Produce Markets - NW Side

A Central American friend recently moved to the area around Central and Montrose and is bemoaning the fact that she has yet to find a fruit and vegetable market where freshness, variety, and quality abound. This is not my neck of the woods, so can someone point her in the right direction?

I have been shopping at Family Fruit Market on Cicero between Montrose & Irving Park lately. They've got a nice selction of fresh produce, a decent deli and a meat counter, along with a modest assortment of groceries and fresh baked bread.

Family Fruit Market
4118 N. Cicero
Chicago, IL
773-481-2500

Hi--I'm a regular shopper at Family Fruit; it always has something new. Point your friend to the A&G Fruit Market in the 5600 block of W. Belmont, which has been written about on this board recently. Anna

Saw pretty good input on Yelp for Family Fruit Market; just interested to see if there are any recent reviews by LTH'ers.

I've been really ramping up the healthy eating, so I'm always on the look out for good fresh fruits & veggies, and since I am near Diversey/Kedzie, this isn't too out of the way (esp. since I take my recycling over to the park on Avers, that puts me close to Pulaski & then a quick hop over to Irving).

thanks,
miss ellen

If you live in the area, Family Fruit Market is a great option. The produce is better (quality and selection) than that at the Jewel across the street, though I would not say it's great by any means. The prices are much, much better though. I think the deli is very good and the meat counter is decent--again prices are very good. A&G is a supermarket sized store with pretty much everything you could need, though the prices are somewhat between those at FFM and Jewel/Domincks in my opinion. They used to make their chicken salad with the leftover rotisserie birds and it was excellent. Haven't had it in awhile though.

A little further south on Belmont near Central is A&G Market, which I quite like.

annieb wrote:A little further south on Belmont near Central is A&G Market, which I quite like.

I third (fourth?) the A & G suggestion.
It is my go-to market in the area.

I will put in my vote for A&G at Belmont and Central, I have had very positive experiences shopping there for things.
Also near there is Genes Deli, about 5100 W. Belmont, not a produce market but has some meats there that are good and reasonably priced.

A&G is fabulous...plus they play really good music, not shopping music. Once I went & it was Italian opera, next time it was Dean Martin. Just makes the experience that much mo' better.

Within walking distance of Montrose & Central (BTW - Did you see? Toot's is no more! Demolished!) is Montrose Deli on Montrose at Long. It's a Polish Deli , but everything is fresh, very nice prices, and the people are nice. Can be crowded, tho.


Also, tell your friend about Portage Park pool for in the summer. Olympic size pool & also a high diving pool (3 stories up). Poratage Park is a gem. I hope your friend explores the neighborhood, we lived there for a few years & loved it. Nice architecture too.

I wanted to put in a plug for Family Fruit Market on Cicero, near Berteau. I've been a few times and I've been pretty impressed. This place is great! The produce is above average and very well priced. I went to Whole Foods today (because of a fairly complex shopping list). I left Whole Foods with my $100 2 bags of groceries (without the pancetta I needed--they were out--and having passed on sad-looking Driscoll brand strawberries at $5/lb) and decided to stop at Family Fruit Market. They had pancetta AND perkier Driscoll strawberries for $2.50. The store seems to have a big Polish/Italian/European influence. Their deli case includes prosciutto di Parma several interesting kinds of bacon, a variety of olives, feta, fresh mozzarella, homemade Italian and Polish sausage. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera (just my cell phone so I snapped a few with that).
Deli case: mozzarella and feta:

Deli case: bacons


It's not a store I would drive out of my way to get to, but it's right off the highway so it may be convenient for lots of north/northwest-siders.

I have shopped at both of the suggested stores. They are very different. I'd suggest checking them both out and seeing which has what she tends to enjoy. We are in the dead of winter, however, so it's not like we have as much US produce available. I always have much more fun shopping in the summer for fruits and veggies.

i like lincolnwood produce, which is at touhy and lincoln. good selection, good prices. lots of eastern-european and middle eastern specialties.