skylight Space)
similar, to how they'd earlier (a couple of years ago) closed the large table
area, when the fella's like to hang....and where they'd have a Meatball Buffet set up on certain days-
turned over for Mozzarella Production....
I was told by the Deli lady- that they no longer BAKE their cookies etc in-house...
when I'd inquired about my FAVORITE ITALIAN COOKIE- EVER,
the Pignoli.