Parking's not that hard. At least not bad enough to make me go to Jewel.

Thanks to the latest snow I was in the area this afternoon and stopped in after shoveling. The produce quality was generally higher than on Monday leading me to buy more temple oranges as well as some escarole. The asparagus was stubby and way too thin. This crummy asparagus from Mexico seems to be everywhere at low prices. A&G had the same stuff today with major mishandling (bunches piled on their sides in a bin and seriously dried out). HarvesTime had some good stuff a couple of weeks ago but has had the same miserable stuff more recently. Caputos had some white asparagus that looked better than the green stuff for people unlike me who like white asparagus. How soon it will start turning green in the brightly lit new store is an open question. Wildly uneven produce quality was a problem with the old store that has carried over into the new. At least I have not seen any heaps of moldy stuff yet.

Temple oranges have a short season and are very seedy but have a lovely distinctive flavor and are easy to peel. Eating over the sink may be a good idea.

The store was pretty empty as might be expected on a Thursday afternoon while the parking lot was at least 3/4 full. There appeared to be more cars than customers by a fair margin.

After a run from West Rogers Park to Villa Park on Saturday, we opted to come back into the city via North Avenue to allow for a stop at Johnnie's (Yum!) and Caputos. The Caputos parking lot was full when we arrived around 2:30pm. I pulled in and patiently started the loop thru the lot, and found a spot about 3/4 of the way around. The spots in this lot seem narrow and more than half of the parked cars were encroaching on a space beside it. My husband and cousin got out of the car so that I could squeeze into a spot and climb out of the driver's side.

The store is lovely and feels so much more clean and airy than the old one. The produce section feels much more spacious now. I did not see any substandard produce, and I found some navel oranges that have turned out to be even yummier than we'd hoped. They also had some beautiful artichokes that looked as if they had been picked in the morning. I like asparagus any way that I can get it for a reasonable price. While the asparagus that Caputos had was the young skinny verson, the tops of the spears were still firm and tight, and I was able to get 3 pounds of the ones that the stock person had just put out. It has been delicious quickly roasted with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

The deil case doesn't seem to be bigger than it was at the old store, and there doesn't seem to be more room for customers to stand while shopping and waiting for their number to be called. The crowd was so dense and staff were serving people so quickly (good), that I really hadn't had time to 'shop' before my number came up. So, I just got a pound of imported ham (very tasty) and moved on.

As you would expect, the produce and deli sections of the store are the busiest. Both seemed very crowded to me. The rest of the store was laid out nicely, and I felt the desire to wander the aisles. However, nearly every aisle had a stock person and a heavily laden stock cart filling more than half the space in the aisle. (This was also the case in produce.) I'm pretty turned off by a store stocking shelves during the day, especially a busy weekend day, while customers are attempting to navigate the aisles. I'm a little more flexible about stocking produce during the day as I understand wanting to present the freshest produce they have available. Stocking soup, canned vegetables and tomato sauce during the day just doesn't fly wth me. I don't understand why the shelves aren't stocked at night and waiting for the customers in the morning. And given that this was the case in most of the aisles, it makes it seem that they just aren't ready for their customers each day. It is a turnoff to have to 'excuse me, pardon me' around both customers and stockpersons in aisles that should be clear for shoppers. So I gave up pretty quickly - but my cousin and husband had thrown in the towel even earlier.

All in all, the only really special thing about Caputos for me is the nice selection of gardeniera from which to choose. They didn't really offer me anything that I can't find nearer to my house. However, I will stop by the next time that I make a trip to Johnnie's - even if it only serves to walk off the tasty combo that I will have just enjoyed.

vickyp

I like the new store a lot. The parking lot is much better, there is more space in the aisles, and a larger selection of polish products, including tasty sausages from a new company whose name I can't remember, but they were giving out samples a few weeks ago. I also now absolutely no reason to ever go to Jewel, b/c the new store carries Home Run Inn Signature Plum Tomato Pizza. They also sell individual bottles of Mexican coke.

Thanks to VI- I tried the Fratelli Brothers coffee- we love it and its a great deal! Last week they also had Segafredo Espresso for $3.99/can.
LO

I finally made it to the new store today. My overall impression was good, it is a big improvement over the old place. The parking lot is bigger, but still seems too small and crowded. I did not spend enough time to check everything out, it's a large store. I liked the produce department, the selection was good and it was laid out nicely. The deli area was kind of a pain. They use paper rolls with numbers to serve customers, like in the old store. But it's hard to find the ticket dispenser, and the deli counter is so long that some clerk could be calling your number and you could easily miss it, or you could yell "Here" and not be heard by the clerk, who might be 30 feet away and not see or hear you. The deli prices seemed a little higher than before. There is a section with dairy products and other refrigerated foods that is organizationally challenged. I did like the bread aisle, they had a nice selection. I felt they had a lot of "green" employees working, there seemed to be a lot of people running around but not really accomplishing much. I think in a month or so, it will be a much more pleasant shopping experience.

I was at Caputo's yesterday too. I decided to make the left turn from Harlem onto Grand. When you enter the lot this way, you are forced to the left. I did not seem over-crowded or jammed up at all, with plenty of potential spots. Still, what I really came on to mention was the key discovery I made yesterday at Caputo's. As I was making my way to the register, I noticed an aisle with kosher foods. Now, I don't keep kosher, and about the only Jewish food I do not much like is the jars of gefiltle fish in the section, but that's not what I wanted. What I wanted to know if they carried, something usually found in "kosher" sections, is a yortzeit candle. This is a special, small candle that is lit on the anniversary of a loved one's passing. Around me, the only nearby store that had stocked these candles was the Jewel in River Forest. I have pretty much have no need to ever go to this store except for a yortzeit candle (or the occasional fried chicken). Knowing that I can now get 'em at Caputo's, where I shop often is a good thing.

in reply to cogito, they have a touch screen computer as you enter for the deli. it's fantastic! you place your order, telling them how to slice and how much. then you get a printed receipt with a number and a time (usually 15 min. or so) and you pick up your order in a cooler toward the end of the deli counter. i used it last week, it was great!

DBT, that does sound cool. I'll try it next time. I also wanted to mention that they had a nice selection of Racine Bakery breads, the best selection I've ever seen outside of the bakery itself.

dollbabytina wrote:in reply to cogito, they have a touch screen computer as you enter for the deli. it's fantastic! you place your order, telling them how to slice and how much. then you get a printed receipt with a number and a time (usually 15 min. or so) and you pick up your order in a cooler toward the end of the deli counter. i used it last week, it was great!

This is easily the best feature of the new place.
Use it once and you'll never go back to standing in line.

(hey my first post - )

interesting concept, but I gotta say I personally enjoy the personal interaction between myself and the deli folks or my butcher.

teatpuller wrote:Parking's not that hard. At least not bad enough to make me go to Jewel.

Easy parking this morning, nicely stocked well laid out store, but somewhere, someplace, an Italian grandmother is shit'n her pants at the thought of Caputo's doing sushi.

G Wiv wrote:

teatpuller wrote:Parking's not that hard. At least not bad enough to make me go to Jewel.

Easy parking this morning, nicely stocked well laid out store, but somewhere, someplace, an Italian grandmother is shit'n her pants at the thought of Caputo's doing sushi.

It does seem very out of place.
But I guess in the overall picture, the expanded bakery and coffee bar is well worth the trade off.

Mid-day Saturday no problem finding parking or getting through the store. Samples of some decent kind of tamales, but although I bought a package they're in my fridge and I'm in my office so I can't tell you the brand. Very nice looking chard for a buck something a pound, too bad I'd just virtuously bought two small bundles for $4 each from the downtown farm stand.

But did someone mention something upthread about clueless employees? I'm in the middle eastern section, looking for bulgur. I see some seasoned in for a pilaf but none plain. I ask the clerk stocking the shelves. He clearly had never heard the word, but he immediately left his work and spent at least 10 minutes trying to track down a manager. He finally came back and said his manager reported that that was all they had. So I pushed my cart into the next aisle, noticed the Bob's Red Mill display, and picked up my package of bulgur.

And of course the check-out clerk thought my rutabaga was rhubarb, but that one I've seen before.

Saw this vehicle parked in the lot the other day. Not near the door as if they were making a delivery or a sales call but way in the far corner.

I know that they carry Bobak's products but still wondering if there is some other connection?

Has anyone tried the gelato?
They seem to go through it fairly quickly but I have yet to taste it.

I tried the strawberry gelato, it was pretty good.

Hey, here's something new, and interesting, too. I needed pine nuts, so to Caputo's I go. I check around with all the dried fruit and nuts, and no dice. Then I look over by the deli, where I used to find them in the old place. No dice. So I go back to the dried fruits and nuts, because they must be there. No dice. So I finally ask. The guy drinking coffee points me over to a window, like where you'd find a bank teller. The coffee guy says to another employee, "can he get pine nuts there?" The other employee says yeah, and waves me over. He leans to the window, "this customer would like to buy some pine nuts." The woman behind the glass says OK, leans down, and pulls up a container of pine nuts. So I had to ask her: why are the pine nuts hidden back there? And she tells me people have been stealing them! Go figure.

I love shopping at Caputo's. It is my go to grocery store (along with Super Low Foods across Grand). I started going shortly after they moved to the Grand and Harlem location and learned how to navigate the parking lot like a pro. They are reasonably priced and basically I never have set foot inside a Jewel or Dominick's. I actually went to the Dominick's in River Forest not too far from here a week or so ago and was surprised at how small it was and on a Friday afternoon hardly many customers in comparison to Caputo's which is always packed Fridays and Saturdays. I have family on my husband's side that lives in the area so we make the trek from Belmont and Kedzie where we live almost every week and every week I buy something from Caputo's. They have a produce selection that's good and they put the grocery stores that are closer to me (Cermak, Tony's, Jewel and Aldi) to shame.

I have never had problems with the produce except for the fresh mint I bought there recently that hardly resembled mint. I love that they have a few Serbian-Croatian items in the regular aisles like the Kras chocolate that I adore. I think their house brand La Bella Romana is pretty solid. I have bought their pastas, peeled garlic, cheeses etc and never had a problem and always think the quality is top notch for the price. I have yet to try the housemade sauces though. They carry some really delicious breads. There is a particular ciabiatta bread that comes from a bakery that escapes my name at the moment that is just delicious when dipped in some olive oil. I'm also fond of the cherry pie in the bakery section. I have had a couple of problems in the past with sale items not ringing up but that was quickly corrected by the friendly staff. Liquor selection could be better especially compared to Devon Market (tough while smaller than Caputo's still has a great selection of booze). The wine prices I find for the most part outrageous considering the Binny's within a short distance has the same wines for better prices. Every once in a while they do have a good deal on some wine like the Naked Grape moscato 3 for $10. Beer selection and prices are better. I can usually pick up something decent on sale unlike at the Jewel by my house. All in all, since I started going here, I abadoned places like Jewel and Cermak (though I may still hit up Tony's once in a while). Now if I can get Fresh Farms to move closer.....

I love the coffee and gelato bar by the bakery. The cappucino tastes really good and the gelato is delightful and reasonable, something like $3 for three scoops and you can mix and match flavors.