Care Package from Chicago?

A relative will be driving here from Chicago and has offered to bring me any food items I would like from Chicago. So I would be most grateful for suggestions from you for the very, very best Chicago has to offer. There will be a cooler/ice chest in the car. I am partial to all kinds of sausages and cold-cuts and ethnic foods. Baked goods, too, but I'm afraid many would be past their prime after the 2-day trip.

So, what might you nominate for my care package and where is the best place to purchase? Many thanks.

Bill/SFNM

We make up baskets for my in-laws in Texas to bring on Thanksgiving. Now, where they live they can't get anything even slightly exotic, so perhaps our choices might seem a bit pedestrian, but we are working with folks who think Grey Poupon is getting freaky.

Some sample stuff:

-gardinera
-dried Polish smoked sausage
-packaged cookies from Pasticceria Natalina (these are fine five+ days after purchase if unopened)
-fancy local jams from farmer's market or City Olive on Clark
-Vosges chocolate bars (the bacon was a surprise hit)
-assortments of Polish candies and chocolates
-cheese curds

If in a similar situation, here's what I'd be most thankful for a friend to bring:

- pound of coffee from Asado
- container of kimchee from New Chicago
- whatever the latest salami being produced at Mado is (the Toscano if you're lucky)
- Northern Thai sausage from Sticky Rice(ask them not to cut it)
- sugar cream, chocolate cream, coffee cream or persimmon pie (or all of them) from Hoosier Mama
- Canele(s) and macarons from L2o
- nutter butter cookies from The Bristol

Cold cuts: i would ask for Bende brand Hungarian sausage (spicy), salami and definitely smoked, cured Magyar bacon, szalona. All produced in Vernon Hills, IL
and available in only a few metro areas outside of Chicago. You can pick them up at the factory store or at numerous groceries that cater to Eaetern Europeans.

Pickles: Iraqi torshi amba, turmeric mixed pickles. Homemade and available at Assyrian groceries on Devon. Best Middle Eastern pickles ever.

Thats all I can think of for now, but if something else comes up I'll let you know.

Medium hard and medium-lg size Kosher salami from Romanian sausage on Clark. Doesn't need the ice. Room temp is fine. Their frozen kishke would fit nicely in the icebox too. I second Natalina as well and are pretty close to ea other (5400 Clark- 7000 Clark). I used to travel with frozen Due's pizzas. Took 3 on a plane to SF once. And if you're going for giardinara, I wouldn't stop there and I'd have Al's (on Taylor only) pack some beef and gravy to go w/it.

I do this from time to time and have an idea of what's special and hard to find elsewhere. Here are some easy calls, many pizza-friendly, most of which won't need refrigeration. Hope the driver doesn't mind the smell of garlic and cured meats.

Riviera -- as much salume as the folks can carry, especially the sopressatta -- unmatched in my experience, better than respected NY, SF, Seattle producers

Paulina Market -- landjaeger, hot lamb sticks

Calumet Fisheries -- smoked chubs, salmon, whitefish

Vietnamese/Thai naem sausage -- any Argyle-area crocer (consider also whether you want good South or Southeast Asian dry goods from Devon or Argyle that might be tough to find where you are -- good fish sauce, shrimp paste, rice noodles, whatever) Grab a Vietnamese pate while you're at it, from Ba Le. They make good naem also.

Bosnian/Serbo-Croatian cured meats from Devon Market, close enough to Romanian (which I endorse -- get some chopped liver in addition to the sausages)

Try the cured, smoked beef from http://www.harczaksausage.com/index.php (local Serbian producer), which should be on hand at Devon as well as other area grocers

Ditto on the Bende stuff

Real pierogi and kolacky -- I like Delightful Pastries, but Kasia's are good and widely available

And as long as someone is visiting an Eastern European or German market, grab some jars of Polish pickles, sour cherries in compote, etc.

Chicago hot links are also pretty special and unique. Peoria Packing's are good. These are uncured and sold frozen.

Middle Eastern sweets travel well -- Nazareth Sweets is very good.

Like the Chicago Kimchee call too.

And don't forget the local beer -- I'd take Two-Hearted, Daisy Cutter, Alpha King, Matilda, etc. any day.

These threads offer more ideas:

Nonperishable Chicago food items

The gift that says Chicago

Fit for a Trump: High-end Chicago-made foods

Gift Basket Ideas for Chicago-Themed Project?

Chicago-themed Wedding Gift Basket

Some other ideas:

Vienna Beef natural casing hot dogs (available at the factory and a few stores) and the accouterments: Mary Ann buns, bright-green relish, sport peppers.

Italian beef from any good stand in catering quantity, Gonella or Turano rolls.

Frozen deep-dish or stuffed pizza (with dry ice in a cooler, it will stay frozen)

Eli's Cheesecake (frozen)

Bobak's Maxwell Street Polish sausage (available in many grocery stores)

As long as you're heading west, go out North Avenue to Elburn and load up a BIG cooler with any kind of sausage from Randy Ream's Elburn Market. Any kind of his sausage is good - no, it's superlative - but the bratwurst is transcendental. (not sure i spelled that right.)

You will note that the walls of his shop are completely covered with framed awards for his charcuterie - mostly for the bratwurst.

Also, bring lots of hot giardanera. It seems to be unknown outside of the Chicago area. I couldn't get along without it.

Jeff B recommended from Paulina Market -- landjaeger, hot lamb sticks.

Those two sausages are outstanding and I would like to mention my favorite Paulina products: the coarse, smoked liverwurst (Hildenshimmer ?), and the veal brats (Bavarian style, I think - like Weisswurst). That liverwurst is as smooth and complex as any French pate.

Bill, if you're a beer-drinker, I can really second the Two-Hearted Ale (from Bell's). It's just recently become available in Kansas City, which makes my life there soooo much happier!

Geo

This forum has some of the best people in the world. Thank you all for giving me such great suggestions. Perhaps I should arrange for a U-Haul trailer.

Bill/SFNM

In case this is not too late and there's space in the trailer...
Here are some of the items I like to pick up in Chicago

1. Thai sausages (as mentioned already)
This one is close to the isaan style. It's excellent grilled and fantastic if lightly smoked first.


Nice with some cut chiles and ginger as served at TAC +


This one is good too (its like sai ua, the northern Thai style sausage)


For som tam poo - papaya salad with crab

this one is the size of a can of condensed milk and was $3 or so

All these from the freezers (walk in the door and walk straight to the back wall) at

Thailand Food Corp.
4821 N. Broadway
773.728.1199


2. Pixian Douban - hot bean paste as mentioned here for Ma Po Tofu and other Sichuan dishes

Chinatown Market
2121 South Archer Avenue
Chicago, IL 60616-1513
(312) 881-0068

3. Apple fritters
If you place your order ahead, you can pick it up on your way out of Chicago. These freeze well (if you get to freezing them).


Old Fashioned Donut
11248 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60628
773-995-7420

4. Pastries from
Pasticceria Natalina
5406 N. Clark St
Chicago, IL
773-989-0662

I love the suggestions, Sazerac. Not too late. Relative is planning to drive here in a few months. She is new to Chicago, so I want to give her plenty of time to locate the shops and collect the booty. Can't wait!!!